Airbnb sent me annoying email for getting spammed on their platform

OK maybe I shouldn’t be so sensitive, but I have been getting annoyed by a proliferation of messages from agents seeking commission outside of the airbnb platform - in fact the last 5 enquiries I have received have been from agents rather than genuine potential guests. I have now reported them all.

As airbnb also kindly reminds me when I don’t reposed to messages, I have been sending short responses to these agents such as “sorry no”.

Now I have received a message from airbnb starting “ We noticed you were recently in contact with an account that has since been removed for violating our Terms of Service. To help keep your account secure and in good standing, please be aware of these types of scam activity:…”

I mean it’s their platform, their problem, my inconvenience, and they are making a veiled threat about the “good standing” of my account. Kinda rude. As I said at the start, perhaps I am being too sensitive it’s just you would think that airbnb would flag words such as “commission” and “agent” and boot these users. Some of them have been on the platform for several years.

Apologies I don’t usually rant!

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I think it’s a pretty generic message that I have seen once, myself. The “secure” part is obvious. But a less obvious outcome, if one were to more deeply engage with these scammers, is that your account could be compromised and then be placed in not-good standing by the actions of the scammers. I see it less a veiled threat of action against you and more of a true warning. (Could also “be you better not partake of these shenanigans or we’ll shut your account down,” but I doubt it.)

Sort of like credit fraud. You didn’t do anything wrong but the bank warning you that your credit rating could be in jeopardy if you do certain things, like entertaining fraudsters, is less a threat and more of a security warning.

Also, I truly believe many, if not most, of the canned messages and scripted responses on the platform have been written by non-native English speakers, who don’t know that the sentence structure or word choice they’ve used is “off” or has a different connotation in a certain context.

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Yes I’m being to sensitive. airbnb is a pretty decent platform.