Natasha Harrington said the owner of the Airbnb seemed like a charming man before another renter eerily told her to search his name online
An Airbnb owner lost a customer after she learned the host had been charged with a sex crime, prompting her to immediately flee the home.
Natasha Harrington had made an Airbnb reservation for a stay at Winston Nguyen’s house in Harlem, New York City, but when she got there, another renter knocked on her door and instructed her to look up his name online. Harrington was then appalled to learn that Nguyen, her host, who had just greeted her, was charged with requesting sexually explicit images from minors.
In a Reddit post, she had stated that she had thought him “very nice and charming” at first, but that everything changed when she heard a faint knock on the door.
Harrington initially described Nguyen as charming (Image:Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
A man at the entrance had seen her entering the apartment complex and asked her why, a query Harrington had brushed aside. He told her: “Im trying to be very discreet. I found some things out about this man, and hes not a good person. Google his name. Hes a pedophile. And hes being evicted, so I dont know how long youll be staying here.”
According to the Independent, Nguyen, 37, was accused of pretending to be a teenager 11 times on social media between October 2022 and May 2024 in an effort to persuade pupils to give him pornographic photos. “I was really scared,” she said to Gothamist. Then, Harrington, a Manhattan preschool teacher, contacted her sister and partner to disclose her predicament.
She told the publication that she went to bed “feeling uneasy,” ran away with everything she owned in the morning, and contacted Airbnb to get her the $1,600 back.
Click here to follow the Mirror US on Google News to stay up to date with all the latest news, sports and entertainment stories
Harrington initially described Nguyen as charming (Image:Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
After a tiring few days of trying to contact customer service and find someone who could assist her, Harrington was incensed when the firm informed her that the circumstance did not contravene Airbnb’s refund policy. The firm suggested Harrington to contact the host, as is standard practice at the time, she told Gothamist:
“It was extremely frustrating, and it felt like even the live people I was talking to weren’t really receptive to doing anything about the situation. Everyone kept asking me, ‘Well, have you talked to the host?’ – which of course I didn’t talk to him.” Harrington’s attempts to clarify the situation, including links regarding Nguyen’s charges, were captured in screenshots, but the customer support representatives she interacted with were straightforward.
“As much as I’d love to shorten your stay and process the refund for you, since the host had not given me authorization to process any refund, I won’t be able to proceed,” one message read.