FRAUD – Airbnb has been accused of “making it too easy for scam artists” after it was reported that almost a 1m people may have fallen victim to fraud on the website last year.
As many as 1.1 million bookings were also cancelled at the last minute, often leaving holidaymakers on the streets of an unfamiliar city with nowhere to stay, according to a new analysis of the home sharing business.
The report claims that when things go wrong Airbnb’s customer service is appalling, with more than four in five people who had a bad experience saying the company was unhelpful, rude or failed to refund them properly.
The findings come from a study by a travel blog that analysed more than 1,000 “Airbnb horror stories” to establish what happens when things go wrong, The Times reported on Saturday.
Some of the worst cases included a guest being held hostage and sexually assaulted by a host and another finding a rotting corpse in the garden of a property.
The research found that one in five complainants had a host cancel their stay at the last minute or never turn up. More than a quarter reported unsafe conditions, such as a bug infestation, or the accommodation not being as described.
One in six said they were victim of fraud, such as the host demanding extra cash when they arrived.
- Secretary of State for Civil Protection Resigns from office
- São Miguel Island – Person identifies in connection with the theft of gold items from a resident
- Some 7000 operative dealt with 25 major fires on 13th and 14th September
- Safe Communities Recognized as a Civil Protection Volunteer Organisation
- Rural Fires – 2019 Decrease in the number of people arrested for Arson
- Joint Statement from the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development
- GNR air patrol detects illegal logging of trees in forest areas
- PJ dismantles one of Europe’s largest counterfeit currency networks
- RED FIRE WARNING ALERT DECLARED BY GOVERNMENT IN 13 DISTRICTS
- Over 500 complaints of Asian Wasp so far this year.
- 80 bogus violent crime reports since 2018 in Odivelas and Loures
- Kidnapped in Cascais. The whole story of the scheme that cheated thousands of Chinese
- Ukrainian Couple arrested in Lisbon for leaving 3-year-old daughter alone for 14 hours at home
- Cascais – Two Chinese nationals detained for trafficking, kidnapping and coercion
- Taiwan and Portugal dismantle telephone fraud in Cascais
