Reporting a Listing

[Rick1]

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/10572692

Clearly this is not a genuine listing. Contact them via some dodgy email to check if it is still available. Photos being pretty generic and a host with no credentials to them. The report listing button is missing when I scroll down - How come it becomes so hard to find this button on Airbnb????? It is not under ".....More" (next to Email | Messenger |)

[Mark-And-Liz0]

Hi Simon. I couldn't access the link so it seems to have been removed. As Clair said, you needed to report the listing directly to Airbnb. There is a "report this listing" link on every listing. Regards. Mark. 

[Paul154]

@Simon0

Sounds like sour grapes to me.

Who made you arbiter of what is or is not allowed?

[Vyacheslav3]

Here is the scam listing
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/19319243
We're booked this villa, but the address seemed suspicious and I deside to check the pictures.
So, i found the original villa belongs to other host
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/15062406

We'd report the user, but the listing is still active and users continue book this scam villa.

[Lizzie]

Hello @Vyacheslav3,

It looks like the link to the first listing in your post has now been removed from Airbnb. 🙂

[Rajat1]

Here is one more fake listing. 

http://airbn-bookinn.esy.es/airbnb/rooms/8035623?View

Beware!! Caution!!

[Monalisa3]

I feel like these 3 properties are VERY FISHY.  What do you think?  If I offended anyone, then it's my apology.  I didn't see the rules here.  Here's the list:

1.  https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/19460903?guests=3&adults=3&location=Boston%2C%20MA&check_in=2017-08-21&...

2.  https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/19462393?check_in=2017-08-21&check_out=2017-08-24&guests=3

3.  https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/19441877?guests=3&adults=3&location=Boston%2C%20MA&check_in=2017-08-21&...

No pictures of the properties (generic) and the host photos seems made up/fake.  All 3 locations  were the prime area in Boston, with a verrrrrryyyy cheap below the market price.

[Mars7]

How do I get a fake listing and fake profile deleted ?

[Elisabeth211]

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/19489648

someone listed MY apartment without my consent. I cannot find a way to ctc airbnb to report it. Tried a few times, no reponse. This is insane! 

[Jeff158]

Hi @Elisabeth211

You can report the listing by clicking the flag below the book button

You can go to the host profile & click the flag next to the photo to report them

Twitter is the fastest way to contact airbnb Contact-Airbnb

I presume you are the landlord and your tenant is subletting without your permission. Its probably easier to get your tenant to unlist it with the threat of eviction, if you contact airbnb they will want proof of ownership as you could be a competitor trying to remove the listing.

[Stella96]

Here is another fake listing. He contacted my friend directly with her email.

http://airbnb.com-online-booking.eu/home/listing/14d248/?rent=1516358758?s=eRGFZrin

[Clare0]

@Stella96 It is a fake website.  How can you tell?  It has a lead URL of "http" not "https".  The "s" stands for "secure".   This is not an Airbnb listing.  Scammers often create websites that contain the word "Airbnb" but they are not in any way affiliated with Airbnb. 

The real Airbnb website will look like this: 

https://www.airbnb.com

[Matthew285]

@Clare0, in addition to being an AirBnB host, I am a network administrator and a server admin.

Please be aware that the word "secure" when used in reference to "https" only really means that the connection uses encryption. It does not mean the site is "safe". Using the word "secure" implies a sense of safety. In this case, that is not what it means at all. It just means the connection is hard to eavesdrop on.

So while having a "https" does indeed indicate that a connection is encrypted, it is no way guarantees that a site is legitimate. Whoever set up "http://airbnb.com-online-booking.eu" could very easily have set up "https://airbnb.com-online-booking.eu" as a "secure" version, but still a scam.

In addition, NOT having the https, does not mean a site is a scam. It just means that they allow connections that are not encrypted.

For example, I sometimes visit a news site: http://tidbits.com. They have been around for 28 years. They are definitely not a scam. But they choose to not require encryption when connecting. Most of the sites I administer choose to not require encryption except on specific pages dealing with credit cards.

There are scam web sites, and there are legitimate web sites. But looking at "http" or "https" really is not a good way to tell the scams from the legitimate ones. At all.

[Clare0]

 @Matthew285. I stand corrected, thanks! So how does a user tell what is a legitimate Airbnb site versus a scam Airbnb website?  What would your advice be?

[Matthew285]

@Clare0, it can be a challenge! And I think your advice to be wary of bad sites is spot on; people need to be careful.

The safest practice it to not click on links at all if you want to be absolutely sure to go to the web site you intend to. Just open a new browser window and type the URL in yourself.

(Believe it or not, even that is not 100% guaranteed, if your network or computer has been compromised.)

But absent a person hijacking your network or computer, if you manually type "airbnb.com" into the browser address bar, that will ensure you end up at the legitimate AirBnB site.

Anything else can be spoofed. There is even a tricky way to make a URL look completely legitimate but be pointing to the wrong place using Unicode characters that resemble the normal alphabet but are not the normal alphabet.

Here is a story about one example of this. (Don't worry, the story and all links are safe.)

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/19/phishing-url-trick-hackers

(It also shows the use of "https" on a fake site).

[Clare0]

Thanks, @Matthew285!  I've bookmarked your link.  

So many scams originate from these types of websites, sadly.  People are tricked into believing that they are working with Airbnb and are asked to pay by wire transfer, ITunes gift cards, moneygrams, etc.  In the case of the link Stella provided, the fraudster created a very convincing copy of an Airbnb listing which only an experienced eye would catch, aside from the URL itself. 

Are the legitimate owners of websites, such as Apple mentioned in the article, able to get the phishing websites removed, and, if so, how?  Of course it could be something like a "whack a mole" situation where once one site is removed another pops up.