NYC tourists duped by illegal vans touted on Airbnb as cheap places to ‘glamp’
The vans could have been rented for less than $100 a night
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They were a flash in the "van."
Cops this week seized seven illegally documented vans that have been used for at least two years as cut-rate Airbnb rentals, authorities said.
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In a series of since removed posts on the app, the vans were touted as a very down to Earth way for tourists to experience the mean streets of the Big Apple — by practically sleeping on them for under $100 a night.
"Glamp in a spacious camper Van in NYC!" gushed one ad boasting of a "private room" said to accommodate up to three people.
NYPD seized seven illegally documented vans that have been used for at least two years as cut-rate Airbnb rentals, authorities said. (iStock)
But an eagle-eyed traffic enforcement agent noticed something sketchy about the vehicles — five of which were parked in the East Village — whose registration and NJ plates were long expired, some going as far back as 2000, sources said.
A joint investigation by the city Sheriff’s office and the NYPD Document Fraud Unit discovered an "operation of alleged fraudulent and illegally registered vehicles being used as Airbnb rentals on various streets in Manhattan," Sheriff Joseph Fucito told The Post Saturday.
The Sheriff impounded the cars on Thursday and Friday, authorities said.
"Vehicles could be removed from the street because they were mismatched and expired registrations," a law enforcement source added.
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One of the seized vans — a red, 1999 Ford Econline parked on East 2nd Street — offered California-based journalist/video creator Uptin Saiidi, a room with a view — not to mention four wheels and an exhaust pipe.
Saiidi, who made a YouTube video out of his Aug. 4 stay, said he was initially seduced by the ad , which offered him the #VanLife experience for just $97.
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He said a key — which cannot start the engine — was left for him in a lockbox at the back of the van.
But he quickly noticed a red flag: "When I arrived there was a parking ticket, because it was there on Tuesday, which was street cleaning. I stayed there on a Wednesday," he noted.
Click here to read the full story at the New York Post