Card being charged for a reservation I didn't book.

Md43
Level 2
Dublin, Ireland

Card being charged for a reservation I didn't book.

We recently looked at our credit card account and saw a fraud transaction of Euro 660 being done by the unknown since we didn't book anything on AirBnb recently.

 

Moreover, we can't see any bookings in our app, which clearly suggests that this platform is not secure enough to add your credit cards as a payment method. How come someone has access to their payment's data and can carry out false transactions in another person's name. We contacted our bank (AIB Ireland) and they seems to be delaying and said that we can open a dispute after 15 days of this transaction. The bank also asked us to talk to Airbnb and ask them to refund this false transaction. Airbnb on X formerly Twitter, asked to share certain information and then said that they forwarded it to the concerned team, and the support ambassador will reach out shortly. It's been 4 days since nobody reached out to us from AirBnb. I recently started using this platform and I'm not going to give another look going forward. Any help on how to recover this or what should be our next steps? We have already removed the credit card from their platform, freezed it for now and also changed the password of our Airbnb account.

 

Any help on How do we cancel and get a refund for the booking we didn’t make? How to track this booking using the 10 digit reference no. visible on the credit card transaction?

 

3 Replies 3
Mike-And-Jane0
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

@Md43 There are a myriad of internet sites that have got your card info. It is just as likely that the scam originated with one of these as it is Airbnb's fault. I suspect its site will be just as secure (or insecure) as any other.

Thanks @Mike-And-Jane0 and I agree with you. The only thing that I am still not able to comprehend is: how come the AIB card security didn't ask for in-app authentication as it always does while carrying out any online transaction? I had a chat with bank folks, and I asked them the same question, to which they responded that you shared your secure code with AirBnb while approving your card as a payment method in their app.

 

I am pretty much from the world of computers and internet and built myself a bunch of fraud detection systems. I have never come across any fraud earlier, whereas I added my card details to AirBnb during the last bank holiday weekend and forgot to remove it after use, which I do almost every time except for the single-use virtual cards, and guess what? The card information got leaked somehow that's why my conviction is that this got leaked from AirBnb and not from other websites.

Shelley159
Level 10
Stellenbosch, South Africa

Hi @Md43 

There are some other holiday booking sites that actually forward your card details to the host. I find that unacceptable and I'm personally not comfortable receiving guests' details (what if they suspect me when there's fraud on their card ...). I just want to confirm to you that Airbnb hosts cannot see your card details at all. I can't comment beyond that, except to say that - if you also shared details on other holiday booking sites - that may be an issue.