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Be aware of phishing at airbnb

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Re: Be aware of phishing at airbnb

#31

Post by kkhire »

jamandeggs wrote: post #25
amirmc wrote: post #4

This kind of thing isn't unique to Airbnb. I believe any online marketplace (eg eBay etc), has similar problems. My usual approach is to keep as much communication on the platform as possible, including the payment process. Anyone who tries to communicate off the platform (eg send money via another method) immediately warrants more scrutiny. In this case, there are probably things Airbnb can do to help users and redu…

Keeping the communication on AirBNB doesn't really help. I've had hosts who admitted that they listed a fake address with fake names via AirBNB's messages, but AirBNB doesn't care.

I'm sure they care and do their best to rid these posts, but every single marketplace has this issue -- airbnb is just the hotspot now because they can get big bucks relative to ebay

Re: Be aware of phishing at airbnb

#32

Post by JohnTHaller »

kilburn wrote: post #30

@everyone: Renting your place through airbnb is most probably illegal in Barcelona. Please double or triple-check any offers you get because you must be registered (and pay) if you want to rent your place to tourists [1] here. @poster: Contact me (mynickname at la3 dot org) if you are running short on money because of the scam and need a place to stay for a few days. This is a couchsurfing style offer, not airbnb sty…

Most of airbnb's listings in many of their most popular cities are done illegally. It's kind of the m.o. of airbnb. Take a look at Manhattan and do a search for 'whole apt'. Every single one of those is illegal unless the owner has a bed and breakfast license (the one or two that do will mention the fact that they do). When you run the numbers by searching the 'own room' and 'shared room', you realize that over 50% of airbnb's Manhattan listings are illegal. So, why would you trust a company that runs a mostly-illegal apartment rental service?

Re: Be aware of phishing at airbnb

#33

Post by YokoZar »

buro9 wrote: post #28
purge wrote: post #10

One of my friends was caught out by a similar scam last year. There is plenty of prior art for airbnb to look at when developing a safe platform for people to communicate through. At the very least they should disallow exchange of e-mail / non-airbnb websites via the platform communication channels.

> At the very least they should disallow exchange of e-mail / non-airbnb websites via the platform communication channels. They do this, and it's a pain in the arse for regular users. I've only just got back from a 2 week stay in Italy, and unfortunately one of the glasses broke in the dishwasher. I found the replacement online and after apologising to the host offered to replace the glass with an identical at my inc…

The block on URLs is actually there to prevent prospective guests and hosts from just arranging an informal booking off site and cutting AirBNB out of the picture. It's the same reason you can't send phone numbers or email addresses in chat messages until after they pay.

Re: Be aware of phishing at airbnb

#35

Post by buro9 »

YokoZar wrote: post #33
buro9 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> At the very least they should disallow exchange of e-mail / non-airbnb websites via the platform communication channels. They do this, and it's a pain in the arse for regular users. I've only just got back from a 2 week stay in Italy, and unfortunately one of the glasses broke in the dishwasher. I found the replacement online and after apologising to the host offered to replace the glass with an identical at my inc…

The block on URLs is actually there to prevent prospective guests and hosts from just arranging an informal booking off site and cutting AirBNB out of the picture. It's the same reason you can't send phone numbers or email addresses in chat messages until after they pay.

OK.

So after we pay... it would be good if we could actually converse fully and share links.

The host also said that she had sent me a link to a web page with house rules that describes where recycling and garbage goes, etc. I never received this, and I presume she had just put the link in a message, hit send, and AirBNB removed the link and nothing else happened.

Once we pay, the conversation should be unrestricted.

Re: Be aware of phishing at airbnb

#36

Post by purge »

buro9 wrote: post #28
purge wrote: post #10

One of my friends was caught out by a similar scam last year. There is plenty of prior art for airbnb to look at when developing a safe platform for people to communicate through. At the very least they should disallow exchange of e-mail / non-airbnb websites via the platform communication channels.

> At the very least they should disallow exchange of e-mail / non-airbnb websites via the platform communication channels. They do this, and it's a pain in the arse for regular users. I've only just got back from a 2 week stay in Italy, and unfortunately one of the glasses broke in the dishwasher. I found the replacement online and after apologising to the host offered to replace the glass with an identical at my inc…

I don't understand how this scam was realised then. They must've managed to get access to the applicants true email address somehow?

Re: Be aware of phishing at airbnb

#38

Post by hnha »

tudorw wrote: post #12

Perhaps Gmail et al could have something a bit more pro-active to detect this kind of bait and switch, so if an address has been used a number of times, then a small variation on that address is seen, then steps are taken to warn the user.

I would prefer mail providers not snooping into my mail, thank you very much.

Re: Be aware of phishing at airbnb

#39

Post by buro9 »

purge wrote: post #36
buro9 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> At the very least they should disallow exchange of e-mail / non-airbnb websites via the platform communication channels. They do this, and it's a pain in the arse for regular users. I've only just got back from a 2 week stay in Italy, and unfortunately one of the glasses broke in the dishwasher. I found the replacement online and after apologising to the host offered to replace the glass with an identical at my inc…

I don't understand how this scam was realised then. They must've managed to get access to the applicants true email address somehow?

My comment wasn't a scam, just frustration at overly strict policies inconveniencing the vast majority of good users.

And it's not hard to get someone's real email once you have a few clues. Such as their profile image/avatar... just hit tineye.com or Google Image Search, and find out the sources, look at profile info on LinkedIn or Facebook, look at other web links... find almost anything (CV, blog, custom domain, Twitter, HN profiles) and you'll get to the email address very quickly.

The time between start and end of that is minutes.

Re: Be aware of phishing at airbnb

#40

Post by antr »

squids wrote: post #7

We just had a run in with a scam for a place in Majorca on Airbnb. The place looked amazing and was reasonably priced for what it was so I reverse image searched the pictures and it turns out they had lifted them from a resort in the Carribean. The google maps view of the place lined up nicely with the other property so they'd obviously put some time into choosing the right fake. Luckily we cancelled our booking with…

A couple of months ago I tried to book an apartment for a 4-day weekend in Ibiza, Spain, for this very weekend. I was booking a big apartment, a place that could accommodate 6 couples. After finding two reasonably priced places (+€5,000 stay), and placing the respective face-value offers, I got told by both hosts to increase the price. One of them even asked me what my budget was. Really?!

I immediately contacted Airbnb to tell them what had happened, they apologised. Not only is that practice misleading to users and other hosts in the area, but I'm pretty sure it is illegal. The stock offer in the Mediterranean is very poor at Airbnb.

We finally went for a hotel, where the price was the one advertised. I haven't lost faith in Airbnb's business model, but unless they show they are out their catching fraudsters and other scams artists, I doubt I'll go back any time soon.

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