A former vacation rental host named Shray Goel is facing an arrest warrant after being accused of defrauding numerous customers.
As stated in the indictment attached to the warrant obtained by PEOPLE, Goel has been charged with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. It is alleged that Goel utilized various rental platforms, including Airbnb and VRBO, to carry out a deceptive scheme involving 100 properties across multiple states, known as a “double-booking bait-and-switch scheme.”
According to the indictment, a mix of genuine and fraudulent listings were found. According to reports, certain properties were supposedly listed under addresses that either lacked residential structures, had no connection to the individuals involved, or simply did not exist.
It has been reported that Goel and his associates purportedly received more than 10,000 reservations in 2018 and 2019, resulting in a revenue of $7 million.
According to the indictment, they would frequently create multiple listings for the same property using different “fake host accounts,” resulting in multiple bookings for a single rental. According to the indictment, the guest who made the highest booking was the only one allowed to stay at the property. Goel allegedly canceled all other reservations, providing a “false excuse” for the sudden unavailability of the property.
It is claimed that he managed to evade payment of cancellation fees or issuing refunds for the bookings that were canceled. He did this by providing misleading information to the rental platform regarding the reservation details or the guest’s actual completion of the stay.
On other occasions, it is claimed that he provided an alternative property for the guests who were unable to be accommodated, stating that it was of the same standard. According to the indictment, there were also cases where he abruptly ceased communication with guests who had double-booked, leaving them without any place to stay upon check-in.
It has been reported that Goel supposedly took down and subsequently relisted properties on various platforms in order to avoid negative guest reviews and prevent their removal.
According to the indictment, he allegedly utilized fabricated guest accounts to post deceptive positive reviews.
In a statement to PEOPLE, a spokesperson for Airbnb said, “Airbnb is built on trust, and bad actors have no place in our community. We supported the US Attorney’s Office and the FBI throughout their investigation to help ensure accountability, and we are thankful to them for their work.”
“We have taken multiple steps to strengthen our defenses against deceptive behavior, including measures like identity and listing verification which we believe will help further deter already rare instances of this type of activity,” they continued.
Goel did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment. A phone number listed on his professional website is no longer in service.
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