Unauthorized Charge; I Don’t Use Airbnb

I had a $1258 charge show up on my debt card for Airbnb. I don’t have an account with them nor has this card ever been used for an Airbnb purchase. I contacted Airbnb support and got this response:

Thank you for your patience as we looked into your question about a suspected, unauthorized charge on your credit card. We understand your concerns, but please rest assured that a full and thorough investigation has been carried out on the disputed charge.

As outlined in the previous message by my colleague, a refund cannot be issued in cases in which we believe a friend or family member who has access to your payment method has used it unintentionally. Unfortunately, we’re unable to release any information regarding the reservation or the user accounts involved without a formal request, such as a subpoena, from a government agency or law enforcement. If a government agency or law enforcement contact us regarding this issue, Airbnb will fully cooperate with their requests.

We again recommend getting in touch with anyone you may have given your credit card details to in the past. Additionally, we would suggest contacting any friends or relatives who have an Airbnb account that you have traveled with on Airbnb previously—if you added your payment credentials on another account and decided to save these credentials for future use, this could be what caused the unexpected charge. Best, Conn.

Fitting the message was signed “Conn”. I’m livid and will not stop until this is corrected.

Posted in Airbnb Guest Stories and tagged , , , , , .

20 Comments

  1. Same thing just happened to me. Bank card charged. Awaiting results from a Paypal dispute. Airbnb needs to address this fraud that they are profiting from.

    • Same thing just happened to me. I don’t have an Airbnb account. My credit card was charged $824 though Airbnb. I disputed the charge through an Airbnb contact, but the charge was not removed. I called my credit card company and they removed the charge, but Airbnb ran it through AGAIN. I called my credit card company again and they removed the charge. On March 4, the charge appeared AGAIN. I now have to get a new credit card. I will never use Airbnb again. They are disgusting.

    • I have just discovered that’s I had around 1500 £ charge on my company credit card, when I checked my bank balance. Someone had been using my card for Airbnb since 3 rd of March till 31st of March on daily basis. I only have a transaction reference number on my statements. I reported fraud with my bank. I just want to know what country was the accommodation booked in, just to work out who the thief may be. Any ideas? Have you had similar experience? I never used this card for Airbnb.

  2. They just took $805 from my account yesterday claiming I owed cancelation fees. Same robot messages, same robot people. I was left with .25. If one more robot person tells me “they understand and are sorry but… “I am gonna lose my mind!

  3. This exact thing happened to me. The bank caught it and a couple other pending charges. Airbnb would not stop it as it was pending when they could have cancelled the reservation in real time. I filed a police report and fraud with the bank. Airbnb just sent me the same robot email about how they decided it wasn’t fraud but instead someone I knew using my card. Even if that was true… which it is not… it’s still fraud!!! The emails they send are not a real person. I have replied several times and gotten the same response. I feel like they want their money no matter what.

    It actually not just between you and your bank. Years ago I had it happen at a hotel across the country. I called the hotel the person was in, called the cops, they watched the camera, found the room, arrested the guy, I pressed charged. Airbnb could have cancelled the reservation. I was on the phone with them, they say it pending. They just moved me around until they got their money. It is really sad.

  4. just happened to us… October 7, 2021. $7,206.00. Haven’t even used that card for a couple of years. The best thing to do is immediately contact your bank and let them know it is a fraudulent charge. It is usually resolved…. unfortunately often with the issuance of a new card which can be a hassle. In AirBnB’s defense (token defense) scammers try to get information out of them pretending that they were just scammed themselves. That may be why they are so tight-lipped. It still sucks though because I would like to know who the hell got their hands on that card #.

  5. This just happened to me for $500+. Someone made a booking in Miami, Fl. I saw the pre-authorization on my card immediately and reported it to my card company. When the charge posted I tried to get more information from AirBnB and they stonewalled me as if it’s not my payment information being abused and instead as of im the perpetrator. I don’t have ANY friends or family with my card info or any access to it. I’ll say this again with 100% certainty, I DO NOT HAVE ANY FRIENDS OR FAMILY MEMBERS WITH ACCESS TO MY PAYMENT INFORMATION. I’m pretty sure it’s either AirBnB itself doing this OR they have been hacked and hackers use the payment information in this way because they are unlikely to get cause, due to AirBnB’s bogus policy. Can anyone, with high enough unauthorized charge get their local news to pick up this story? AirBnB won’t stop this because they are benefitting with these unauthorized charges and ever since they went public (as a host) I’ve noticed they’ve become exceedingly sinister. Please keep posting your experiences guys and gals!

  6. Same problem. Credit charged for $3500 for a reservation I didn’t make. 7 calls and they insist I allowed a friend or family member to use my card which I didn’t. Airbnb stopped responding altogether. No other fraudulent cards except Airbnb which leads me to think the FRAUDSTER ACTUALLY WORKS FOR AIRBNB. I’m also a host and hoping they don’t try to keep my payouts once the bank reverses the fraudulent charge. Completely and amazingly inept fraud team.

  7. This has happened to me repeatedly, on several different card #’s (same account). Never booked Air BnB ever and my cards all were 100% in my possession and no, nobody else has my card info. The single only possibility is someone has my checking and routing number and are being allowed to book with them OR my phone is hacked somehow maybe and they get it whenever I save my card info on my phone…This is crazy

  8. I just caught a fraudulent charge while it was still pending that came from Airbnb. I do not have an account with them. I notified the CC company and shutdown that card. From what I see, this seems to be a regular occurrence with them. If they can’t get their security straight, they should be shutdown.

  9. Did this problem ever was solved? I am going through something similar right now and am super scared. My cc was charged almost 3k for two airbnb reservations even though I have never used airbnb before.

  10. Why would this not also be an AIRBNB issue?? Obviously the funds are going to them! We had the same thing happen. The bank is looking into it. Also, it was a charge on our business account, which is NEVER used for personal OR business travel. I sure hope we can get to the bottom of this! Our charge was for over $1400!!

  11. A lot of misunderstandings going on here.
    Airbnb has a habbit of fraudulently charging people.
    I have received charges as well, however I have never used an AIRBNB.
    My credit card company will issue a new card, with a new number. They didn’t see to be surprised by the fraudulent charging.

  12. Why on earth are you contacting Airbnb? This is a matter between you and the financial institution card provider.

    It’s pretty obvious that your card was either stolen, hacked or (more likely) used by a family member or friend. It has nothing at all to do with Airbnb and the appropriate avenue for complaint is via the disputed payments resolution centre of your financial institution.

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