My state is request "Basic Subscriber Data" from AirBnB

Regulations/Tax Issues
1

I received this email today, anyone hac=ve experience or know about this?

"Airbnb, Inc. is in receipt of an official legal request that purports to require production of certain records associated with your listing in the state of …

The records requested are:
Basic Subscriber Data

Pursuant to Airbnb Inc’s policy, we provided notice to the account holder whose records appear to be the subject of the legal request. We bring your attention to the fact that the legal order appears to have been sent by the Department of Taxation for the State of

In the event that you or your representative have applied to a Court to prevent or delay or impose conditions on the potential production of records, please let us know immediately and forward a copy of your application to:

2

I’m sorry, but I think this is a scam. You might want to call your department of taxation for your state of to see if it is real.

3

Thank you for the response, I’m eager to hear more opinions in this.

Just to clarify, the email supossedly came from
Law Enforcement Team leoinfo@airbnb.com and looked like this

dept%20of%20Tax
dept of Tax.jpg1744×1345 191 KB

4

Also this from AirBNB website
https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/960/how-does-airbnb-respond-to-data-requests-from-law-enforcement#RequestsfromUS

5

If I were you I would try contacting Airbnb to verify. Don’t sent anyone any info or click on any links until you do. The red flag here is that it is addressed “dear Airbnb host.” When I get email from legit companies about my account, they know my name.

2 Likes
6

This sounds like a Nigerian scammer to me or a phishing operation. Why didn’t they use your real name in the email. Also’ the way it is worded is odd. It’s off.

7

Thanks so much for all your comments . What’s odd is the timing of receiving this, we are trying to get legally permitted here in Hawaiii and setting up our tax Id numbers etc… so an odd coincidence…After examining the source of the email i found that the ip is in Austrialia and the domain @cmail20.com is a well know mass mailing a phishing source…so I have to agree…and yes , why would it say “it is “puported” to be from…”

ABB%20spoof
ABB spoof.jpg1674×408 229 KB

1 Like
8

I’m in Hawaii. What island are you on?

9

Aloha…I’m on Maui…I was a superhost before gettng shut down by the county… so my listing is inactive. There are hundreds of illegal rentals here, one a few doors down from me.
Now trying to get permitted it’s a long frustrating process… I’m still not sure about that email, because they are not asking me for anything, when I replied asking for a copy of the request, I got an email linking to a FAQ on AirBnB’s legal page…I’m going to call legal tomorrow.

Now that I am going through the permitting process, having to pay an architect, plumber and carpenter and fees, I understand the point of veiw of permitted hosts…I couldn’t have possibly put myself in their position until I did this, certainly no regrets. But it’s a real mess here with so many people blatantly disregarding the rules…so many sublets and other issues…

1 Like
10

I just got this same email today. Also from Hawaii. What ever happened with this? Was it a scam? I haven’t had an Airbnb in Hawaii for almost 4 years but email has my name and current info for adept of Taxation in the state.

Thanks