got a bad request

[Kate1769]

Hey - someone queried me for a date to stay today- and they said that my profile was on another listing with some kind of discount being offered. 

The client was asking me if they could go for the "discounted version"- and they sent a link, which I stupidly clicked on.  But fortunately I have a great IT guy and there was a flag that came up.  I contacted said IT support and he found a virus and that this client was not a client at all, but phishing.  

I blocked the client and also didn't respond and tried to report.  But I didn't really see a choice about what to say to Airbnb about this directly.  For sure I wanted to let them know.  I'm not sure if there is anything I can do and it's not been 24 hours- so I'm thinking that the person will wander off to try some other poor soul. 

Meanwhile, even though the message is blocked- I'm still starting at the mail they sent- and the bad link.  How can I remove it- does anyone know?  I'd rather not have this mail and the link in my box to look at or even click on accidentally some day. 

Thanks- if anyone has had this experience and knows what to do.  

[Emiel1]

@Kate1769 

I have read about this "scam" before....

You can move that message thread to the archive section.

[Kate1769]

Emiel- thank you! 

[Sarah977]

If you haven't changed your Airbnb password, do so immediately. Apparently this particular scam, which has been reported here before, makes it possible for them to access your Airbnb account, change bank details, have funds redirected to them, etc. I'd also contact Airbnb- start out telling CS it's a Trust and Safety issue, and ask them to check whether they see that anything changed on your account (other than the password that you will make a note of what time you changed it) in the period since you clicked on the link.

@Kate1769

[Kate1769]

Thanks Sarah- great suggestion.  I did just change my password. I tried to find a way to contact Airbnb- but I couldn't find where to report this issue directly- other than posting it here.  Where would I contact or write a message about this- do you know?  Every time I click on something where I think I could connect- I get some kind of decision tree and there isn't an option which fits what just happened.  

[Sarah977]

Not sure what you mean by "decision tree" but if you go to the Airbnb site (not this forum) Help pages for hosts and type a question in search, a bunch of stock answers will come up if you scroll down, and you should find a "contact us" or "do you need more help?" or something like that. Just keep clicking on the dropdown menus that come up and eventually you'll get a message box. (If I don't see my issue in the drop-down boxes and there's no choice for "It's something else", I just click on whatever so I can get to the part where you can send a message.

I've found that it helps to start the message with a direct to the dept that would deal with your issue, so in your case, my first sentence would be "Trust and Safety Issue- Urgent". Then go on to describe the issue, as simply and briefly as possible, using bullet points rather than paragraphs. Doing all this makes it easy for them to read and rather than having to wait for a low level CS employee to get to your message, figure out what you want and respond, they are more likely to redirect your message to the correct dept right away. Which doesn't necessarily mean you'll get a swift reply, but at least you won't be having to deal with some clueless CS rep who sends you useless cut and paste links to the Help pages.

@Kate1769

[Sarah977]

And here's all the ways to contact Airbnb, phone umbers, Twitter, etc 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide-UPDATED/td-p/413245

@Kate1769

[Kate1769]

Thanks so much Sarah- super appreciate this.  I'm in a waiting line to chat now.  Thanks for talking me through how to do it and for the link:)