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Twice in the last few days I received the same request with a link as follows
The first time “she” was Alexa! I reported to AirBnb but I wonder how this gets through? Just a warning to the community. https://www.airbnb.com/users/show/62501258?eluid=3&euid=afe0cb7e-f0e3-
Reply
Hi,
My name is Lya 29years and my best friend Renna28. We want to stay in your flat for 5 nights and your is more than perfect for us. I have some doubts since i`ve found another place like yours with same photos and address but an lowest price.
It’s your property?here is the apt:
roomalrbnb.website/airbnb/rooms/912753
Thank you,
Remember: Airbnb will never ask you to wire money. Learn more.
I don’t know why that top link showed up but it is for her user name which does not work. When I reported her the first time they took down her profile.
Actually the first one came through the AirBnb system and was in my messages. She or he registered and sent the inquiry through the official AirBnb site. They took her account down as soon as I notified them. The fact that the link was allowed is troubling.
I’ve been with them almost since the beginning, and they used to get way more phishing and scamming in the old days. I guess the occasional one still does get through, but I have also received something nearly identical on Wimdu, asking me to confirm where my property was. Very weird.
I just received another “inquiry” same picture now Alice! I reported it again. Airbnb told me that they block the users IP address but it seems these are coming from different ip addresses each time. Would be good if we could block inquiries that have no verifications like we block reservations without verification.
We received this request for a five night stay today:
“I want to book your place but I can’t see if the dates are available as the calendar shows me an error. I am accessing airbnb from a smart phone while i am away from the city on a bad connection, maybe this could be the problem, because I can’t access my messages also. Would you please send me a message via mail at: (disguised email address removed)
I’m on my mobile and I can see the link only by email .
Send me please your Airbnb link to make the booking now if the dates are available at: (disguised email address removed)
Thank you,”
She has only email verification, and no reviews.
At this point we have replied to say that we ca only reply via Airbnb and asked for more information about her party.
Do you think this is a phishing attempt, or an attempt to deal off-Airbnb?
A user with no review or no experience cannot know Airbnb will filter out emails, and would not disguise them. That one thing is suspicious enough and way above a benevolent user. The stories about “can only see links on email” or “bad connection” or “can’t access my messages” would be so sad, it’s bad.
I wouldn’t engage outside of Airbnb, and probably report the user for attempt to deal off site.
We certainly weren’t intending to engage direct. Airbnb detected the user and deleted her account a couple of hours after we posted this, before we reported the user. Still wondering what the nature of the attack would have been if it was malicious and we had responded direct, or why she bothered if just wanting to book off-Airbnb. We’re not exactly hard to find on the Internet, for somebody savvy enough to construct a disguised email address to bypass Airbnb’s filters…
Hopefully the text of the message we posted above will help other owners spot similar attempts.
