Card being charged for a reservation I didn't book.

Answered!
Aamir3
Level 2
Germany

Card being charged for a reservation I didn't book.

Hi,

 

Today I was checking my credit card statement and saw that my card has been recently charged for a AirBnB trip I didn't book. I could not find a helpline number or email to write to AirBnB support directly.

 

Can somebody please direct my query to AirBnB Support to look at and contact me immediately? Following are the transaction details, I could see a booking id there to start the investigation.

 

Amount -1.437,12 EUR
Posting text 
AIRBNB * [Personal information hidden]
 
Many thanks,
Aamir
1 Best Answer
Steve143
Level 10
Limerick, Ireland

Hello @Aamir3,

 

Sorry to hear that that happened to you.

You should change the login password on your Airbnb account, contact the bank that issued your card and contact Airbnb customer service.

You can contact Airbnb customer service by phone, Twitter or Facebook as described here https://www.airbnb.com/help/contact_us#/

and here Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide

 

Hope it all works out OK for you.

 

Steve.

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81 Replies 81
Steve143
Level 10
Limerick, Ireland

Hello @Aamir3,

 

Sorry to hear that that happened to you.

You should change the login password on your Airbnb account, contact the bank that issued your card and contact Airbnb customer service.

You can contact Airbnb customer service by phone, Twitter or Facebook as described here https://www.airbnb.com/help/contact_us#/

and here Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide

 

Hope it all works out OK for you.

 

Steve.

Hi Steve,

 

Thanks or your reply. It's not booked by my airbnb account. I found the booking id from the credit card transaction.

 

I have written to Airbnb on Facebook and via their website (I found the way to get to that support help form - thanks for your link). 

 

Regards,

Aamir

Same thing happened to me. Someone booked a reservation with my card for $156 and there was also an international service fee. I contacted Airbnb and they said they would look into it, then just closed the case. Absolutely appalling customer service. This company needs to be shamed into action. 

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

If you're card is being used fraudulently you need to contact your card company @Michael8486 not Airbnb

Why are you carrying water for this POS company. Whoever is using my card has created an account on Airbnb. It's a criminal offense to impersonate someone, so why isn't Airbnb finding the perpetrator, closing the account they created and prosecuting them?

Denisa15
Level 2
Bratislava, Slovakia

Hi Aamir

I would like to ask how did you resolve your problem. It happened to me too - my credit card was charged 895 eur for the trip i never made... im trying airbnb support form but they just keep saying that they are postponing my inquiry to another and another person for three days, nobody giving me any actual information... 

thanks 

denisa 

Hey Denisa,

 

I am surprised to know that it is still an issue and AirBnb haven't take any step to prevent frauds (shame on them for taking customers for granted). From my own experience and time I wasted on them I can tell you AirBnb don't give a **bleep** for the money you lost. They will keep wasting your time. Better call your credit card company and raise a fraud case. They will open a case, cancel the transaction and refund you the money in few weeks - its much faster and guraunteed if your card is insured. So call your credit card customer service immediately.

 

Meanwhile, it will be great idea to send a legal notice to AirBnb to explain. I regret I didn't do it.

 

Goodluck,

Aamir

Ulrike80
Level 1
Cape Town, South Africa

Hi Denisa and Aamir, I can confirm that it's indeed still an issue. It happened to me just an hour ago. I've cancelled my card, opened a fraud case and left a message on AirBnBs Facebook page. 

The booking was not made from my account either. 

I'm writing this to let other users know that it is happening still and that we expect answers from Airbnb!

 

I'll send a legal notice to AirBnB. 

 

Exact same experience. My bank caught the fraud charges as they were happening. Within 5 minutes I cancelled the card, the charge was pending, I called Airbnb, they could see the charge and refused to cancel the reservation. They started robo emailing me making me feel like they were doing something because I had contacted them as it was happening. I also called the police. I wanted the reservation cancelled so the charge didn't go through. They would not cancel it. The charge when through. I filed a dispute with the bank. Airbnb sent me 3 exact email and then one that said they thought it was me that charge it and the case was closed. They don't care.

Brian2036
Level 10
Arkansas, United States

@Paula1843 

 

That’s insane.

 

They claim to believe that you made the reservation with your own card, but they won’t let you cancel it, because you might not be who you say you are???

 

 I suppose there must be some legal technicalities involved here, but I don’t know what they are.

 

 I wonder what happened to the host involved? Account frozen?

 

 

@Paula1843  When your credit card information is used fraudulently, it isn't the entity where those fraudulent charges were made that deals with it, it's the fraud division of your bank or credit card company. 

 

My wallet was stolen and charges made for online purchases. It wasn't the places where the charges had been made that were responsible, and I certainly didn't deal with them- I called my bank to report the stolen card, and as fraudulent charges had been made, they then transferred my call to their fraud division, who could see the name of the online pay site the charges were made through, and they took whatever action they take in these cases. It took a few weeks, but the money was credited back to my account. 

 

Airbnb should certainly be made aware of it, and the person who booked with your stolen info should been banned, but Airbnb really has no way if knowing if someone who calls them and reports this is telling the truth or not. I could call them to say it was a fraudulent booking not made by me, and demand they cancel it, simply because I wanted to get all my money back without being held to the cancellation policy of a listing I had in fact booked.

They are just a listing service, they aren't law enforcement officials or fraud depts.

Arpit38
Level 2
Düsseldorf, Germany

Hi amir , I had a same problem and I got fraud transaction about 636 euro and I am following since 2 weeks and I still didn’t get positive response from them and I also did police complain about it and I will see what will happens .

I have given all transactions about Airbnb transaction which was fraud and all proof and they said like they will do investigation and they from support one guy told we will refund back your money and later they said one more email saying that someone from ur family members access tha account and we can’t give the money back  and I raised complaint to back as well but they are still investigating and let c but we should here boycott Airbnb and we need to tell world not to use their services and don’t save ur credit card details there because it’s not secure and customer service will never help here so I regret to have Airbnb account and I will no more use and recommend anyone to use their services 

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

One of my guests said this happened to her as well. Since then, she only puts her credit card info on her account when she needs to book. Then, as soon as the booking is over, she deletes that info from her account until she needs to book again. Apparently the reviews need to be written before she is allowed to remove the credit card info (I guess in case a host wants to try to claim for some damages) so she wrote her review right away and asked me to please do the same.

Vanessa708
Level 1
Philippines

My card also charged for some reservation , i hope airbnb will fix this. I need my money back!