Thousands of Romanians are preparing to enjoy holidays as much as possible. Many tourists in recent years prefer more practical options instead of hotel rooms, but sometimes they can be wrong.
In recent years, especially in Europe, the tendency to rent homes from individuals, instead of hotels, has grown strongly, and among the available platforms, the best known is Airbnb, writes Mediafax.
Airbnb is a service that connects users with homes available for vacation rental in their desired destination. The app manages the bookings of hundreds of thousands of users worldwide, and this success has not gone unnoticed by cybercriminals.
Because of this, scams within the platform have increased significantly in recent times. Although Airbnb implements numerous safeguards and security measures, it cannot prevent all fraud that occurs.
It is often users who unknowingly facilitate these scams, such as prepayment fraud.
What is the Airbnb advance payment scam and how to avoid it
Follow the platform rules
Airbnb has clear rules that you must follow to avoid such problems. One of the most sensitive areas is the payment of accommodation. The company states that all payments must be made exclusively through the app, and all associated costs are included in the total price.
Be aware of the procedure
According to the rules, the payment for the accommodation is not transferred to the host until the client actually arrives at the home. That way, if a problem occurs, your money remains protected. However, according to Airbnb, there are more and more “hosts” who require payment in advance, outside of the platform.
He did not trust promises that do not appear officially
Instead, scammers may offer discounts or benefits if you pay through external Airbnb services. They usually say that this way they avoid the platform’s commission and that both parties win. In reality, the goal is to get the money and disappear.
Be careful and report
If a host asks you to pay in advance or by methods other than official Airbnb, ignore the request and insist on using the platform. It then reports the account to Airbnb so the platform can intervene and prevent further fraud.
