The man behind 10,000 fake Airbnb bookings has been charged with wire fraud and identity theft. Here’s the court filing.

On his website he posing on yachts and declares himself a “visionary” who has “integrated AI” into his “daily grind.” Is it any surprise he describes himself as a “biohacker” and “cold plunger”?

Here’s what, in fact, he appears to have done:

• Used fake accounts on VBRO and Airbnb
  
• Double booked properties (for instance, using multiple listing platforms)
  
• Sold bookings for properties he didn’t own or manage – and sometimes completely made up listings
  
• Then pushed guests to stay in inferior properties
  
• And refused refunds

In total they made $7 million on Airbnb making 10,000 reservations for almost 100 properties, between January 2018 and November 2019, and $1.5 million on VRBO before that.

Some of those accounts used the names “Alex & Brittany,” “Annie & Chase,” and “Becky & Andrew.” In some cases, these fake hosts used other peoples’ identities and identification documents, with some accounts stretching back to 2015. As the court record says, Goel and others working with him “would pretend to be the fake hosts in communications with guests and the rental platforms.”

They then used various accounts to leave misleading positive reviews of their own listings, as well as negative reviews of customers who complained, it adds.

You’d think that complaining customers leaving bad reviews would put a damper on their business! But they’d just deactivate the listings and create new ones for the same (often fake)property. And they also “lied to the rental platforms about the guest or the reservation to keep money from guests entitled to refunds.”

An arrest warrant was issued December 28, four years after media exposed the perpetrators of the scam. According to Airbnb,

Airbnb is built on trust, and bad actors have no place in our community. We supported the US Attorney’s Office and the FBI throughout their investigation to help ensure accountability, and we are thankful to them for their work.

You can easily cut out Airbnb to save hundreds on fees booking properties you find there. The argument against doing so is the protection that the platform provides to you?

While there are generally far fewer scams booking hotels, at least when you’re booking directly with the property or chain, even that isn’t always a guarantee that the hotel exists.

(HT: @crucker)