Verification code sent

[Jack154]

I keep getting text messages that say, “Your Airbnb verification code is ####. Don't share this code with anyone; our employees will never ask for the code.” 
Why? I’m not trying to log in or anything. I wish Airbnb didn’t allow the use of phone numbers as a way to log into the app (in which case you would get this message). Is someone trying to hack me? -Jack

[Christina284]

Shoot. I’ve opened all of them. Darn it. 

[Philippa25]

Any reason Airbnb don't provide a response as to whether this could be phishing or the texts are legitimate? Either way, with recommendation such as updating passwords if phishing or ignore if not & why they are sending them. Or do Airbnb not comment on community posts or at least monitor them, particularly when they relate to concerns about a security breach?! Thanks

[Sarah977]

@Philippa25  The moderators of this forum usually will post something here as to system wide glitches, but they can only do that if they have some answer from Airbnb itself about it.

This sure appears to either be a glitch or a hack. 

[Elisabeth40]

I believe this code problem exist for a very long time. I remember getting those codes once in a wile, without requesting them. It just got out of control recently and now I received already 7 codes. Yesterday as I wanted to log in myself into the community center, airbnb send me a code onto the same text feed, I kind of found it scary to use this code to log in to the community center, because the code literally was sent through the same text message and was listed below of all those other codes I never requested. It is frustrating.

[Lisa5873]

I started getting these very unsettling texts about 4 days ago.  I hope there is an end to them soon. 

[Elisabeth40]

@Lisa5873 

Im getting those texts already for 2 weeks. What I also mentioned is, in order to log into the community center you can just provide your phone number and get this code. It could be possible that some guests are trying to log into the community center and provide our phone numbers instead their own?! That could be the case, anyone can type in some phone number and the code will be sent to your phone. Otherwise who else would have your phone number and know that you do Airbnb?! If this is a hack glitch, it already takes to long to fix. 

[Tom229]

I have received 4 of these in the last week

[Liv]

Hey everyone,

Thanks for sharing your experience with this. I'm really sorry about the confusion this may have caused.

I have inquired the tech team and this is a known issue they are currently working on, so hopefully it will be solved soon.

I hope this helps 😊

Thanks,

Liv

[Jack154]

It appears to have been going on for months if not years so, yeah, let us know when they fix it. 

[Julieanna0]

@Jack154  As we both know, unfortunately Airbnb’s words are nothing more than that,—just words.  😞

[Justin1189]

Liv, should we block text messages and everything coming from these places we are getting these messages from? Dont want to block true verifications. You guys should let us know what numbers we should add to safe and trusted people. For example, I am getting the message from number 22395. Does this number belong to airbnb? 

[Ann72]

@Justin1189  Mine are coming from the same number that sends me other verification codes, like Shop Pay and my bank, so I'm hesitant to block it.  It's also the same number that sends legit Airbnb codes.  The number is 78156.

[Julieanna0]

@Justin1189  and @Ann72 Yes!  This is the exact problem and also diabolical nature of this! And, of course, @Airbnb is giving their usual "We know about it and are looking into it" response.  I don't know why, but today I found myself wondering "what if...other companies out there behaved like Airbnb?"  I continue to find the amount of "incidents" that Airbnb gets away with, unbelievable.  And FYI, Airbnb is indeed, telling hosts to block these messages.  (See attached screen shot.).  For any who are interested, you can follow me on Twitter using the NoBoxes handle.Airbnb is telling hosts to block their spam (?) messages.

[Sarah977]

@Julieanna0  What astounds me is that not a week or two goes by without multiple hosts or guests reporting some new tech glitch. Any other company would have cleaned house in their tech dept. and fired the lot of them long ago, or changed the bad software they're using. The incompetence is unreal and never experienced at anything remotely close to that level with any other online company.

They seem to have absolutely no sense of embarrassment about anything.

[Julieanna0]

@Sarah977 Exactly!  Can you imagine if a platform like PayPal had this going on?  After all, they also "handle money" on behalf of people worldwide.  This causes me to believe that @Airbnb knows exactly what is going on, and they are hoping to get away with it for as long as possible.  Otherwise, as you say,--any rational company would have fired everyone in the tech department, (possibly fearing investigations/repercussions from the FTC, or other government regulatory branch), yet @Airbnb continues to operate in true narcissistic fashion.   I'm not exactly sure if this would help in this particular situation, however, there might be some recourse by reporting this to the FTC:  https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/form/main.  

Also appalling is their duplicitous advice: should we block these messages, (thus causing us to take a very dangerous action and actually OPEN one of these text messages in order to block), or do we just ignore them?  Either way could potentially be dangerous.  It is possible that any smartphone can be hacked by a text message sent to it as well as opening it.  https://www.wired.com/story/imessage-interactionless-hacks-google-project-zero/.  

It is my sincere hope that someone is able to get to the bottom of this as we have proven time after time we cannot count on any transparency or honesty from @Airbnb.