Notorious Airbnb Host Charged with Allegedly Running $8.5M Nationwide Scam | Shray Goel is charged with running an Airbnb scam across 100 U.S. properties.::Shray Goel is charged with running an Airbnb scam across 100 U.S. properties.
for allegedly masterminding a nationwide scam that systematically double-booked guests to rake in profits.
Goel would set up separate listings for the same property at different prices, according to the indictment, then cancel the lower-priced rental with excuses about bad plumbing…If Goel is convicted, the government could force him to forfeit all of the properties, according to the indictment.
silverbax@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Best part of the article:
“Goel’s scheme was uncovered in an in-depth investigation by reporter Allie Conti in 2019, who detangled the plot after being double-booked at one of his properties in Chicago and receiving a suspicious last-minute cancellation. Conti was contacted by the FBI days after the article was published.”
I wish there was more of this. Good investigative journalism has been one of the most powerful weapons in justice, and I fear it’s diminishing rapidly.
No_Ones_Slick_Like_Gaston@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Investigative journalism died the day the local newspapers stopped selling their local markets and became megaphones of a few nationwide companies owned by the same politically well connected donors.
MelonYellow@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
The FBI doesn’t fuck around.