Two men have been charged with running a massive $8.5 million scam that allegedly defrauded thousands of Airbnb and Vrbo users, according to the Justice Department. Shray Goel, 35, of Miami, and Shaunik Raheja, 34, of Denver, are accused of double-booking properties and using discriminatory practices to pick and choose who got to keep their reservations.
The superseding indictment handed down a raft of charges against the pair that includes conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 13 counts of wire fraud against both, with Goel facing an extra helping of two counts of aggravated identity theft. The con men allegedly canceled bookings based on racial bias, leaving Black renters out in the cold, according to the charges unveiled today.
Operating under the guise of Abbot Pacific LLC and other names, Goel and Raheja allegedly turned property management into a get-rich-quick scheme, at the expense of unsuspecting travelers. They would reportedly switch guests to inferior digs or cancel them outright to accommodate a higher bidder. The indictment alleges that this devious strategy raked in over $7 million from Airbnb alone with Vrbo reservations netting an additional $1.5 million.
Working their angles to the maximum, the indictment also states that Goel, Raheja, and their co-conspirators profited from the scheme by running a secret bidding war, as obtained by the U.S. Department of Justice. The bogus bookings stretched across 10 states, pooling in a vast sea of nearly 100 properties. Originally charged in December, Goel was released on bond while Raheja recently joined the fray in the superseding indictment.
United States Attorney Martin Estrada slammed the scam as "deplorable," highlighting the distress caused to potentially thousands of travelers. "Fueled by greed, the defendants deceived consumers about the locations and conditions of properties, canceled reservations to double-book properties and based on racial prejudices," Estrada told the Department of Justice.
These savvy swindlers didn't just allegedly discriminate; they were pretty inventive too. They are accused of concocting fake host names to evade bans and post glowing reviews to woo the next marks. And when they got bad press, they'd simply discredit any negative chatter and re-list their properties under new IDs to wipe the slate clean.
The FBI and FDIC-OIG are sinking their teeth into the investigation while Airbnb and Vrbo are cooperating with the feds. If convicted, the tricksters could face up to 20 years in the slammer for conspiracy and wire fraud, with Goel possibly looking at an additional two years for identity theft.
Despite the hefty charges hanging over their heads, it's crucial to know an indictment is just an allegation. Until the gavel falls, Goel and Raheja are presumed innocent.
