I was home alone at 8 pm when my cell phone rang, an Orlando, FL number. It was a man with a heavy accent, "Alain" who said he was calling from Florida. He knew my name, he knew my address and he knew the address of my house, 2500 miles away, and that it was on Airbnb. He had clients, he said, who wanted to book my house but they did not want to pay the Airbnb fees. Then he started harassing me and trying to talk me into signing up with his service where he would "always connect me with clients directly and avoid fees."
I've had scams like this before on VRBO but the difference? They come by email. This person called my personal cell phone, a number I never give out to anyone and that, supposedly, Airbnb only shares with people who have booked. (But in reality, it could be anyone who booked and then cancelled too.) I don't rent frequently -- only about two dozen times so far.
And here is the flaw in Airbnb's system that may cause me to leave: they give out your personal phone number as a primary contact. Sure, they hide your emails but have no trouble sharing the most personal and private way to contact you. If your email address gets out there, you can change it, or forward email and easily block callers. You can't do that with a cell phone number.
I changed my passwords, checked my security and called Airbnb. The net result? I got a blanket "your account has not been breached" security message. So, how did this person get my cell phone? And shouldn't Airbnb be a tad more concerned?
Has anyone else experienced this? I plan to write to Airbnb and request they find an alternative to blankly sharing phone numbers. If anyone has a direct way to contact them that will get me past these automated responses, I'd appreciate it.
Thank you
