The vacation rental scam taking place in a Madrid apartment near Maricarmen’s home

Dozens of people are standing outside number 19, Menéndez Pelayo Street, in Madrid’s Retiro district. They are looking for a vacation rental that does not exist. Some of them are here from Nigeria, on their way to Milan, Italy. Another family, baby included, came from Morocco. There is a couple on a business trip, and two retirees from Ecuador. All of them believed they were going to spend Tuesday night at the vacation rental they’d booked online. But a sign on the door leaves no room for doubt: “The accommodation listed on booking.com does not exist. You need to file a report at the National Police Precinct.”

The same scene has been playing out since Friday of last week. A constant trickle of tourists, visitors, couples and families show up with their suitcases, only to find that they have nowhere to stay. The residents of the building said they are not aware of any apartment that is being rented out short-term.

The scam has already affected hundreds of people who have yet to receive any explanation. Most of them booked the place last minute, paying between €90 and €180 a day. Some of them reserved two nights, but most only booked one. “It’s deplorable. We have no other options,” says a woman named Laura who has just gotten out of a taxi with her suitcases and says she paid €200 for three nights because it was “the most affordable option in the area.”

Coincidentally, the building is just a five-minute walk from the house where Maricarmen Abascal lived for seven decades before being evicted 11 days ago. Her eviction triggered a public outcry over Spain’s affordable housing crisis, leading to a sit-in protest in Sol and a decision by the leftist government of Pedro Sánchez to call a snap election for late November. Vacation rentals have also come under greater scrutiny.

The phony listing was still available on Booking.com late on Tuesday despite the growing evidence of fraud. The listing described it as a 53-square-meter (570 sq ft) apartment with parking space, a private bathroom, a spa center, free transportation to the airport and even “a very good breakfast.”

The photographs showed spacious rooms with king size beds, a kitchen and sitting rooms. There were also views out the window of an elegant building that is nowhere near the actual location. None of this exists, yet over 800 people were convinced that it did and paid money for it, according to a headcount by Cris Bellón, the building caretaker, who has been dealing with the constant trickle of disconcerted visitors.

This newspaper repeatedly tried to reach Booking for comment, but the calls were fielded by AI agents. In the meantime, the listing showed a high rating of 7.7 out of 10, and even had over 700 comments by alleged clients who reported being “very happy with how clean it was and how nice the owner was.” Another one wrote “very good location, smack in the Ría de Ferrol,” which happens to be located in the northwestern province of Galicia, around 600 km (372 miles) away from Madrid.

According to Booking and Airbnb, travel booking scams have increased in the last year. The former platform said that in 2015 it had blocked 14 million attempts at phishing, a type of fraud that aims to steal people’s personal information. In recent months there has been a rise in identity theft.

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