Airbnb has changed the way we travel by providing an affordable alternative to accommodation in guesthouses or hotels.

It’s also a tricky business to regulate, as Allie Conti found out when she tried to book an Airbnb in Chicago, only to stumble across a nationwide scam that spread right across the US.

A scam artist created multiple fake Airbnb profiles, posted inaccurate listings and, at the last minute, pressured guests to move into homes they did not reserve.

Many of those who were deceived, including Conti herself, only faced further frustrations once they turned to Airbnb for support and refunds.

Conti wrote up the details and findings of her experience and subsequent investigation for VICE in a lengthy post, that you can read in full here.

In short, this is how easy it is to scam someone using the Airbnb platform, according to what happened to Conti:

Step One: List a fake property on Airbnb

Step Two: Once your guests are in the city and about to arrive at the fake Airbnb, phone them with a fake crisis, like a burst water pipe or faulty electrics.

Step Three: Offer to put them up in another residence. This could be a crack den or some other awful place that no one in their right mind would want to stay in. By this point, though, it’s probably too late for them to find alternative accommodation. Make sure to lie and tell them that they’ll be moved into the original Airbnb once the “problem” is fixed.

Step Four: Promise to refund them half of what they paid for the inconvenience (with no intention of ever paying them anything). Also, ask them to leave the crack den early. Time is money and you need it for the other people you’re scamming.

Step Five: Make up some nonsense about algorithms and request that they give no less than a four-star rating on Airbnb and address all issues in a private message thread.

Step Six: Congratulations, not only are you a dick, but you’ve upgraded to a double suite in Hell for your troubles.

Since the publication of Conti’s article, VICE reports that Airbnb has committed to verifying all seven million listings on the Airbnb site.

“Today, we are making the most significant steps in designing trust on our platform since our original design in 2008,” Airbnb CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky said in an email to employees Wednesday.

“Starting now, verification of all seven million listings on Airbnb will commence,” Chesky said. “We believe that trust on the Internet begins with verifying the accuracy of the information on Internet platforms, and we believe that this is an important step for our industry.”

It’s about time. I’m sure many of those who have been scammed would say that verification should have happened ages ago.

The company has additionally promise to expand “manual screening of high-risk reservations flagged by our risk detection models,” Chesky said. “This will help identify suspicious reservations and stop unauthorised parties before they start.”

In the meantime, be careful when booking somewhere to stay, especially if you’re from another country and don’t know the area that you’re staying in.

Safety first.

[source:vice&vice]