BC woman says someone tried to rent her an apartment and it turned out to be an Airbnb scam

apartment hunters Beware, someone in Vancouver is allegedly trying to trick unsuspecting renters into forking out cash deposits for Airbnb listings they don’t own.

Narcity spoke with a woman in her late 20s from British Columbia – who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons – about her experience. She was looking to get an apartment in the city and said she spotted a one-bedroom apartment at 933 Seymour Street in Vancouver and arranged to see it on November 8.

The apartment had been listed for $2,300 a month, which she found to be “quite reasonable” for Vancouver and it would be ready to rent from December 1st.

However, when she arrived for the viewing, she immediately sensed “something was wrong”.

She was greeted by two women, one claiming to be the building manager and the other claiming to be the daughter of the unit owner. They mentioned that they also had a two bedroom apartment for rent in the building.

“The first thing I noticed was that there is a little sign that looks like the one you see in an Airbnb… I was taken aback and was trying to assess the situation,” she said.

The phone number on the sign didn’t match the one she had texted about the apartment, and there were other red flags too. She said the unit was fully furnished and she suspected one of the women was under the influence of something.

Another couple had also arrived for the viewing and at the end they were asked if they were interested in renting the apartment. However, the person claiming to be the property manager asked for a cash deposit which was the “final red flag”.

As the couple said they would be interested, she left the unit and tried to memorize the number on the sign she spotted so she could investigate further.

She immediately contacted the number she had found in the apartment and scoured Airbnb for the listing, which she managed to track down, only to find it had already been booked in December.

She told Narcity that she filed a complaint with the police and managed to alert the owner of Airbnb, who told her that they also filed their own complaint.

“When I was on Airbnb looking at the loft, I saw there was also a two bedroom there and I just thought ‘this is a full operation.'”

Vancouver police confirmed to Narcity that they are investigating an incident at the address.

Meanwhile, she said the whole experience had made her much more wary of apartment hunting and added that it had highlighted a larger problem with renting in Vancouver.

“There’s no affordable housing. People are in dire straits, so it’s much easier to post bail there,” she added.

Fortunately, she was able to sign a lease for another apartment fairly quickly.

A Vancouver police spokesperson told Narcity that while such incidents have been observed from time to time, there have been no “concerning” amounts recently.

Airbnb has been contacted by Narcity but has not responded at the time of publication.