A group of friends gearing up for a spectacular New Year’s Eve had their plans destroyed when they discovered they had been scammed out of $5000.
Auckland woman Michaela Scarrott, 22, was in charge of organising accommodation for herself and eight other mates when she came across a beautiful waterfront home in Whangarei on Airbnb.
It cost a whopping $5000 for six nights – but when friends of Ms Scarrott knocked on the door of the property, two confused owners answered who claimed they had never listed their home on the website, the New Zealand Herald reports.
Auckland woman Michaela Scarrott, 22, (left) was in charge of organising accommodation for herself and eight other mates when she came across a beautiful waterfront home in Whangarei on Airbnb
It cost a whopping $5000 for six nights – but when friends of Ms Scarrott (pictured) knocked on the door of the property, two confused owners answered who claimed they had never listed their home on the website
Ms Scarrott said she was initially hesitant to book the Airbnb accommodation because the fake owners asked her to transfer funds into a Spanish bank account.
After protests the scammers then agreed to let her transfer into a strange Sydney account, but with the pressure of losing the booking, she reluctantly obliged.
After making the payment Ms Scarrott said the owners severed all contact and seemingly dropped off the face of the earth.
On the day of the booking the young woman asked two friends who lived in Whangarei to drop by the place and knock on the door.
The real owners of the home answered said they had never had a listing on Airbnb and had only just recently moved in.
‘My heart dropped, just dropped [when my friend called me], I couldn’t believe it,’ Ms Scarrott told the publication.
Ms Scarrott said she was initially hesitant to book the Airbnb accommodation because the fake owners asked her to transfer funds into a Spanish bank account (Stock image)
The sophisticated scammers appear to have taken photographs of the luxurious home and created a listing which linked out to a fake payment platform.
Ms Scarrott said the false listing and payment page were put together ‘so well’ that the ‘savvy’ woman was easily duped.
‘I thought I had taken all the necessary precautions, but obviously it wasn’t enough… It was just done so well,’ she said.
To add insult to injury, Airbnb told Ms Scarrott they could not refund the lost $5000 as they payment was made through a third party.
She also reported the matter to police who said there was ‘nothing’ they could do.
The listing made for the Whangarei apartment since been removed by Airbnb.
One the day of the booking the young woman asked two friends who lived in Whangarei (pictured) to drop by the place and knock on the door
Daily Mail Australia contacted Airbnb about the matter who issued the following statement:
‘Fake or misrepresented listings have no place in our community. We recently introduced new security tools to help tackle fake listings and educate our community about staying safe online, including more education to users on how to book safely,’ the statement reads.
‘The most important thing to know is that as long as you stay on the airbnb.com platform and only send money through Airbnb, you will always be protected.
There have been over 260 million guest arrivals on Airbnb and negative experiences are extremely rare.’