New Years Eve Nightmare – Defrauded by Students

When I was a full time caregiver for my terminally ill father, I listed my home on Airbnb to temporarily generate income. This was my only source of making money, as I was spending 60 hours per week with my father. On December 30th, 2016, I was approached by four college students who claimed they were from Ivy league schools and hosting a small reunion for the four of them on their first winter break home from college. Instead, the following happened and my home was destroyed. I have been left with nothing, and no help from Airbnb whatsoever. All of my furniture and possessions were either stolen or destroyed. I am at a loss for words, as I have given up all hope of recovering any of the life that I had worked so hard to build. The video will show you everything. Please help.

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6 Comments

  1. Although it’s terrible this happened. I have somewhat limited sympathy – it sounds like you were illegally sub letting your rented home and didn’t take out short term home insurance which would have been more likely to cover your losses.

    Nor did you install CCTV or have a local host on hand to look after your place and minimise the chances of this happening. Had you done so, you could have stopped the party before it started and had Airbnb cancel the booking and the ‘guests leave’.

    Of course Airbnb will want proof of the cost of items you have said were damaged. As would any insurance company that you would have wanted to make a claim on, had you had appropriate insurance.

    I do hope you find a positive way of moving forward, but I wouldn’t invest too much energy on asking others to fund your costs.

    • They demand receipts and documented values of anything that is claimed in the loss. Like most people, I don’t have a shoebox full of receipts and insurance valuations for everything I own.

      • Damn, yeah neither would I.
        I’d have thought photos of the damage would be enough and airbnb then pay you x amount.
        Sorry you’re going through this.

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