bogus "Conversation with Victoire" in my message inbox

Barbara2019
Level 2
West Sacramento, CA

bogus "Conversation with Victoire" in my message inbox

I'm slightly freaked out.

This "Conversation with Victoire" did not come through the regular airbnb channels.

These words in the quotes above just showed up in the message inbox. 

There was also a black/white close-up head shot.

 

I did not get a reservation request or inquiry. 

Reservation requests, inquiries and communications from guests and potential guests are reflected in my email and I also get text messages. 

I always respond through the airbnb platform.

No, these words just showed up in the inbox.

 

Puzzled, I clicked on the head shot that took me to the "Hi, I'm Victoire" section of airbnb.  A long story of her several children, her age (53), her strong social/political views and other information.  There were many misspellings and poor punctuation overlaying the bubbling anger/frustration from her social/political perspective.  

 

Was I phished?  Was my computer compromised?  I didn't photo Victoire's bio and I'm fearful of clicking on it again.  My memory says there were no reviews or verifications.

 

How could this happen?  And, what happened?

 

Barbara

 

 

3 Replies 3
Danielle476
Level 10
Toronto, Canada

Hi Barbara,

 

Yesterday I noticed two 'conversations' in my Inbox - one from a Natasha, the other from a Eugene.  Both conversations were completely empty - no message was ever sent, and yet there it was in my inbox.  Both profiles are blank, having been created this month.  I never received a text message alert that I had been messaged, or an e-mail notification like you mentioned.  I called AirBNB to ask them about it, but of course they had no idea what had happened or why those were there.  Today I received an e-mail from AirBNB saying 'we have removed the account of someone you were in contact with' and reiterating never to send money outside of the AirBNB platfrom (which I never did, and never would), so who knows!

 

As long as you haven't provided them with any information, I wouldn't worry too much about it.  Very bizarre, nonetheless!

Thank you Danielle for responding with your experience.

 

This is very disconcerting and has the early makings of a big problem (of some kind - I don't know, I'm not a network security expert)

 

Specifically how did you reach Airbnb to report this issue?  

 

Airbnb needs to know and everyone who receives one of these "conversations" needs to report to Airbnb so they can assess the frequency and seriousness of the issue or, non-issue.

 

I suggest:

* hosts immediately report the "conversation" to Airbnb.

* do not do not open the snapshot link.

* add to this post when they report.

 

Thank you

Barbara

 

 

 

 

@Barbara2019  Clicking on 'help' anywhere in your dashboard will take you to the help center, where you can find ways to contact Airbnb. Also, from your profile you can access your account to check 'log in and security', and change your password. On Airbnb especially it's a good idea to change your password on a regular basis. I think we are all strong targets for phishing and fraudulent activity on this platform.