Post by High Priestess on Mar 28, 2016 15:15:03 GMT
A recent post about a host who was unable to find her listing, indicated that Airbnb may finally have taken a step towards combatting scammer criminals. As context for the post that follows, I want to point out that, as one of our "old guard" host community is quite aware, as she has found many of these listings, criminals have had a field day creating fake listings which contain a photo that includes their email address. They state in this photo that the guest is to contact them directly, because "I am traveling and can't check my messages on the Airbnb site" (which of course is complete nonsense since Airbnb messages go to one's email account). Once the prospective guest contacts them directly, off the Airbnb site, a whole criminal scam begins, which includes the sending of phony emails created to look like they are coming from Airbnb. I myself suggested that Airbnb should install some software which can detect text in photos and then when it finds such photos in listings, make sure that the text is innocuous -- as should have been done in the case below --- and only hide or de-list the listing if there is clear evidence of criminal intent and intent to get the guest to contact them via private email offsite.
Grace shared March 25 2016
www.airbnb.com/groups/content/content-214463
Bug in the listings search system
Before I call or tweet to AirBnB, has anyone checked on their listing today and found that it's not going to their listing, but only going to the search page which shows it with all the comparable listings in the area? I click on that and can't access the listing itself, so I assume neither can prospective guests.
10 comments
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Keith
This appears to be an issue with your listing. mine and other rooms work but your room redirects to the local region.
My guess is that you've somehow been purged and your listing has been made unavailable.
You should contact airbnb immediately and ask about it.
Queenie & Ted
Clicking on your listing from your profile gives me a message " This listing is currently unavailable". Let us know what airbnb says.
Susan
I can see your listing, Grace. Whatever the problem was, appears to be rectified now.
Grace
Thanks for your responses all. Airbnb reps think it may be a software issue while they are doing an update but we will not know till they investigate. It's been down for just under 24 hours now at the height of the onset of tourist season here so that's troubling. Susan are you sure you were able to see my listing itself and not just the page it is included in? No views in stats for the past 2 days.
Thanks.
Grace
I see it is accessible through the phone app but no browsers. Perhaps you were checking from your airbnb app.
Susan
Just had another look - I can definitely see the whole listing - description, map, pics etc. But yes, it is the phone app I'm using.
Grace
Thanks Susan, yes it is only the phone app that can access the listing. I have had three reps working on it and the developers came back saying it was not a bug, which it is, as there are no notes on my account. They say it could be down for days unless the developers are willing to admit it is a bug. No other resolve is being offered or looked into, and customer services' hands are tied. Can anyone give me a twitter address or something where I can go beyond the phone customer service team? Thanks.
Susan
Have you tried Twitter yet Grace? By all accounts, that seems to be the speediest route to eliciting a satisfactory response. I'm not a Twitter user myself but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that it's best to tweet @airbnbhelp, rather than @airbnb. Hope you get sorted soon!
Grace
Thanks Susan. That's good to know for next time. I have an update. I have had 8 different AirBnB staff members working on this for 4 days. What appears to have happened is that I had included in the photos of my listing a graphic of a wonderful guest review. Unbeknownst to me this is not allowed and there is a system in place that automatically and immediately renders your listing unavailable, as a protection against advertising other sites or brands, I guess. There was no branding visible to me but I assume there probably is, coded into the font etc. The first deactivation penalty lasted 2 days, but because I didn't yet realize the reason, I unfortunately tried to add the photo a second time, immediately rendering my listing once again "temporarily unavailable" for another 2 days. Obviously I will not be trying that again and if there were any information warning against it I never would have in the first place. Customer support is wholly unaware of this default process and tried all they could to address it as a bug. Developers reported to them that it was not a bug, however they neglected to inform customer support reps what it actually was. No one in customer support has ever heard of this before so it must be new and unfortunately there is no way for anyone in customer service to communicate with whatever level of development is capable of resetting the default process, if there even is anyone who could. The difficulty is also compounded by the fact that Airbnb staff cannot see what guests are seeing, because similar to the mobil app, they are reading from within the Airbnb system so to them, the listing shows up fine. It was particularly stressful knowing that staff could not identify the problem, figure out how temporary or permanent it was, nor execute any control to correct it. But they did all they were capable of trying, with what skills and authority they are given, and thankfully, as of now the listing is once again available so the issue is resolved and I hope this information is helpful to others.
Queenie & Ted
Thanks for coming back here with an update, Grace. It's a wonder to me that a web-based and web-dependent company like Airbnb can be so clueless about what is going on with their own systems. You're absolutely correct - a warning notice of improper actions would be a great help! Glad you finally got resolution. You taught me something new!
Deborah
Thanks for letting us know about this, Grace. It appears that Airbnb has finally put into place a software system designed to try to combat the criminal scammers which have been so prevalent on the site. Many of you may not be aware of it, but criminals have had an absolute field day stealing funds from guests, by creating fake listings on Airbnb, and including, in the photos on the listing, a copy of a message providing their direct email address and then asking the guest to contact them directly, stating, "Please contact me directly and I will respond within 30 minutes...I cannot check my Airbnb messages because I am traveling." Which of course anyone experienced with Airbnb will know is nonsense, because one's messages on the Airbnb system forward directly to one's email address. But guests, not understanding how the system works, end up replying to the scammer directly, and once the scammer can communicate with them offsite, a whole involved scam process begins which includes the request to pay via wire transfer, and then "fake" Airbnb emails, wherein the scammer cleverly creates emails that look like they are official ones from Airbnb.
My response, when I heard about the huge number of such scams occuring on the Airbnb site, was to suggest that Airbnb install image scanning software which would be able to detect if hosts had included a photo that had text in it. My suggestion was that if such a photo were found, then Airbnb staff should be alerted and examine the photo, and de-list the listing if it had clear criminal intent, but not do so in situations where the content was innocent/innocuous as in your case. It appears they installed the scanning software but did not think about the fact that some of the content found might be innocent and that they might harm innocent hosts that way.
See these posts which discuss this issue of scamming via photos in listings:
globalhosting.freeforums.net/thread/1470/played-guests-asking-direct-payment
And:
globalhosting.freeforums.net/thread/1162/scams-fraud-perpetrated-on-guests
Grace shared March 25 2016
www.airbnb.com/groups/content/content-214463
Bug in the listings search system
Before I call or tweet to AirBnB, has anyone checked on their listing today and found that it's not going to their listing, but only going to the search page which shows it with all the comparable listings in the area? I click on that and can't access the listing itself, so I assume neither can prospective guests.
10 comments
Follow
Like
Keith
This appears to be an issue with your listing. mine and other rooms work but your room redirects to the local region.
My guess is that you've somehow been purged and your listing has been made unavailable.
You should contact airbnb immediately and ask about it.
Queenie & Ted
Clicking on your listing from your profile gives me a message " This listing is currently unavailable". Let us know what airbnb says.
Susan
I can see your listing, Grace. Whatever the problem was, appears to be rectified now.
Grace
Thanks for your responses all. Airbnb reps think it may be a software issue while they are doing an update but we will not know till they investigate. It's been down for just under 24 hours now at the height of the onset of tourist season here so that's troubling. Susan are you sure you were able to see my listing itself and not just the page it is included in? No views in stats for the past 2 days.
Thanks.
Grace
I see it is accessible through the phone app but no browsers. Perhaps you were checking from your airbnb app.
Susan
Just had another look - I can definitely see the whole listing - description, map, pics etc. But yes, it is the phone app I'm using.
Grace
Thanks Susan, yes it is only the phone app that can access the listing. I have had three reps working on it and the developers came back saying it was not a bug, which it is, as there are no notes on my account. They say it could be down for days unless the developers are willing to admit it is a bug. No other resolve is being offered or looked into, and customer services' hands are tied. Can anyone give me a twitter address or something where I can go beyond the phone customer service team? Thanks.
Susan
Have you tried Twitter yet Grace? By all accounts, that seems to be the speediest route to eliciting a satisfactory response. I'm not a Twitter user myself but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that it's best to tweet @airbnbhelp, rather than @airbnb. Hope you get sorted soon!
Grace
Thanks Susan. That's good to know for next time. I have an update. I have had 8 different AirBnB staff members working on this for 4 days. What appears to have happened is that I had included in the photos of my listing a graphic of a wonderful guest review. Unbeknownst to me this is not allowed and there is a system in place that automatically and immediately renders your listing unavailable, as a protection against advertising other sites or brands, I guess. There was no branding visible to me but I assume there probably is, coded into the font etc. The first deactivation penalty lasted 2 days, but because I didn't yet realize the reason, I unfortunately tried to add the photo a second time, immediately rendering my listing once again "temporarily unavailable" for another 2 days. Obviously I will not be trying that again and if there were any information warning against it I never would have in the first place. Customer support is wholly unaware of this default process and tried all they could to address it as a bug. Developers reported to them that it was not a bug, however they neglected to inform customer support reps what it actually was. No one in customer support has ever heard of this before so it must be new and unfortunately there is no way for anyone in customer service to communicate with whatever level of development is capable of resetting the default process, if there even is anyone who could. The difficulty is also compounded by the fact that Airbnb staff cannot see what guests are seeing, because similar to the mobil app, they are reading from within the Airbnb system so to them, the listing shows up fine. It was particularly stressful knowing that staff could not identify the problem, figure out how temporary or permanent it was, nor execute any control to correct it. But they did all they were capable of trying, with what skills and authority they are given, and thankfully, as of now the listing is once again available so the issue is resolved and I hope this information is helpful to others.
Queenie & Ted
Thanks for coming back here with an update, Grace. It's a wonder to me that a web-based and web-dependent company like Airbnb can be so clueless about what is going on with their own systems. You're absolutely correct - a warning notice of improper actions would be a great help! Glad you finally got resolution. You taught me something new!
Deborah
Thanks for letting us know about this, Grace. It appears that Airbnb has finally put into place a software system designed to try to combat the criminal scammers which have been so prevalent on the site. Many of you may not be aware of it, but criminals have had an absolute field day stealing funds from guests, by creating fake listings on Airbnb, and including, in the photos on the listing, a copy of a message providing their direct email address and then asking the guest to contact them directly, stating, "Please contact me directly and I will respond within 30 minutes...I cannot check my Airbnb messages because I am traveling." Which of course anyone experienced with Airbnb will know is nonsense, because one's messages on the Airbnb system forward directly to one's email address. But guests, not understanding how the system works, end up replying to the scammer directly, and once the scammer can communicate with them offsite, a whole involved scam process begins which includes the request to pay via wire transfer, and then "fake" Airbnb emails, wherein the scammer cleverly creates emails that look like they are official ones from Airbnb.
My response, when I heard about the huge number of such scams occuring on the Airbnb site, was to suggest that Airbnb install image scanning software which would be able to detect if hosts had included a photo that had text in it. My suggestion was that if such a photo were found, then Airbnb staff should be alerted and examine the photo, and de-list the listing if it had clear criminal intent, but not do so in situations where the content was innocent/innocuous as in your case. It appears they installed the scanning software but did not think about the fact that some of the content found might be innocent and that they might harm innocent hosts that way.
See these posts which discuss this issue of scamming via photos in listings:
globalhosting.freeforums.net/thread/1470/played-guests-asking-direct-payment
And:
globalhosting.freeforums.net/thread/1162/scams-fraud-perpetrated-on-guests
