Description

I was searching on Airbnb for a place to stay in San Diego for the weekend of June 19th. I found a place and reserved it. A couple of days later, Airbnb contacted me and said they no longer are listing that property. The same day, I received a text message from someone claiming to be the owner of the property saying that if I wanted the property to reserve it on famillevacationhomes.com. I went to the website and reserved it. On May 19th, I zelle'd them the $2,040 for the rental including deposit. I communicated with the so-called owner (Angel Madilyn) via text messaging until the day of check in. On the night before check-in, Angel Madilyn sent me a text message asking if I can send her $100 in bitcoin and she will refund me when I check in. That caused me worry. I started looking into her name and company for any fraud alerts but didn't find any. I didn't send her any money. I went onto the website and had a live chat with someone named Carlos. He confirmed my reservation. On Friday June 19th we went to the property that was supposed to have a lockbox. There was someone living there. The place had two entrances. There was a sign on the door that said Seabreeze rentals. I called that company and they told me they never heard of Family Vacation homes. They also said that the property was rented since February. I kept trying to reach Family Vacation Homes and Angel Madilyn by phone but no one answered. I went on the website trying to live chat with them but that feature was no longer available. I sent them an email. This person had my phone number and email address that I sent to Airbnb. How did they get it. Either Airbnb was hacked or someone who works there is releasing private information.