Airbnb fraud - advice needed

Francesca_Lynch

Good Afternoon - I recently paid for an apartment rental in Paris through what I thought was Airbnb's site but it turns out that it was a fraudulent transaction.

The communication i had with both the owner and what I thought at the time was the Airbnb site was very believable. I received different e-mails from both the owner and Airbnb (it was not) the link in the e-mails worked and I went through an online chat again with what I thought was an Airbnb. I recieved conformations, Itineriy and invoice - and was advised by what I though was Airbnb advisors to use the site transferwise to convert pounds to euro's to their Airbnb IBAN account. I have rented holiday apartments often - although not through Airbnb - and have done transfers in the past. I paid the transfer with my credit card and had the payee reference as Airbnb.....

The next day I received an e-mail from Airbnb to say they thought I had been in contact with a fraudulent renter and that they had removed this from their site - as soon as I heard this I contacted my credit card company to stop the payment but they said they couldn't and had to wait till it left to open a dispute. It left - they opened a dispute, I sent them all my correspondence etc and they have just got back to me to say that there is no dispute to answer there the transaction between myself and transferwise was not fraudulent. It is a large sum of money (almost £1400) and I don't know what to do or who to contact....I have tried contacting Airbnb but nothing seems to go through and I can't find a phone number or e-mail address.....please if anyone has any ideas where I can get advice or how to claim this back please let me know!

[Deleted User]

There's little you can do. Neither Airbnb nor the card company have any responsibility here.

Unfortunately, your money's gone.

mrmagooooooo

Deleted_User wrote: »

There's little you can do. Neither Airbnb nor the card company have any responsibility here.

Unfortunately, your money's gone.

Really? Im sorry but i have to disagree here even if im wrong... if that makes sense

You are telling me that you can order something online and it not show up. I.e a bike and get your money back but if you order or book an apartment and its dodgy they wont refind you?

There seems no logic in that.

Id be back on the phone to the credit card provider going nuts. The fact that you even got in touch with them to tell them to stop the transaction before it had left i believe should be enough for them to take responsibility.

I wouldn't let this one go, pick up the phone and speak to a manager there in their fraud department. if that fails email their CEO

Good Luck

System

Because you've used the credit card for a cash transaction, you've got no comeback from from your issuer, Transferwise or even airbnb.

You could report the fraud to the bank that you made the transfer to (and Transferwise) but this will likely only help other people.

Treat fund transfers (plus cheques) as you would cash!

garth549

Really sorry to hear this but I'm afraid I agree with zx that you'll struggle to get any of your money back...

Effectively what you've done by using a money transfer service is not much different to physically withdrawing the cash and handing it over to a fraudster.

Although there's not much they'll be able to do I'd report this to the police and Action Fraud.

mrmagooooooo

SPalin wrote: »

Because you've used the credit card for a cash transaction, you've got no comeback from from your issuer, Transferwise or even airbnb.

You could report the fraud to the bank that you made the transfer to (and Transferwise) but this will likely only help other people.

Treat fund transfers (plus cheques) as you would cash!

Ah it makes sense now.

Apologies, I was wrong. I didn't consider it being a cash transfer for some reason :-/

mrmagooooooo

Have you spoken to Transferwise?

Just read this on their website but if im honest i have no idea about these money transfer sites as ive never used one.

Payment Cancellation

If you need to cancel a transfer that was paid for with debit or credit card, you can do so by locating the transfer in the 'Transfers' section of your profile, hovering over it and selecting 'Cancel'. Please be advised that, once cancelled, debit card refunds can take a maximum of 10 working days to process, but are usually back in your account in 2-3 working days.

Maybe worth a look?

DCFC79

OP can I ask what was the site you went to if it wasn't airbnb ?

Francesca_Lynch

Mrmagoooo....I tried this but the transfer had already been actioned and there was no way to get it back once it had been sent. I agree and can see that I probably have little chance but it just seems so wrong especially since I paid by credit card to try and protect myself. DCFC79 it was originally listed on Airbnb and I have internet history to prove I viewed it here - the emails that were sent to me were from what I thought was airbnb - same designs layouts etc and their address came into my inbox as Airbnb but they were infact from the e-mail address "automated@property-booking-request.com". The links in the e-mails took you to website that looked exactly like airbnb and I even had what I thought was an online chat with Airbnb through them - but I now find that airbnb don't have live chat!!!!! I have booked apartments a number of times and this was a particularly good fraud!

Francesca_Lynch

Apologies, I was wrong. I didn't consider it being a cash transfer for some reason :-/[/QUOTE]

DCFC79 wrote: »

OP can I ask what was the site you went to if it wasn't airbnb ?

it was originally listed on Airbnb and I have internet history to prove I viewed it here - the emails that were sent to me were from what I thought was airbnb - same designs layouts etc and their address came into my inbox as Airbnb but they were infact from the e-mail address "automated@property-booking-request.com". The links in the e-mails took you to website that looked exactly like airbnb and I even had what I thought was an online chat with Airbnb through them - but I now find that airbnb don't have live chat!!!!! I have booked apartments a number of times and this was a particularly good fraud!

Francesca_Lynch

mrmagooooooo wrote: »

Have you spoken to Transferwise?

Just read this on their website but if im honest i have no idea about these money transfer sites as ive never used one.

Payment Cancellation

If you need to cancel a transfer that was paid for with debit or credit card, you can do so by locating the transfer in the 'Transfers' section of your profile, hovering over it and selecting 'Cancel'. Please be advised that, once cancelled, debit card refunds can take a maximum of 10 working days to process, but are usually back in your account in 2-3 working days.

Maybe worth a look?

Mrmagoooo....I tried this but the transfer had already been actioned and there was no way to get it back once it had been sent. I agree and can see that I probably have little chance but it just seems so wrong especially since I paid by credit card to try and protect myself