A scammer who hacked into an Australian man’s Airbnb account and spent $1800 staying at a beachside villa has been arrested, but only after cops initially said they were too busy to go there – despite it being only 500 metres from the police station.
The Sydney executive, who only wanted to be known as ‘Andrew’, noticed his bank balance was lower than usual on Monday and found a credit card transaction for an Airbnb booking in Western Australia that he did not make.
After discovering the stranger had booked into a home advertised as a ‘Tropical Retreat Luxury Villa’ at Scarborough in Perth for seven nights, and would still be there, Andrew contacted the police station in the beachside suburb.
However Andrew was stunned by the reaction he received.
The persistence of an Australian businessman upset by police ignoring his Airbnb account being hacked has led to the arrest of an alleged identity thief
Andrew, a Sydney businessman, phoned Scarborough police on Monday after realising a stranger had hacked his Airbnb account and booked seven nights at a ‘tropical resort villa’ in Western Australia
‘I rang Scarborough Police Station, told them the full story and the fact the thieves were still at the place, gave them the address,’ Andrew told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I Googled the station, it was 500 metres from Scarborough police.
‘They said it’s a cyber crime issue, log a case online.’
Police directed him to the Australian Cyber Security website.
Unable to find a way to…
