Culiacán, Sinaloa.-A new form of real estate fraud was recently registered in Sinaloa through the Airbnb platform and we leave you the details so that you are alert and take precautions when you go to rent an apartment.
Businessman Javier Armenta was moving houses and found an apartment for rent that he liked in Culiacán. The rent was accessible due to the sector where it is located. He contacted who he thought were the owners to make an appointment and see the place that had been to his liking.
Upon arriving at the apartment building located in the Guadalupe neighborhood, those who occupied the place let him pass so that he could see the conditions in which the condominium he wanted to rent was in.
Seeing the treatment they were giving him, the conditions, and the access he had, Javier felt confident. He liked the apartment, so he decided that, at least for a while, it would be his new home.
However, the fraud that would follow was not expected.
Facebook contact
“ I looked in Marketplace on Facebook and I find one in the Guadalupe neighborhood that is furnished, at six thousand pesos a month, and according to what I have quoted, it seemed like a very good option. I sent a message to the person in the Marketplace post, he gave me his cell phone and we made an appointment,” said Armenta.
A few days after making the appointment, he saw the person who presented himself as the owner of the apartment inside it.
Upon entering, he was able to see the apartment, he recorded a video inside to show his family and as he was satisfied, he made a deal with the alleged owner to keep the place.
The next day, he made the deposits corresponding to two months’ rent as a deposit, but the alleged owner no longer answered the calls.
“ I didn’t start to like it anymore, I waited about 40 minutes and went with everything and a suitcase to the apartment because I had access and it was already paid for. When I got there I met a neighbor and told him that he was a new tenant and wanted to go upstairs, but I had my doubts because there was something strange. He was the one who contacted me with the owner of the place, and he told me that it was a scam, ”he lamented.
They operate the fraud by Airbnb
When speaking with the owner, he told her that he had rented the apartment to a person through the Airbnb platform. Who had previously presented himself as the owner of the apartment, had summoned several people to show them the place and offer it for rent.
“ The owner told me that through the building’s security cameras they detected that they were quoting different people and they quickly acted,” he explained.
Given this, Javier asked the owner of the apartment to get the information from the scammers through Airbnb, but the platform did not respond to this request, so neither the company nor the owner of the apartment was responsible for the fraud.
“ The owner also has a responsibility because it was in his property where the crime was committed, it was a fraud in the end, but he ignores it. The platform is not infallible, it is not that secure and it can be lent for crimes and there is never a response from Airbnb at the moment, ”He assured.
Source: elsoldemazatlan.com.mx
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