Airbnb scam stories fill the internet. Last month, a user’s TikTok went viral after claiming they discovered their parent’s house on Airbnb, even though he had never listed the property. In December 2022, another user claimed that they were unable to access a booked property — and was then charged for damages on the property they couldn’t access.
A few months before that, a user claimed they arrived at their Airbnb rental only to discover that it had already been rented to someone else and that the tenant running the Airbnb was in the process of being kicked out.
Now, another story of an Airbnb scam has gone viral. In a video with over 4 million views as of Friday, a user on TikTok claims to have arrived at an Airbnb that was no longer able to be rented, despite accepting reservations. In response, they discovered all of the tenant’s personal information and read it back to him.
“…Your name is on the WiFi code, Mr. Tyler, born in May, 1996,” a woman says in the video. “No, you don’t have an Airbnb, because you got evicted, and you’re either going to send us the $1000 back, or I’m going to have a sleepover with your parents.”
@fuckairbnb when you travel long and far to find out your airbnb is fake and you go to extreme lengths to find out everything about the host and then call them to expose such information #airbnbhost #airbnb #funny ♬ original sound – user3583736795000
The woman in question is TikTok user Olivia (@livvoogus), who provided more information about the incident in a clip posted to her personal TikTok account.
@livvoogus #stitch with @fuckairbnb PART 2 MR TYLER 😭 #airbnbhost #funny #storytime ♬ original sound – olivia
According to Olivia, she was planning to attend a music festival on New Year’s Eve and had booked an Airbnb for lodging several months prior. The host, she says, was a “superhost,” and nothing about the rental immediately seemed suspect upon booking.
However, as the date approached, a few red flags emerged.
“The Airbnb host had sent us two different codes for the door and just stopped responding to any questions that we had, like where to park or how to get into the building — just kind of went ghost,” she details.
When they arrived at the building, none of the door codes he provided them worked. Consequently, Olivia and her friends began repeatedly calling the host. It was at this point that a neighbor emerged.
“[The neighbor] actually asked us, ‘Hey, are you guys trying to get into an Airbnb in this building? Because a couple was here last night and the same exact thing happened to them,’” Olivia recalls. According to Olivia, “the person who had lived there got evicted because, according to the lease, you’re not allowed to do Airbnbs out of the apartment, and he just never took the listing down.”
Additionally, as there was a sporting event happening around the same time, there were no other available hotel rooms or Airbnbs in the area.
Frustrated, Olivia used her Google skills to find out any information she could about the host. This included his name, birthday, and the address of his parents. She then sent the host a message asking if she was actually supposed to meet him at his parents’ address, including the address in the message.
“This man called me back so quickly,” Olivia enthuses. This led to the events shown in the original video.
Eventually, Olivia and her friends decided to stay on the floor of a friend’s “real” Airbnb who was also attending the festival. While they were on their way, Olivia received a text from the host’s girlfriend accusing her of threatening the host.
“Babes ur bf got evicted and is scamming people out of airbnb’s leaving them with nowhere to stay,” she responded. “u have bigger things to worry about.”
In the end, Olivia was able to receive a refund from Airbnb and managed to find a hotel room, with Airbnb paying for a percentage of the cost of her hotel room for the following night.
“Should have paid for the whole thing,” she concludes.
In the comments section, users shared their thoughts on the incident.
“They should’ve paid for the ENTIRE thing,” agreed a commenter. “Send a bill to Tyler’s parents house.”
“Yo tell me that Airbnb is no longer available, I would have shown up to the parents address and told them everything lmao,” another added.
“People do this,” said another concerning Airbnb rental scams. “I checked [out] an apartment and the landlord was so surprised it was set up as an Airbnb LOL.”
We’ve reached out to Airbnb via email and Olivia via Instagram direct message.
