Got scammed ANY ADVICE WILL HELP

[Cameron132]

Yesterday eceived an email saying I had booked two nights in Thailand immediately went on air bnb and changed my password. I got the amount for the booked nights taken out my account. Also called air bnb and said they will ring back with in 24 hours. This morning a $200 ' resolution fee' had been taken out. what is this?

The air bnb guy on the phone reasured me just changing my air bnb password is fine but can the suspected fake host try charge me for other things? Say that i damaged their fake lisitng? ANY ADVICE WILL HELP

I was going to block my card but i have a future booking 1st august which needs payments to come out my saved card.

messaged help centre this is my conversation log:

ME:

I have been scammed. I got an email 20 minutes ago saying I booked an air bnb in Thailand for two nights. I quickly changed my password on here and contacted the host saying I did not book this .However I suspicions the air bnb hotel is also fake and set up by the person who had my password and booked it with my money. Please help and advise on my actions

SUPPORT:

Hi Cameron. This s Johary from Airbnb Community Support. I just want to let you know that I have received your message. I just need some time to review your concerns and get some information that can help me resolve it. I will do my best to get back to you the soonest time possible.

I'm forwarding you to the correct department right now, to make sure you receive a prompt and proper response. If this is an emergency, or you feel that your personal safety is threatened in any way, please contact the local police or emergency services immediately.

Airbnb Support

Hello Cameron,

Thank you for alerting us to the suspicious activity on your Airbnb account.

You can immediately recover your account with our Account Recovery Tool (https://www.airbnb.com/review_your_account).

I'm forwarding your case to our Trust team now — a member of this team will review your account and contact you by email as soon as possible.

Thanks,

ME:
I have control of my account I just changed the password. I have a booking 1st august in vegas which is genuine that I booked a while ago so I don't want my account suspended or that booking deleted. I just rang support and he said your team will get back to me. thanks

ME:

I just did the review account with the recovery tool as well thank you

no call form help team still ? also just got charged this -
I just got a $200 resolution fee taken out my bank account as well?!

You need to ban this host - https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/35531681?source_impression_id=p3_1560503526_ZubwsbJBMHTlrODW

[Cameron132]

I just saw on my emails My account sent $200 yesterday before I changed my password so the host I booked with is definitely the scammer/ person who hijacked my account

[Helen3]

Hi @Cameron132 

I don't quite understand your second post.

I don't see why you feel the host you booked with would be the scammer. Hosts don't deal with guest payments, don't have access to your financial information or access to your account.

If there is a continuing problem with your account you need to speak to Airbnb and your bank/payment provider.

We are a community of hosts and guests and can't help you with financial issues.

[Cameron132]

The person who had access to my password and account created a new host account and a fake listing  and booked that listing while logged into my account. Then my account sent $200 to the host before I changed the password and I had control of my account again 

[Cameron132]

I ask everyone to go on the link to the fake host my account booked with and report him/ her

[Cameron132]

Helen what don’t you understand. Someone who is not me was on my account and booked with a host. Then sent the host they just booked with extra money. The scammer had control of my account and set up a host account to take my money

[Helen3]

What I don't understand is your comment stating as a fact that the host you have booked with is the scammer.

[Cameron132]

And you don’t deal with financial issues but people could give advice on my next steps seeing as support still haven’t got back to me that’s all

[Jeff158]

@Cameron132 I think your computer has been compromised.

Check your payment information on airbnb, one of the scams is to change banking info on your account, the refund when cancelled then goes to the scammer

The resolution fee can only be charged if your account agrees to it, so maybe they are still logging in.

Go to your account settings, click on security and check who is logging in and where from.

[Cameron132]

Thank you for your advice. I checked my bank details they are the same.

I think I am safe now you see I got an email about the booking, 2 minutes later the money transfer but then 8 minutes later I changed my password.

So it all happened in the space of 10 minutes yesterday so luckily I acted quickly before further damage. 

As for my laptop compromised I was worried too but I remember a couple of months ago my Netflix and another account logged in somewhere ( not me) I now realize these were the same passwords I had as this Air Bnb account. After a bit  of googling I found out this is a common  when a website has been compromised  and customer creditenals has been leaked. Therefore with my email and password aquired they can try and sign in many accounts and services. This would make sense as  my Airbnb password was a very old one which I had given up using on most sites a long time ago( updating new passwords etc)

[Elena87]

@Cameron132 

If you log in airbnb with an email and a password that isn't original, your account can be susceptible.

From the forum, there has been a few cases reported lately of hacked accounts.

Check your email against a site such as https://haveibeenpwned.com/ to see if some other site that stores your data has been breached lately. One a breach occurs, your data will end up on some dark site up for sale. Criminals can buy and use special 'credential stuffing 'software to try to get into other sites using your data, that can bring financial gain.

Criminal then opens a fake airbnb account - the Thailand one in question, host joined in 2019 and only provided a telephone number to list. With your account a criminal can book a listing where they are beneficiaries, Because it is a new account, airbnb shouldn't immediately issue the payment - they should have a thirty day period before releasing for security. Criminal will book higher value, not too high, and immediate to start payment - also they cancel, which also releases payment. 

The Thai place has cut and pasted their description more or less from Metro Residence in Surin - one lazy criminal. Plus - still appears as a live listing on airbnb as of now. Zero reviews and calendar open only from Sunday until end of the month.

If you go into your security settings, you can see recent log-in activity for your account.

For yourself, you should also use a unique password for airbnb login, consider removing your payment card details and only adding when you are actually using. Airbnb, bring in two step authorisation.

[Cameron132]

Thank you

Yes I checked that site and it appears my data was breached.

I totally  agree to Lo about the security maybe some code should be sent to your phone before proceeding with payment etc

[Cameron132]

Update for for anyone else having their account used -

just got this email -

‘Hi, Ella and Cameron,

 

We monitor all reservations and user interactions on Airbnb very closely. We’ve noticed this reservation HMACQ9J4JF doesn’t appear to be legitimate. As a result we have canceled the reservation and refunded the payment. If you feel this was done in error, please let us know. Otherwise we hope you understand that we do this to preserve the integrity of our marketplace.

 

Regards,
The Airbnb Team’

Ella being the scam host. Good that support does come through! Be safe with your accout guys. I feel like Air Bnb need to implement 2FA on payments / bookings though.