ROBBED BY AIRBNB EMLOYEE USING SCREEN SHARING

[Tom216]

When I called 415 800 5959 for help to offer a discount the airbnb employee asked me to use screen sharing so I agreed. I never had this request before. Its just not needed. But I took the bait. Once  he was inside my computer he never did use the screen sharing to show me where the buttons to hit were. Three hours later I had a total "account takeover" of my checking account that airbnb uses for my direct deposits as a superhost. He also accessed my savings account as well. He also changed my password so I could not log in to my own account and changed my phone number so that I could not change it back by receiving text messages. 

Further, after making multiple $1000 buys to "Revolut" whoever that is he was blocked, then called my bank and was able to get unblocked and started making more transfers or purchases. he got $8000 before he was stopped. He also was able to transfer $20,000 out of my savings into that same checking account but was not able to spend it before he was caught.

Have not had much success notifying airbnb management about this. Hope this blog post helps.

[Consuelo-Esther0]

Es una pena no tener confianza en la plataforma y en quienes se hospedan .

[Helen427]

@Tom216 

What a nasty thing to put any person through, there's lowlifes all over the place unfortunately.

Can we ask what country the Call Centre person was based in?

All of those who people who have had interactions with this person should be contacted to ensure their accounts have not been compromised, including with lack of Text Alerts, Email alerts as chances are you are not the sole target he's done this to.

How many others are out there who are not aware of such scams?

Btw, Staff at Call Centres & Customer Services everywhere have access to all manner of Data, just look at the likes of Telecommunication providers, Banks etc and they are trying to obtain more and more Personal Identification from the standard, date of birth, mothers maiden name now demanding a Copy of people's Drivers Licences, Passports, Voice recognition, Facial Recognition etc for their files for the most basic of transactions and none of us know who has access to that information, including IT Staff who are contracted to manage computer systems.

One's own Medical Records whilst with one's Doctor are in fact able to be accessed by IT Provider contractors if there's system services required etc.

It's incredible how many servers Personal Identity Data goes through in a wide range of countries and not just the one one is based in.

It's a Wild West era we live in

One's Personal Information is far more at risk with the Digital era than trusty ole Tree and Paper methods

[Robin4]

@Helen427 

Helen you don't know where these people are based.

A company......lets say Airbnb, will outsource their support to companies that specialize in support roles.

They in turn  advertise for people with expertise to fulfill these roles. They invite likely candidates through places like the CC, Airbnbhell and other sites and put them through a brief aptitude and experience test to become support personnel. 

I know, I have been there!

These people become part of a world wide hook-up, but they are not employees.....they do not hop in the car and go to work in the company office each day, they just get up in the morning pour themselves a bowl of cornflakes, turn on the computer and get to work from the comfort of their homes! 

They can be based literally anywhere on earth and their knowledge of the company is directly proportionate to their experience with it. Some will be great, some will be downright awful! 

You have the professionals that will employ dozens of people to answer questions for which they as principals will be paid handsomely and yet provide a pittance to those who have actually undertaken the work!

Helen, support is a seedy game, and that is precisely why we are seeing so many issues with it here on the CC. Support is not there to help the user, it is there to underpin Airbnb's profits. 

The first level of support is right here, the CC! The community Centre is outsources to a company called 'Standing on Giants'! ........SOG  is a British company who act as liaison for a number of world wide institutions  like Tesco Bank, RAC, Utilita power,  E.ON and they act as the first level of support. They do a great job in that  many user issues are resolved right here on the CC without having to be passed on to a higher level of support. I saw figures that said 69% of user issues were solved by Standing on Giants intervention. That is a worthwhile plus for Airbnb. 

After that we have phone support which is sourced out to Arise Virtual Solutions and you have email support which is outsourced to a company called Directly! 

Support is not what you think it is and that is why I continually bang on about taking care of your business so as not to involve support. Be the master of your own destiny, not leave it up to some call centre in  Bangladesh or Nigeria, or outer Mongolia! 

Cheers........Rob

[Colleen253]

@Robin4 I had a look into Arise and Airbnb do indeed use them. The Airbnb CS ambassadors hosts are speaking to are fully independent contractors, not employed by Arise nor Airbnb. This explains so many things. It is indeed seedy, the closer you look at it. I fear for @Tom216 's situation in light of this.

[Robin4]

@Colleen253 

Colleen, I have been through this loop, I understand absolutely and comprehensively how support works, I spent a year working for Directly!

You have to realise that when you contact support you are dealing with a sub contractor! The level of contact-ability can be fantastic but, in the final analysis you are not dealing with Airbnb......you are dealing with someone who is being paid to answer questions .......their knowledge of your situation might not be great!!!!

Cheers........Rob

[Deborah331]

I think this is definitely a concern for all hosts. I don’t like the thought that airbnb Ambassadors are not really working for airbnb. 
but I’m so grateful that this is coming to light, so all other hosts can take caution when dealing with airbnb customer service in the future. 
I pray they rectify this situation and make it right. 

[Deborah331]

Rob, I appreciate all the info about the tech support for airbnb. 
I believe we all want to take care of our own business & avoid customer support as much as we can. 
however.... I also believe that airbnb needs to stand behind hosts and be accountable, for situations such as this. 
We , the Hosts and guests, need to believe that if someone representing airbnb, defrauds a user. That airbnb will have our backs, be on our sides and help us fight the situation, until it is resolved. 
I hope, this is indeed what happens. 
Best Wishes to resolving this situation. 
and thanks again for shedding more light onto the situation. 
I was always under the illusion that we were talking to airbnb employees. It’s disheartening to realize, they aren’t. 

[Deborah331]

I am so sorry I hear this happened to you. Thankyou for sharing this with us all. 
I will be following this conversation to see if airbnb does the right thing by you. 
integrity is important to me. I cannot represent a company that does not stand behind us. 
The host Guarantee  is supposed to protect us from damage. This should include damage caused by their “Ambassadors”. 
I hope airbnb settles this matter quickly a

& pays for damages.  
Praying for ethics and integrity to stay part of the Airbnb’s new foundation. Let’s hope they do the right thing. 

[Stephanie]

Hiya @Tom216 ,

Sounds atrocious, I'm digging into this now. Were you able to open a ticket with customer support as of yet? 

Thanks

[Mary996]

Thanks so much for responding @Stephanie I was wondering how to draw in Admins and specialist support for @Tom216 .

This has to be the kind of technical emergency that needs an instant response. 

[Deborah331]

I was wondering the same thing. 

[Airbnb]

Thanks @Tom216 for raising your concern about a possible incident involving one of our Support Ambassadors. We take any incidents of this nature extremely seriously and we launched an immediate investigation. Our CS team has reached out directly to you to further discuss it. 

Having completed our investigation we are happy to report that the incident as reported is not an issue relating to Airbnb or any of our Support Ambassadors and their use of the screen share feature.  We’re sorry to hear that you encountered a problem with your bank account, and we wanted to provide you with this information so you can investigate other potential reasons behind your challenges directly with your bank. 

For clarity we’d like to give everyone more assurance as to how we use screen share to help guests and hosts contacting us. 

• The screen share feature allows Support Ambassadors to only see the user’s instance of Airbnb.com but with strict controls in place, with no other access to the customer’s computer. For example, the Support Ambassador can only see what the user selects on their screen. 
• If the user moves to any payment or payout information the screen share transmission is immediately and automatically interrupted. 
• Screen share also doesn’t allow anyone at Airbnb to change any information on behalf of the user. 

As members of the community please let us know if you ever have concerns like the one raised in this post. We keep the safety and security of the community a top priority.

[Emiel1]

@Tom216 

"When I called 415 800 5959 for help to offer a discount the airbnb employee asked me to use screen sharing "

LOL !

- Why call Airbnb for help "to offer a discount" ?

- Why "share screens" for answering such an easy question ?

Maybe stay away from any digital device like a computer, smart phone....

[Sarb4]

hi