Attempted fraud by Airbnb host via digital image manipulation

[ZilverHaylide]

"Airbnb guest says images were altered in false £12,000 damage claim.

Woman wins apology and refund of almost £4,300 after claiming host’s photos were digitally manipulated."

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/aug/02/airbnb-guest-damage-claim-refund-photos

(Scroll down in the linked article to see the two images side-by-side).

Absolutely astounding! And had the host not carelessly submitted two different images with the supposed "crack" differently-offset in the two images, therefore self-proven to be image manipulation, the victimized renter might not have had any recourse.

YMMV, but the lesson I take from the above is to never use this booking company. The ease with which the host was almost able to succeed in his false claim, and the difficulty the customer had in trying to get some human at Airbnb to simply properly examine the fraudulent photo "evidence" submitted by the host, unequivocally says, at least to me, that I don't want to ever book thru this company.

But the question arises -- what can one do, in the age of A.I. image manipulation, to protect oneself? Especially when not all fraudsters will be as careless as the above example.

 

[ishwanu]

... the question arises -- what can one do, in the age of A.I. image manipulation, to protect oneself? Especially when not all fraudsters will be as careless as the above example.

I don't think AI was responsible in this case. To me, the 'cracks' look like they were drawn by a human using any simple drawing app of the past few decades.

Still, the question about protection from fakery in general is valid. There is a consortium of companies working on this Content Authenticity Initiative. We'll have to see what happens with that. But even if it works as intended, there are plenty of existing cameras and editing tools that will never be compliant with the content credentials aspect.

 

[A74Me]

Its impossable for any timber laminated table to ever crack like that.

 

[ZilverHaylide]

Its impossable for any timber laminated table to ever crack like that.

Yes, thinking about it, that makes sense, good point. But given that the renter couldn't, on her own, even get Airbnb to look at the obvious discrepancy in the photos provided by the host, what chance did she have to get Airbnb to think about the physics of how laminated wood would crack?

 

[Doug J]

It's unlikely this is a veneer, considering the raised border around the table. It's more likely that it's comprised of pieces of solid wood that are edge-joined. Wood never cracks diagonally to the grain; it always cracks with the grain.

Oddly, there are 2 different versions of the table.


Cheers,
Doug

 

[ZilverHaylide]

It's unlikely this is a veneer, considering the raised border around the table. It's more likely that it's comprised of pieces of solid wood that are edge-joined. Wood never cracks diagonally to the grain; it always cracks with the grain.

Oddly, there are 2 different versions of the table.

(My bolding)

Yes. And that was the renter's point, that she couldn't, until The Guardian's intervention, get Airbnb to consider. Prima facie evidence that the host was lying, and his photo "evidence" fabricated. Because how could one table have cracked in two different ways?

Cheers,
Doug

 

[FrancoD]

"Airbnb guest says images were altered in false £12,000 damage claim.

Woman wins apology and refund of almost £4,300 after claiming host’s photos were digitally manipulated."

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/aug/02/airbnb-guest-damage-claim-refund-photos

(Scroll down in the linked article to see the two images side-by-side).

Absolutely astounding! And had the host not carelessly submitted two different images with the supposed "crack" differently-offset in the two images, therefore self-proven to be image manipulation, the victimized renter might not have had any recourse.

YMMV, but the lesson I take from the above is to never use this booking company. The ease with which the host was almost able to succeed in his false claim, and the difficulty the customer had in trying to get some human at Airbnb to simply properly examine the fraudulent photo "evidence" submitted by the host, unequivocally says, at least to me, that I don't want to ever book thru this company.

But the question arises -- what can one do, in the age of A.I. image manipulation, to protect oneself? Especially when not all fraudsters will be as careless as the above example.

I pointed out the danger of AI in the Open Forum a few times but the consensus from the experts was that it isn't a problem...

(I did make the 'it isn't untill it is" kind of reply but it will take time for some to work it out).

 

[CrimTi]

And AI is only going to make this type of fraud more prevalent. Best to take your own photos when you arrive as insurance. I do it routinely with rental cars.

 

[mfinley]

YMMV, but the lesson I take from the above is to never use this booking company. The ease with which the host was almost able to succeed in his false claim, and the difficulty the customer had in trying to get some human at Airbnb to simply properly examine the fraudulent photo "evidence" submitted by the host, unequivocally says, at least to me, that I don't want to ever book thru this company.

A satisfactory resolution would have been just to void the complaint from the host and void the damage claim. Airbnb refunded the entire cost of the 30 day stay which approached $5000.00.

There are not many companies who would go that far for a customer.