Denver woman shares Airbnb scam experience

DENVER — When Brogan Sittema’s family was looking at Denver Airbnb listings for her upcoming wedding, she wanted two things: a place that could hold up to eight people comfortably and was near her Curtis Park home.

She said her sister-in-law found the perfect listing, back in October 2019.

“Really beautifully decorated,” Sittema said. “A lot of space in there because there were eight family members staying in there. So there were enough bedrooms for everybody, enough bathrooms for everybody.”

On the day her family went to check in, they were brought to a school, not a house. The address on the listing was for the Montessori Academy at 25th Avenue and Curtis Street.

“We walked around the block twice and thought maybe we had it wrong,” Sittema said.

With the discovery of a problem, Sittema’s family contacted the host. She said it took several hours to get a response.

“He said that, ‘Oh there’s actually an issue with the plumbing at the Airbnb listing that you booked, but good news, there’s another Airbnb down the block that’s ours that you can stay at. It’s actually an upgrade and available now so you can go and stay there,'” Sittema recalled.

She said the “upgrade” was hardly that. Sittema described the new place as “dirty” and “grungy.” It also wasn’t the most accessible option for her entire family.

“The upgraded place they ended up staying at did not have enough rooms, it had bunk beds, a spiral staircase in the kitchen that not everybody could get up so not everyone could access the upstairs of the Airbnb,” Sittema shared.

With her wedding the next day, there wasn’t much that could be done to fix the situation, but Sittema was thankful her family had a roof over their heads.

Sittema said her family didn’t have to pay additional fees for the new property, which was one of the selling points to go to a new site.

“Looking back on that, we kind of knew something was wrong in the beginning and I guess we just trusted Airbnb had verified it and maybe it was a mistake,” Sittema said.

Now, Sittema is learning her concerns in 2019 were valid. The property her family booked was listed as one of 19 properties in a federal indictment against two men running a nationwide Airbnb scam.

According to the Department of Justice indictment, Shray Goel, 35, of Miami, and Shaunik Raheja, 34, of Denver, were indicted by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles. Prosecutors said their scheme brought in more than $8.5 million through misleading listings and fraudulently canceled reservations.

Sittema said she felt supported, knowing she was truly caught in the middle of a scam.

“I felt shock, a lot of validation, because back then, we knew that something wasn’t right, but no one was looking into it that we knew of so we just figured it was a one-off experience,” Sittema said.

Sittema communicated her concerns with Airbnb support, but she was only told to write a review of the property. Although the listing and messages with the host conveniently disappeared shortly after her family’s stay.

The indictment alleged the scheme occurred between October 2017 and November 2019.

Sittema said her family has been able to look back and laugh at the situation. She said the recent indictment brought back all the feelings she felt in that moment and provided her family a bit of closure they didn’t know was out there.

SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Investigations & Crime