Last week, I fell for a scam on Airbnb. This is the type of thing you never think will happen to you -- until it does.

Online con artists can create websites that look almost identical to the popular home-renting website Airbnb.com and succeed in siphoning thousands of dollars from unsuspecting users. It happens fairly often .

I fell for a classic "phishing" scheme, which gets you to click on a bogus link, then tricks you into sending over money or personal information. If you're observant, you might notice something's off as soon as the scammers start corresponding with you. But the bogus site looks like the real deal, so it's possible that you might cast your doubts aside. I did.

Here's how it happened to me.