Advice for when your account is hacked

Admin — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 18:26:47 +0000

I am yet another host whose AirBnB account was hacked and whose payout was sent to an unknown bank account. My advice to other victims: call every single day until the situation is resolved. Do not rely on email. I did both. No one ever responded to an email and, every time I called, there was something else holding up the investigation process. Here’s the long version:

12/12-called and reported the problem

12/14-called for an update and was told that I had done everything I needed to do and the case was being marked urgent

12/16-called and was told I accidentally hadn’t been sent the email outlining the steps I need to take to start the investigation process (including changing my AirBnB password–this is important for later). Also told to upload a picture of a government-issued ID on my profile. She was going to mark my case as urgent (again, I guess).

12/17- called to make sure I had done everything correctly the day before, and to say that there wasn’t a place to upload my ID, so I had emailed it. Told that everything was done correctly, and the emailed ID was okay.

12/18-called and was told the emailed ID wasn’t okay. They changed my account so I could upload my ID.

12/19-wrote a long email detailing all the calls and emails (I had sent several–no response). Called and asked the representative to read the email and decide what to do next. He told me I needed to change my password. Told him I had, but did it again anyway. Apparently he couldn’t see the change on his end, and this was also holding up the process. As I was on hold I saw that they deleted the false bank account (I had left it on my profile so they could see it), and had paid me the stolen money. I received an email apologizing for the hack, but also saying that it was probably my fault. Apparently I had received a message with a link in it on November 27 and, if I had clicked it, this is how the hackers got into my account. 1) AirBnB hid the link they are referring to so I couldn’t click on it even if I wanted to and 2) I NEVER click on unsolicited links. Ever.

If I hadn’t called daily, I never would have received the email of next steps, found out that there was a problem with my account and uploading the ID, and that they couldn’t see that I had changed my password as per their request. AirBnB would have legitimately thought that I just wasn’t taking the appropriate action.

Call every day. Call every day. CALL EVERY DAY!

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Advice for when your account is hacked