Investors in Airbnb arbitrage business allege they were defrauded in scheme

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/11/investors-in-airbnb-arbitrage-business-allege-they-were-defrauded.html

by rntn • 2 years ago

24 52 2 years ago

nradov2• 2 years ago

One group of scammers got scammed by another group of scammers. So what.

notahacker• 2 years ago

Tbf, buried in the scammers scamming scammers is what appears to be a scandalously bad bit of customer service from AirBnB.

Normal member of the public "Kathy" makes a normal reservation via the AirBnB website for a falsified hotel listing whose address resolves to a vacant lot and whose "representative" doesn't respond to her questions. To add insult to injury, the scammers on AirBNB's platform post her personally identifying information including contact details on their social media (presumably as evidence of "real customers" to try to sell more scam franchises)

AirBNB - according to the reporting - decides that refunding her "about half" the money she paid AirBNB for a nonexistent hotel room is sufficient...

cpgxiii• 2 years ago

Airbnb customer service has basically always been terrible in cases like this. Some years back I had a host that simply stopped responding a few days before the reservation, and Airbnb would not allow it to be cancelled and refunded until check-in time had passed, despite it being obvious to them that the host had flaked. They have no way to meaningfully compel the host to actually provide the booked stay, nor are they likely to have any meaningful "spare" listings to put you in instead.

There is always a significant risk that you'll show up and your reservation has been de facto cancelled by the host leaving you to scramble to find a day-of hotel booking. I've had some good Airbnb stays, but I'd never book one without a backup plan (and if you can't have a backup plan, book a hotel instead).

pavel_lishin• 2 years ago

One day in 2022, while scrolling through Instagram, he came upon another opportunity.

Scrolling through instagram, you get exposed to a lot of "opportunities".

Anyway, if someone is ever selling you an opportunity that claims to be "passive income" that requires very little work, you need to ask yourself why they'd be selling this to you, instead of simply doing more of it themselves.

wildrhythms• 2 years ago

MLMs have been targeting young people long before Instagram, I remember somebody handing out flyers for Amway at a high school graduation. And the peddlers of these scams always sell it as "Start your own business", "Be your own boss" and so on. And when it's not a MLM it's some kind of dropshipping scheme. I agree social media has given those schemes a much wider audience to capture.

CamelCaseName• 2 years ago

I can't believe this happened. I get all my investment opportunities from Instagram ads!

thisgoesnowhere14• 2 years ago

Very similar to the arbitrage markets for appointment reservations [1] and ticket scalping. All of which are value destructive businesses that are needless layers of abstractions resulting in a worse experience for everyone other than the arbitrager.

While it's fun to watch them get screwed since they provide negative value and yet make a profit, there is a never ending supply of scam artists waiting to take their place.

1. https://appointmenttrader.com

JumpCrisscross9• 2 years ago

markets for appointment reservations [1] and ticket scalping. All of which are value destructive businesses

This is strictly incorrect in the same way that the market for methamphetamine is not a value-destructive business. It's simply an unsavory one.

Scalpers provide immediacy or service in a market where the issuer does not. Speaking specifically to ticket scalpers, I've often found StubHub to be a far superior purchasing experience to TicketMaster.

thisgoesnowhere14• 2 years ago

"no, scalpers are good actually"

DoodahMan• 2 years ago

i find cashortrade.org to be the best of all, often get tickets at or below face value on there. no affiliation. screw TM.

stuart73547373• 2 years ago

"...he invested in crypto ..."

buying crypto to try to profit is called speculation not investment

frankthedog• 2 years ago

As opposed to Real Investments which are not made to try and make a profit?

robertlagrant4• 2 years ago

It's not the profit bit; it's the crypto bit.

cozzyd• 2 years ago

Once Airbnb starts a good faith effort to take down obviously fake listings or listings in clear violation of local ordinances or condo association rules, then I might start feeling bad for people scamming them.

huitzitziltzin• 2 years ago

It should have been immediately obvious to everyone that this was a scam. Anyone who has a money printer by definition does not need your help. If you are being asked to invest there is risk. If you are being told it’s a sure thing you are being lied to. Setting aside the obvious stupidity of finding your investment opportunities on Instagram of all the ridiculous places…

Investors in Airbnb arbitrage business allege they were defrauded in scheme

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