Airbnb is afraid that travelers will be scammed this summer: 9 tips to follow to protect yourself

Faced with the ever-increasing number of French victims of scams, Airbnb is taking the lead. Before a summer punctuated by the Olympic Games, the platform provides several tips to avoid getting trapped.

Following a study commissioned from Opinionway, Airbnb and the IAFCI (International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators) established that 48% of French people have already been victims of a scam or scam, or know someone ‘one that was. On average, the loss amounts to 2,700 euros, not a small amount. So to allow its travelers to book accommodation and enjoy the summer and the Paris Olympic Games in complete safety, Airbnb, which detected 2,500 phishing sites over the last twelve months, released the recommendation machine .

Never leave Airbnb to pay or reserve accommodation

The first advice Airbnb gives is to never leave the Airbnb platform to pay or communicate. Any request that you leave the service should be taken seriously and should be reported to the support team. Booking or paying for accommodation outside the application loses all the protections, particularly legal, that it offers.

Scammers are generally used to SMS and emails containing links redirecting users to fake sites, with the aim, each time, of recovering personal information, primarily banking information. Obviously, you should never click on these links.

Along comes the now traditional recommendation of password protection. In addition to choosing a strong password, it is important to change it as soon as you receive a notification of an attempt to log in to your account. Multi-factor authentication is obviously an additional protection.

Never pay other than by credit card

Be wary of what is too good to be true. An offer of dream accommodation at an unbeatable price should not inspire confidence in you, especially if the rental company pushes you to pay quickly. Take the time to compare stays with generally similar options and properties. On social networks, there are many fake offers that are a little too tempting.

Before paying, make sure you are still on the airbnb.fr website. If in doubt about the URL, type it manually into your browser to start your search or verify that you are on the correct platform.

Still on payment, don’t use anything other than a credit card. This offers you protection in the event of fraud and makes it easier to dispute an expense made without your knowledge. If an Airbnb host asks you to pay in cryptocurrency or gift cards, you know what you have to do: run.

The “verified ad” badge, this precious one that is useful to find for greater security

Reviews matter, and on Airbnb perhaps more than elsewhere. Before booking accommodation, always remember to read them, you will leave with some valuable information about the place and its host. If you notice that an ad has few or no reviews at all, this may simply be due to the date it was put online: it is probably recent. You should also never hesitate to contact the host by message, on Airbnb, to get answers to your questions.

More and more social media, but also service platforms, such as Airbnb, are offering offers with the mention, or badge, “verified ad”. When you see it on Airbnb, this means that the site’s teams have received proof of the existence of the accommodation, but also of the accuracy of its address, and that which shows that the host has access to it. If we bring together France, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia, Airbnb has 2 million verified listings.

In general, the last piece of advice that we can relay is to contact, if you have the slightest doubt about an ad or a message, Airbnb customer service, now available 24/7.