Unauthorized Transaction

[Suma111]

Dear Airbnb,

My name is Sumarani Kandra and I am the victim of Airbnb(I am not even an Airbnb customer). Because Airbnb doesn't have enough security measures in place, someone unauthorizedly used my credit card to make a reservation with Airbnb. I urge Airbnb to have some security measures to prevent these kind of fraudulent transactions.

I disputed the transaction with my bank, but also brought this up to Airbnb's notice. I am pasting the content from digital receipt of the transaction from my credit card online statement. 

Thanks and Regards

Sumarani Kandra

**[Sensitive information removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]

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[Mike-And-Jane0 · Accepted solution]

@Suma111 This is unlikely to be Airbnb's fault. Your card has been compromised somewhere and this data used to Make a booking. Just ask your bank for a chargeback and a new card urgently.

[Suma111]

I agree my card has been compromised and disputed the transaction with my bank, but can't rule out Airbnb here. As per digital receipt, the card was used to make reservation in another country than where I am living. Airbnb payment system should verify for billing information, which they didn't check. There is a very less chane that both my card and address got compromised together as I moved to this address very recently.

[Pat271]

@Suma111  It would be difficult for Airbnb to verify addresses for every booking. Users of Airbnb sometimes have old, outdated addresses in their profiles. I have guests from time to time who have moved since they last updated their profiles.

However, several times I have personally had credit card companies call me because my credit card was being used from an unusual location. It’s usually legitimate, but apparently it’s the credit card companies that typically do this kind of verification.

[Martin3344]

@Suma111

This is definitely a banking issue and no fault of Airbnb. It needs to be pursued with your bank. Hopefully they may compensate you if fraud on the card has taken place and it's not your fault. If the visit has not yet taken place then you should seek to arrange for it to be cancelled with Airbnb.

[Suma111]

This is an Airbnb fault as well. Whoever stole my credit card, they have 1000's of choices to use my credit card. Out of all those possible options, they used Airbnb and no where else because Airbnb is just taking credit card details to confirm the reservation. They should ask for credit card holder billing address as well and verify with the bank before they confirm the booking. There is an area of improvement for Airbnb to avoid these fraud transactions.

[Suma111]

This is an Airbnb fault as well. Whoever stole my credit card, they have 1000's of choices to use my credit card. Out of all those possible options, they used Airbnb and no where else because Airbnb is just taking credit card details to confirm the reservation. They should ask for credit card holder billing address as well and verify with the bank before they confirm the booking. There is an area of improvement for Airbnb to avoid these fraud transactions.