Approximately one week ago, I was browsing for accomodation in London through airbnb and this “Luxury Central Location Apartment” appeared and it seems to fit the criteria that I wanted. I have also noticed the host named Natsuko is verified. So I contacted the host using the red button in airbnb to ask for availability. I received the reply on the next day in my email, but not in my airbnb account. Because it was my first time using airbnb, I did not find it odd and thought it was the standard procedure. I also was not warned about this when I created my airbnb account. The host confirmed the availability and asked for my details, which I eventually gave. Within hours, I received an airbnb email (invoice@airbnb-payment.com) confirming my reservation and asked me to bank in the money to the bank account provided. At almost the same time, the host also emailed me that the reservation has been made and requested me to send her the payment receipt once the payment is done to secure my reservation. I made the payment few days after that. It started to concern me as i did not receive any payment invoice from airbnb. So i called airbnb on the second day and realised i might have been scammed. I called my bank to cancel the payment but it was too late. I called the receipient bank (Alior Bank) to report this and asked them to halt the account to receive the payment. I was informed that the only authority that can halt this is by direct cooperation between my bank and Alior bank. It was too late. Fuck airbnb.

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