Investors in Airbnb arbitrage business allege they were defrauded in scheme promising 'higher returns than the stock market'

Daryn Carr is no stranger to side hustles. After his mom died from Covid in 2020, he used funds from her pension to pay off some bills and buy a car. With the remaining money, he invested in crypto and started an ATM business. 

One day in 2022, while scrolling through Instagram, he came upon another opportunity. Carr found a guy named Anthony Agyeman, who was promoting a type of arbitrage on Airbnb that involved taking listings from hotel booking and short-term rental sites and relisting them on Airbnb at a higher price, retaining the profit. 

Agyeman claimed in marketing materials that his business, Hands-Free Automation, had "5-year exclusivity contracts" with thousands of property owners that gave it permission to relist their properties at a higher price.

Getting involved with Hands-Free Automation, or HFA, required a payment of between $20,000 and $30,000 to effectively own a piece of Airbnb listings. Agyeman described it as a "minimal to no risk" path to extra income with a guaranteed return in three to six months of investment, "then pure profit after."   

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