Host Account hacked - Payout account changed fraudulently

Julie742
Level 2
Terrigal, Australia

Host Account hacked - Payout account changed fraudulently

I am hoping to hear from other hosts who may have had experienced hacking on their account. Unbeknowest to myself, some time in December somehow my payour bank account details were deleted and a new overseas bank account added. Over $6,000 dollars has gone missing!!! I have contacted airbnb and told my case is being referred to a specialist area fro them to investigate. I have changed my password and checked my notifications are listed to go to my proper email/mobile. I received NO notifications in December of any changes to my account!! To say this situation is alarming is an understatement. I have no way of knowing is my account is safe nor when someone will contact me from this "special" team. How am I supposed to make mtge repayments?? Feeling very angry and betrayed!!! Any advice/suggestions welcomed. Thanks

55 Replies 55
Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Julie742.....Julie, something is not right here and I would like to establish what it is!

Airbnb take account security extremely seriously!

Your account can be compromised Julie, but as soon as it is (within minutes) the automated Airbnb system will send an email to your Airbnb registered email address....that is the one that has been on file since you opened your account, asking if the changes being made to your account are being authorised by you....... If they are do not respond.

If they are not, reply immediately and Airbnb will send you an email link that will request you immediately change your password and they will at that point put a hold on any pending transactions until you respond.

This is the link you would have received if unauthorised changes were being made to your account! By changes I mean the redirection of any personal material or the alteration of any sensitive listing information...... phone numbers, email addresses!

https://www.airbnb.com/users/security/

 

Julie, this is not subject to human intervention, it is an automatic protocol and always happens....without fail!

Is it possible that this warning email slipped your attention, or you maybe misunderstood it's importance and did not respond?

 

This situation needs to be resolved quickly Julie, it is possible Airbnb do have the account details these funds have been diverted to and it may be possible to take legal action against those responsible.

Here is the Airbnb contact options.....

https://www.airbnb.com/help/contact_us

 

I would suggest unlesss you are a superhost use the email option as response will be quicker there than the phone option.

If I can guide you further let me know.

 

Cheers......Rob

Hello Rob,

 

Thank you for your reply. It appears there has been human intervention as there was no notification email when our payout bank account was deleted and a new overseas account established. Whenever you establish a new payout account you also receive an airbnb email saying they have made a small deposit ie 3cents to confirm its the right account....this did not happen when someone fraudently added the overseas account. I have checked all my email/trash account etc and there is nothing. When I changed my password a few days ago and deleted the O/S account I did received those confirmation emails.... so why not in December when someone deleted our account and added a fraudently one??? Airbnb are investigating and have replied...

 

Someone may have gained access to your account and made unauthorized changes. This access occurred with the correct username and password.

 

I will let you know the outcome. In the meantime I will be checking my account daily!!

 

Julie

Airbnb taking legal actions? This is something new. They don't even have a legal team, so what legal actions are you talking about? Airbnb cares only about the money THEY receive from hosts. They are also mildly concerned about legal actions taken against themselves, but the last thing they care have always been your safety and your money.

My account was hacked at the same time - in December. I too received NO email "automatic" notification for a change of payout method. I am a super host. Who should I talk to at Airbnb to get my $9000 that were paid to someone else?

well honey let me tell you you are living in a fantasy world because my account was hacked and all accounts are airbnb servers for starters so they have to hack the server first. Second airbnb tried to say they sent me an email for verification of payout method. in my case I use yahoo and yahoo allows you to recover any and all emails within a seven day period which i was within regarding this issue. and guess what HUH they neber sent me **bleep** nothing nada. Now the bastards continue to try to bull**bleep** me  saying they are escalating my case bull**bleep** again I have contacted fbi cyber crimes unit , the BBB, consumer protection agency. Sorry your in a dream world. they are ripping off guests and hosts left and right. I personally wouldnt piss in cheskys ear if his brain was on fire.

I think if ever...this thing happened....to my analogy...only an insider from Airbnb can do this.

@Mike500

If you use the exact same password for everything and everytime then somewhere your email is compromised - criminals can use software to attempt to sign in to other sites using this email/password combo including airbnb. It can be an open door unless you use a unique password for each sensitive site you use.

 

Rather than an insider say @Julie742 has had her email details compromised. A criminal gains access to her email and password. If she always uses the same password they will discover they can enter her airbnb account; change the bank details to divert funds to their account, change push notification settings, delete security notification emails.

 

I would urge airbnb hosts to use a unique password for airbnb access and to view log on history regularly.

 

Mike - Airbnb says, they have "no access"... and can't change the payout method of an account... How do you think they could do this?

i agree

Michelle-and-Ray0
Level 10
Kimberley, Canada

It's possible the criminal changed the email address in AirBnB so the notifications would not get to her and then changed it back again so she wouldn't notice, or the criminal also has access to her email and either sent them to spam directly or changed her settings to have them deleted immediately. They could have also manually deleted them.

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Michelle-and-Ray0 @Julie742 @Mike500  @Elena87....No, the protocol does not work that way Michelle! When a sensitive alteration is made to your account the Airbnb system will automatically trigger an alert and will send an information request notification to the email address that has previously been used for all communication, requesting a response from you to say that these alterations were 'not' approved by you. If you do not respond, the system will accept the alterations as being genuine and put them into effect!

You will automatically receive an email to your nominated Airbnb email address that looks like this........

 

Alterations to listing.png

 

This is what happens every time you or someone else tries to make an account alteration to your listing, you will be notified. It is not subject to human intervention where somebody might forget to push a button. When an email like this is sent to you pertaining to account information there is a 24 hour window for you to respond before the changes are put into effect. Once again this is all automated and is not subject to negotiation!

But you must be vigilant and not dismiss emails like this as spam, junk....something you do not need to respond to. I understand how the system works because I belong to one of the levels of Airbnb support.

 

The internet world is full of 'individuals' who are searching for ways to exploit weaknesses in company security, Airbnb are aware of this and take whatever steps possible to prevent fraud to their users accounts, but, in the final inalysis it is up to users to be vigilant and make sure they act on any suspicious activity.

 

Cheers.....Rob   

 

 

 

 

The other possibility I mention would be that the criminal has access to her email account and deleted that email so she wouldn't notice. That may seem to be the case here.

We had no emails/texts during the month of Dec. So somethings up with the system. 

Julie742
Level 2
Terrigal, Australia

Well....its been over 10 days now and still no resolution. The Safe and Trust team are not responding to emails requests for an update and repeated calls to the help line achieves nothing. Will we get our money back??? who knows at this stage. Will someone explain what happened??? Once again I am left in the dark with the promise that I will eventually hear from someone???. We have updated all passwords on email/google/FB/airbnb etc, we have always had computure security software aswell. The sercurity checks have always worked in the past ie email/text notifications of changes EXCEPT during this period in Dec when the fraud occured. I can see that this has happened to others and I am disappointed that Airbnb has not warned hosts.