Hello,
First, the credit card co. Needs to be notified and will refund the amount spent. In turn, the cc co. Will backcharge. Airbnb is notorious for these types transactions and should be shutdown. Your son has learned a business lesson... research a business prior to do business!

Dont waste your time trying to having a "meaningful dialogue with Airbnb"!
Contact your credit card company for a refund of non performance.

I doubt you'll ever get a response from airb&b. I would follow Scott's advice, and if you can't get your money back, go to the attorney general or comparable agency, if you're not in the USA, and file a complaint. My experience is that airb&b is not honest and won't respond to complaints.

Get another place! Do not count on airbnb. They have a great idea but no way of helping you dialogue with the owner.

Not use Airbnb for your travel arrangements is my suggestion

Hi: I tried for 11 days to pay for a reservation and a price that the owner and myself had agreed upon with no success: Their Airbnb UK site is full of viruses (which I had to get cleaned off my computer) and it has many functional problems and hence I was not able to make the reservation/rent property. I sent formal letter to Airbnb with recommendations on how to improve their services: I subsequently found alternate accommodation in Holland and the process of booking and payment was very easy: no problems at all: Airbnb keeps the payment until you arrive at the accommodation & then they pay the owner: For my first booking I am still pursuing Airbnb through Paypal dispute as they took one nights accommodation without authority: I suspect it's a problem with their automatic payment system. In Australia newpapers have highlighted problems with Airbnb and government, lawyers and Airbnb are working on many of the problems (lots of gaps in laws & this could be because Airbnb is operating in a zone that are not a yet covered by legislation) our politicians will be working on the gaps & pursuing the laws that need to be in place to enable a business to function whilst protecting the users of the business. Here is one link to newspaper article Feb 2015:
http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/rising-angst-over-airbnb-operations/story-e6frfq80-1227210877547 - there are a few more up to day ones in September 2015 & you can see the progress that is going on to address many of the problems.

I got through to Airbnb by phoning 61 2 8520 3333 & there is a webpage that gives you multiple phone numbers & steps to take, I got a response with 5 minutes and young lady was really helpful - could not fix the problem as default was in the Airbnb Uk site: Another link to Airbnb.com phone number is:. https://gethuman.com/phone-number/Airbnb-com and another phone number is: 855-424-7262: I am confident that Paypal will sort out the illegal operation of taking money from my account, I have advised CEO of Airbnb Australia and I am going to be confident that my 2nd booking will all go well as the owner has used Airbnb for some years with no problems. Cheers Irene

You are all idiots.

The foolish and naive victim sent money to nothing but an IBAN (a bank account and bank branch ID number). Worse than hanging cash to a stranger in the street.

The only way the scam gang can be traced and arrested and charged is via an FBI or Interpol investigation.

This is a multi million dollar per month scam. Run by an organised criminal gang. They have many hundreds of domain names that are similar to or could be confused with legitimate domains of the major booking platforms/sites.

They send out thousands of phishing messages by email and SMS - they even post fake free credit messages on AirBNB's social media - in order to get users login details. They then compromise the users accounts and use them to scam and phish other users.

Can you describe what happened, please? Did the host ask you to pay outside Airbnb? Did you pay and came to the location and it wasn't there?

Hi you may want to contact them via FB.

As a host who takes this stuff seriously, I am so sorry to hear about you being scammed. The answers here are right on. You paid with a credit card and you should be able to get a refund through them. When the bill comes through, refuse to pay the charge, and of course call their customer service number. Google their customer service number in your area. It will come up in your search. When you call insist on speaking with a supervisor. They are the only ones with the power to effect a change on your account and launch an investigation into this host. Make sure you get these hosts taken off AirBnB. Also post negative reviews on Yelp, Site jabber and mention the host and their address. If you can post on their AirBnB site so that everyone can see it that would also be great. We are travelling to Paris next year and I was going to stay in an AirBnB apartment... now I am becoming very wary. I would be interested to know the results of your complaints. Good luck. And again. I am so sorry.

855-424-7262
Response@airbnb.com

It's unfortunate that scam hosts infiltrate airbnb.
The good hosts as treated as badly as the guests by airbnb.
For these reasons, I recommend guests book DIRECTLY with the hosts. If you are resourceful on the internet, you will find our listings!
Airbnb removed all of my listings without notice after 6 yrs. Of hosting w/ them (I am filing for an arbitration hearing to collect the thousands of dollars they owe me) then send me the following email. (INSANITY):

Hi Cheri,
This community would not be what it is without you. After 6 years of hosting, you are one of the groundbreakers in this adventure. Thank you for believing in the radical idea of welcoming people from all over the world to belong in your home, in your town, anywhere.
Here's to many years of happy hosting to come!

I got refund from my credit card company. You have to tell them that payment was unauthorized and that you did not receive service. Best of luck!

I got scammed as well