Warning:  List an Airbnb, Rent It for ‘Showings’


A scam converts Airbnb listings into discounted “Home for sale” ads targeting first-time buyers. If a buyer wants to see the house, the con artist rents it out for a day so the buyer can see it, according to a recent article by Elise Haas from Nexstar Broadcasting.

 Airbnb hosts in Oregon are warning people about a new scam. They say that some guests could be taking advantage of first-time homebuyers by staying at Airbnb properties in the area.

Melissa, a new Airbnb host who rents out her home in Northeast Portland to travelers, said, “I never thought there could be a scam that looks like a house for sale.”

Melissa said, “A good Samaritan in Happy Valley asked me to message them on Facebook.” “Her name is Kellie, and she told me she saw that my house was on the market.”

Melissa looked up her home address and found that it was listed on the website For Sale By Owner for half of what it’s really worth, but only for cash buyers who were buying their first home.

Melissa said, “I was really scared because I didn’t know who had put it up.”

Melissa’s property is managed by a woman who noticed that something was off about her most recent Airbnb guest.

The property manager said, “When she got there, she didn’t have any bags with her. She went into the house, stayed there for a very short time, and then other people came and walked in.”

Melissa then looked at the surveillance footage herself and saw that the “guest” was actually pretending to be a real estate agent.

“I saw that the guest had checked in at 3:03 p.m., and then at 3:44 p.m., a really nice family came to the home. When I listened to the audio, I realized that the guest was pretending to be a Realtor, a real estate agent, and that the family was there to look at the home,” said Melissa.

Soon after the first family left, the Airbnb guest was seen inviting another mother with a baby into the house, likely for a viewing.

At the same time, Kellie Roth-Sarmiento, the same good person who told Melissa about this problem, put her in touch with Greg, another host in Northeast Portland whose Airbnb was also being sold fraudulently.

“Ironically, it turned out to be this same con artist,” Melissa said. “She had booked his house the day after she had booked mine, and she had shown it to two different families on two different occasions. So, I’d tell hosts to make sure they have a ring camera.”

Melissa’s property manager said that the homes were being listed for prices that were way too high.

The property manager said, “They will put these houses up for sale by owner at a price that is way too high.” “There are no real estate agents involved, and they are stealing money from people and then leaving.”

Most likely, the scammers also took advantage of vulnerable first-time homebuyers who didn’t know anything was wrong.

The property manager said, “We have to stop the scammers so they can’t keep taking money from honest people.”

A spokesperson for Airbnb said that these kinds of scams are “rare,” but they did confirm that the alleged scammer’s account has been shut down while they look into it.

The Portland Police Bureau also said that they have heard of similar cons, but they don’t know if they are common at this time.

The Portland Police Department uses a site called CrimeDex to share information. Recently, a group from New York City put up fake Airbnb “for sale” listings and worked in multiple states.

The FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network says that there were 183 complaints about “Airbnb” and “business imposters” in the past year. However, only around half concern a similar scam to the ones reported in Northeast Portland.

New homebuyers concerned about being scammed are urged to protect themselves. Officials urge home-seekers to never write a personal check to an individual buyer, but to rather use a title company or an agent. Also, when houses are in great condition and listed for well below market value of the surrounding homes, that’s a major red flag.

The local hosts in Northeast Portland suggest that Airbnb hosts be on alert and regularly check online to see if their properties are being posted fraudulently for sale on any sites like For Sale By Owner, Redfin or Zillow.