Airbnb rentals are generally safe, but an occasional scammer slips through the system. If you doubt a listing is legitimate, try doing a reverse image search on the pictures.
Photo by OuiShare
We’ve covered ways to avoid problems with Airbnb rentals before, but travel blog Skift recently brought up a more serious issue: fake rentals. A host creates a fake listing and steals the credit card info from the traveller. The renter has to scramble to find some place to rent at the last minute, typically at a higher price.
A simple strategy — using a reverse image search — works here. When I tried this with some Airbnb listings, I didn’t find a scam, but I did find the same listing on another rental-by-owner website. That listing had lots of negative reviews — so I avoided it. The reverse image search gave me other details about the property that wasn’t included in the Airbnb description.
Airbnb’s Next Big Challenge is Keeping the Scammers Away [Skift]
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