Detroit woman’s home listed on Airbnb by scammers

DETROIT (FOX 2) – A Detroit wife said her home was listed on Airbnb by crooks who claim to own the house and rent it out but end up scamming people.

Imagine that a random group of people show up at your house, believing that they have paid to stay with you. They’re even looking for a key that’s supposed to be hidden under the doormat. That’s exactly what happens to a Detroit woman.

Barbara Milton owns a house on the west side of Detroit. She never put it online for rent, but that didn’t stop scammers from impersonating her.

“I own this house,” Milton said. “Whoever does this is an impostor.”

When that happens, and it’s been more than once, Milton says both sides end up being surprised.

“I’m just as shocked as they were when they stopped,” she said. “They think they’re coming to get ready, they’ve got bags, they’ve got a suitcase in their car and I’m like oh.”

The first time this happened was in May. Milton’s doorbell camera alerted her to strangers on the front porch who were clearly looking for a way in. She used her monitoring system and gently asked them to leave.

“(I said) hi sir. How can I help you? (He said) I’m looking for a key. Are you looking for a key? Sir, what’s going on. He said you’re renting this house I said it’s impossible for me to own this house,” Milton said.

But according to them, the house was listed on Airbnb and they booked it.

Milton felt very bad. The family had their children in the car with them and nowhere to go.

“She said they had nowhere to go, these people took their money. I’m like oh my lord I gotta do something about this,” she said.

Fast forward to Thursday, and it happened again.

“I said hello can I help you. She said oh I am renting this house for 3 days. I said you are the second person. I said no this house is not for rent”, did she say.

But the couple who showed up on Thursday received a confirmation email. They came from Montreal for the weekend – only to find themselves stuck with nowhere to go.

Milton contacted Airbnb who said they were investigating the matter.

“It scares me, I just want it to stop,” Milton said.

On Friday, his listing was off the Airbnb website.

FOX 2 also reached out to Airbnb to comment on Milton’s situation.

“False listings are very rare and they have no place on our platform. At Airbnb, we handle payments, which means we can confirm that whoever did this hasn’t been paid,” the company said. society.