<prompt> Human: My friend is taking a trip to NY in a few months. He saw a place he wanted to stay at and contacted them on air BB. Shortly after he got a message to take the chat to Facebook. There the person told them that basically, airbb takes a cut from them and they can give the place at a discount if they agree to do it off of the website. The person said that my friend doesnt have to pay until they get to NY and get to the apartment. They also said they understand it looks shady, so if they want they can book it on airbb and just pay more. My friend thinks theres no risk since hes not paying anything until he gets there. Anyone know of a scam like this? Forgive the formatting, Im on mobile.Assistant: A little more info. The place is like 500, the person is going to give them like 75 off to do it off the site. What doesnt make sense to me is that the person said they would deny any other airbb requests for the dates my friend wants even though theyre not receiving payment first. Im wondering why the person would risk my friend just bailing last minute.  <response>: They save on the Airbnb commission and on their taxes... cos if your friend pays in cash then the host wont declare it as income. 