Unsure whether to book this apartment!

[Megan545]

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/39350775?location=Amsterdam%2C%20Netherlands&adults=2&children=0&chec...

I am unsure whether to trust this apartment, there has been no stays there yet as the host joined in October, therefore no reviews- also the photographs look as tho they may have been taken from a computer screen?! The rate is also lower than most of the others on offer but I’m hoping this is because the host is new rather than that it’s a scam can anyone help? 

[Denis-Mark0]

@Megan545  NO, NEVER

Fotos look obviously taken from computer screen because the one who did it was even too stupid how to take screenshots!

Nothing about the host, just a phone number as registered information.

[Anonymous]

@Megan545  This listing is a fake.

The photos were taken from computer screen images from Dutch real-estate website.

There's no description text or house rules, even though the space has obviously been purposefully set up as a holiday home rather than a residence.

The Host profile is a nonsense name ("Unctc") with a picture of the actress Charlotte Le Bon.

A whole apartment for that price does not exist in Amsterdam and never will.

Don't waste your time, just find a real listing with reviews.

[Ricardo85]

@Megan545 

Report her to Airbnb.

Ricardo

[Helen3]

Clearly a scam @Megan545  - look for a long established superhost with great recent reviews.

I believe in Amsterdam you also need a license which should be shown on the listing. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

it is delisted

[Sarah977]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  I wonder if it was delisted by the scammers themselves. That seems to be how they operate- lure in an unsuspecting victim through a 3rd party site, direct them to their Airbnb listing, so it seems legit, while telling them that they actually have to book through the fake site they've set up, then as soon as the victim wires money, the scammer takes the listing down.

[Sarah977]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 @Helen3 @Ricardo85 @Anonymous  Isn't the lag between submitting a new listing and its publishing supposed to be for the purpose of Airbnb determining if all is kosher? How do these scammers manage to have their listings appear on the official Airbnb site? I guess that's a rhetorical question, Airbnb is obviously not practicing due diligence.

Interesting that their computer bot is programmed to admonish us that our photos are "too dark" or "too blurry" yet can't manage to detect obvious screen grabs used as listing photos.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Sarah977  3,5 years ago when we joined Airbnb  I remember our listing was published the same moment we hit the button. I don't know if something has changed in the meantime

[Sarah977]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  I can't remember if mine was or not, it was about 3 years ago for me. But I know I see many posts here from new hosts asking why their listing hasn't been published yet and other hosts tell them it can take about 24 hours for it to go live.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Sarah977  I remember because we got a booking a few minutes later and I still didn't set a cleaning fee and extra guest fee 🙂

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

... and btw, here we have a website ,( I suppose it's like Craigslist in USA) where we can put an ad if we want to sell something. Every ad has to be approved and it doesn't metter if I am selling a house or a piece of furniture or  I want to rent an apartment

[Sarah977]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  Craigslist is actually worldwide, (maybe doesn't exist in Croatia)  and I'm afraid it's more lax than the website you have, as I've read here on the forum guests who got scammed with a fake Airbnb ad they found on Craigslist. Gumtree is another I see mentioned a lot- think it's out of Australia?

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Sarah977    yes, there are a few ads from Croatia on Craigslist ,but it is not popular here, I found just 6 apartments for rent from entire Croatia and zero ads in 5 other categories, I didn't look any a further