Post by High Priestess on Sept 20, 2015 15:04:17 GMT
Story of a hacked account leading to termination of host's account --- YIKESS!!
Deborah shared on New Hosts Forum 6 months ago
I found a story, on another forum, that illustrates the serious problems that can occur when an Airbnb host's account is hacked. This supports the post by David below, where he encouraged all of us to set our account settings so that we will get notified of all logins on our account.
HEre is the link to the Airbnb host's story:
j.mp/1hPJVKy
medium.com/airbnb-superhosting/airbnb-why-did-you-terminate-my-account-an-open-letter-to-airbnb-9631213f8a1b#.xcjezhpq4
Evelyn also blogged about this here:
www.evelynbadia.com/blog/2015/8/25/airbnb-closed-your-account-now-what
As you can read in the story he tells, Kelly was a Superhost in more ways than one. He was doing a lot of hosting, and was a host leader not only in his community but also in the world, and had been invited by Airbnb to give a talk at the Paris Open -- AIrbnb was actually going to fly him out there. He did podcasts on Airbnb hosting, and was having AIrbnb send a community blogger to his home to do a story on him.
All of this wonderful career ended suddenly and shockingly, when he got a call from an AIrbnb rep saying that his account was being terminated. THey would give no reason why. He tried many times to get an explanation, and no one would give him one. But when he went to look at his login history, he found many log-ins to his account from around the world, places in the US mostly, that he had never been.
Based on what Kelly said about not having been to those places where the logins occurred, it seems to me that his account had been hacked. Why this led to Kelly's account being closed and terminated, is a troubling question that so far there are no answers to. Since this happened recently, and since there were indications that some people at Airbnb were receptive to his concerns, we can hope that things eventually resolve in his favor. But in the meantime, this story suggests the importance of all of us safeguarding our account by making sure to watch all the login history on our account.
Just today I looked at my login history and saw a log-in from several months ago that I did not recognize, stating a city where I hadn't been, but once I looked into it I realized I had been not exactly in that city, but in a rural area not far from that city on that day, so this log in did have an explanation. (I realized I had been struggling mightily on that day via both app and the full site on my iphone to help a guest do her verification). YOu can click on the question mark by each log in and it will provide you with the exact date and time of the log in.
To look at your login history and set your settings to notify you of all log ins on your account, go to "account', and then "security" and then "log in notifications" and check the box where it asks if you want to be notified of all log ins on your account.
And send your thoughts and well-wishes to poor Kelly! I sure hope that gets resolved.
11 comments•10 likes
Following
Like
Jackie
Rhonda
Evelyn
Juliet and Ed
Karla
+5
more
Edit
Delete
Fiona
Fiona6 months ago
Thanks Deborah - I don't understand why they would treat the host as an enemy instead of working with him to resolve and understand. Weird mentality.
Reply Liked 3 likes Delete
Deborah
Deborah6 months ago
Yes, it is difficult to understand, isn't it, Fiona. THe only thing I can think is that, as one of the commenters on that article he wrote states, that there are legal issues involved for Airbnb, and they have to initially take the route that protects them from legal liability. In any case of an account being hacked, it may be that Airbnb can't really know at the outset whether the account has been hacked, and someone else did a bunch of things on the host's account without the host knowing, or whether the host did those things.
Knowing of others who've been in legal situations, and also myself having been in such situations, it can be extremely frustrating to those involved how little they can say about the situation to anyone else, how much they have to keep silent about. The legal system is just so horrible in how inhumane it makes many things -- instead of talking things out, which is the human way of problem solving and conflict resolution, our legal system creates animosity, separation, and seems to do all it can to PREVENT people from talking and communicating. (And then in the end, often it's impossible to obtain justice, because justice costs too much money to get). It's one of the WEstern World's worst inventions as far as I'm concerned.
However, I think if it is the case that this is a situation that has to be investigated by Airbnb, it would have been much better if they could have simply told the host that his account was being temporarily closed while they investigated some issues. THis would at least provide him the hope that his account would be reinstated. But to just shut someone down who has been victimzed by a hacker, seems so unfair and heartless -- particularly, as is stated in the story, coming from a company which promotes the theme of BELONGING and the theme of trust and human kindness (eg the "Is Man Kind?" Airbnb advertisement with the little child walking thru the hall to the door)
Reply Like 2 replies•2 likes Delete
Fiona
Fiona6 months ago
Exactly, well said. And to turn on someone they had a close relationship to.
Lula
Lula6 months ago
Heartless. ...perfect word to describe all of this.
Evelyn
Evelyn6 months ago
Deborah - thank you for providing light to this article. WOW. this is so scary. 95% of my income comes from Airbnb. The scariest part was the silence this Superhost received.
Reply Liked 7 replies•4 likes Delete
Deborah
Deborah6 months ago
Definitely, Evelyn -- the total silence. Even though there aren't monsters involved (one hopes), at the emotional level, It's like a horror story, Stephen King or something like that. I have to think Airbnb could do better than this.
Evelyn
Evelyn6 months ago
I guess this will be this weeks blog post.. how to protect ourselves from getting hacked and how to keep our business if Airbnb shuts down our account.
Deborah
Deborah6 months ago
Speaking of keeping our business safe --- I was thinking how ironic it is -- a lot of people have become hosts on Airbnb because they felt it was safer than trying to get renters from Craigslist. It seems to be a very common sentiment, that Airbnb has to be much safer than Craigslist. I hear that all the time, "ohhh, I would NEEEVER rent to someone from Craiiiiigsliiist! How can you dooooo that!" But actually if you look at Kelly's situation, someone who built up a good business on AIrbnb only to be kicked out suddenly with no explanation at all, then Craigslist actually looks a heck of a lot safer. They don't boot people out like that from Craigslist. If your ad gets removed for some odd reason, you can just put in another ad. So ironically it could turn out that for some hosts, the biggest threat to their businesses' safety and security was not a bad guest or a criminal guest, but Airbnb. Let's hope that is a very rare occurrence. And I do hope that his situation is resolved, though the language used in his case was extremely final-sounding -- "permanent deactivation" ...
Evelyn
Evelyn6 months ago
I have spoken to NY hosts whose accounts were deactivated as they were on the phone with Airbnb. These hosts had multiple listings on Airbnb and when the Attorney General came after us. Airbnb, much later, decided to shut them down. Rose colored glasses off.
Deborah
Deborah6 months ago
It's just so horrible that Airbnb would cave into political pressure like that, and cut off heads of the serfs to please dictator-tyrant Attorney Generals, who are dressed up as feudal kings. Rose colored glasses off indeed! I look forward to reading your blog on how hosts can make a living hosting if they get their head lopped off by Airbnb.
Lula
Lula6 months ago
As David from London said, do not put all your eggs in one basket. I will continue using the alternative CL. Also I read from another Host thst Flipkey is soon enteri g the business of renting rooms. So disappointed after rose colored glasses are off.
Deborah
Deborah6 months ago
That's very good to know about Flipkey, thanks Maria. I already use CL, as well. Airbnb would naturally prefer that we all use only Airbnb, but when one hears stories like this, the eggs start getting spread around more....
Juliet and Ed
Juliet and Ed6 months ago
Deborah, thanks for explaining how to check the log ins. I had no idea. I read Kelly's story and it sounds like the only explanation for his situation is that somebody hacked his account. Awful. I hope it can be resolved for him.
Reply Liked 1 like Delete
Joyce
Joyce6 months ago
This is awful! I agree, not very much "belonging" going on here. This poor guy has had the rug pulled out from under him with no explanation and no attention to his repeated requests for details. I hope it is worked out soon.
Reply Like 1 like Delete
Rachel
Rachel6 months ago
Thank you so much for this post Deborah. I have now done exactly as you suggested and changed my password as well. Such a sad story about Kelly - it could happen to anyone. Isn't it a relief to know that Airbnb are so supportive ....
Reply Like Delete
Lula
Lula6 months ago
That is scary that could happen to anybody. After reading the story I thought if this had happened to Andrew or any regular poster on this Forum. .... scary thought.
Reply Like Delete
Jeannette
Jeannette6 months ago
Ticked the notification box, THANK YOU DEBORAH.
Reply Like Delete
Nic and Rach
Nic and Rach6 months ago
Thanks for the share Deborah. I'm mystified of Kelly's circumstance of WHY ?
So we all know that Kelly's account has been hacked and Airbnb is terminating his account to stop the virus from coming in to their enterprise portal ? So, question is.. how secured is AIRBNB ? if a hacker can hacked Sony, NASA, IRS , ATT, HomeDepot, Target, CitiGroup, APPLE, GOOGLE etc... is it because Kelly is a " Life Hacker " ? Hello ?
Reply Like 2 replies Delete
Nic and Rach
Nic and Rach6 months ago
Airbnb has all my personal info... should I get a lifelock ?
Joyce
Joyce6 months ago
I think we are all at risk, no matter where we shop, work, etc. I originally signed on my account using my social security number (SSN), and quickly decided to apply for a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) instead because Airbnb, with all of its growth and the attention it receives, would absolutely be a target. I just hoped that when I replaced my SSN with my new TIN, it wiped out a record of my SSN from their database. Then I learned that the federal government had been hacked and millions of SSNs had been stolen. Since I have had federal background checks in the past for the purpose of obtaining work with children in various settings, I figured screw it. One way or another, my info is out there. Maybe we should all get lifelocked (if that really helps?).
Joyce
Joyce6 months ago
I kept thinking, why are they treating the victim like a criminal? And wondering if maybe the hacker(s) were sending threatening or disturbing messages using his account to the future guests. But he says that guests that he's contacted have expressed surprise and dismay, and never said anything about having received something out of the ordinary from him other than the cancellation message which made it appear as if it was his decision.
So, why treat the victim this way? Makes no sense! And is downright scary since I am transitioning into making Airbnb my primary source of income and livelihood.
Reply Like Delete
Evelyn
Evelyn6 months ago
Below is one of the comments on the article, who was a future guest of Kelly's. This guest's reservation was cancelled by Airbnb.
Hi Kelly,
I’m the guest who is supposed to check in at your place on the 17th. So worried that my reservation got cancelled without any reason but at least it’s good knowing you and your place are all safe.
I didn’t know you started having issues since the 14th. I onlyreceived the cancellation notice from Airbnb at 14:37 of the 15th (Bangkok time) and all they said made it look like you cancelled it (which made me quite mad):
Unfortunately, we have some bad news about your upcoming stay at Great Room, Big House Best Location.
Your reservation for Aug 17–20, 2015 was canceled. We know this is an inconvenience, and we want to do everything we can to make it easy for you to find a great alternative right away.
At that time, I could still see our conversation in the Inbox and apparently the Airbnb generated “no longer needs accomodation” message went through. After a few days however, the conversation disappeared and I noticed your account is vanished too. Totally bizarre.
I hope you find out what triggered the termination and have it sorted out
Reply Like Delete
Deborah
Deborah shared on New Hosts Forum 6 months ago
I found a story, on another forum, that illustrates the serious problems that can occur when an Airbnb host's account is hacked. This supports the post by David below, where he encouraged all of us to set our account settings so that we will get notified of all logins on our account.
HEre is the link to the Airbnb host's story:
j.mp/1hPJVKy
medium.com/airbnb-superhosting/airbnb-why-did-you-terminate-my-account-an-open-letter-to-airbnb-9631213f8a1b#.xcjezhpq4
Evelyn also blogged about this here:
www.evelynbadia.com/blog/2015/8/25/airbnb-closed-your-account-now-what
As you can read in the story he tells, Kelly was a Superhost in more ways than one. He was doing a lot of hosting, and was a host leader not only in his community but also in the world, and had been invited by Airbnb to give a talk at the Paris Open -- AIrbnb was actually going to fly him out there. He did podcasts on Airbnb hosting, and was having AIrbnb send a community blogger to his home to do a story on him.
All of this wonderful career ended suddenly and shockingly, when he got a call from an AIrbnb rep saying that his account was being terminated. THey would give no reason why. He tried many times to get an explanation, and no one would give him one. But when he went to look at his login history, he found many log-ins to his account from around the world, places in the US mostly, that he had never been.
Based on what Kelly said about not having been to those places where the logins occurred, it seems to me that his account had been hacked. Why this led to Kelly's account being closed and terminated, is a troubling question that so far there are no answers to. Since this happened recently, and since there were indications that some people at Airbnb were receptive to his concerns, we can hope that things eventually resolve in his favor. But in the meantime, this story suggests the importance of all of us safeguarding our account by making sure to watch all the login history on our account.
Just today I looked at my login history and saw a log-in from several months ago that I did not recognize, stating a city where I hadn't been, but once I looked into it I realized I had been not exactly in that city, but in a rural area not far from that city on that day, so this log in did have an explanation. (I realized I had been struggling mightily on that day via both app and the full site on my iphone to help a guest do her verification). YOu can click on the question mark by each log in and it will provide you with the exact date and time of the log in.
To look at your login history and set your settings to notify you of all log ins on your account, go to "account', and then "security" and then "log in notifications" and check the box where it asks if you want to be notified of all log ins on your account.
And send your thoughts and well-wishes to poor Kelly! I sure hope that gets resolved.
11 comments•10 likes
Following
Like
Jackie
Rhonda
Evelyn
Juliet and Ed
Karla
+5
more
Edit
Delete
Fiona
Fiona6 months ago
Thanks Deborah - I don't understand why they would treat the host as an enemy instead of working with him to resolve and understand. Weird mentality.
Reply Liked 3 likes Delete
Deborah
Deborah6 months ago
Yes, it is difficult to understand, isn't it, Fiona. THe only thing I can think is that, as one of the commenters on that article he wrote states, that there are legal issues involved for Airbnb, and they have to initially take the route that protects them from legal liability. In any case of an account being hacked, it may be that Airbnb can't really know at the outset whether the account has been hacked, and someone else did a bunch of things on the host's account without the host knowing, or whether the host did those things.
Knowing of others who've been in legal situations, and also myself having been in such situations, it can be extremely frustrating to those involved how little they can say about the situation to anyone else, how much they have to keep silent about. The legal system is just so horrible in how inhumane it makes many things -- instead of talking things out, which is the human way of problem solving and conflict resolution, our legal system creates animosity, separation, and seems to do all it can to PREVENT people from talking and communicating. (And then in the end, often it's impossible to obtain justice, because justice costs too much money to get). It's one of the WEstern World's worst inventions as far as I'm concerned.
However, I think if it is the case that this is a situation that has to be investigated by Airbnb, it would have been much better if they could have simply told the host that his account was being temporarily closed while they investigated some issues. THis would at least provide him the hope that his account would be reinstated. But to just shut someone down who has been victimzed by a hacker, seems so unfair and heartless -- particularly, as is stated in the story, coming from a company which promotes the theme of BELONGING and the theme of trust and human kindness (eg the "Is Man Kind?" Airbnb advertisement with the little child walking thru the hall to the door)
Reply Like 2 replies•2 likes Delete
Fiona
Fiona6 months ago
Exactly, well said. And to turn on someone they had a close relationship to.
Lula
Lula6 months ago
Heartless. ...perfect word to describe all of this.
Evelyn
Evelyn6 months ago
Deborah - thank you for providing light to this article. WOW. this is so scary. 95% of my income comes from Airbnb. The scariest part was the silence this Superhost received.
Reply Liked 7 replies•4 likes Delete
Deborah
Deborah6 months ago
Definitely, Evelyn -- the total silence. Even though there aren't monsters involved (one hopes), at the emotional level, It's like a horror story, Stephen King or something like that. I have to think Airbnb could do better than this.
Evelyn
Evelyn6 months ago
I guess this will be this weeks blog post.. how to protect ourselves from getting hacked and how to keep our business if Airbnb shuts down our account.
Deborah
Deborah6 months ago
Speaking of keeping our business safe --- I was thinking how ironic it is -- a lot of people have become hosts on Airbnb because they felt it was safer than trying to get renters from Craigslist. It seems to be a very common sentiment, that Airbnb has to be much safer than Craigslist. I hear that all the time, "ohhh, I would NEEEVER rent to someone from Craiiiiigsliiist! How can you dooooo that!" But actually if you look at Kelly's situation, someone who built up a good business on AIrbnb only to be kicked out suddenly with no explanation at all, then Craigslist actually looks a heck of a lot safer. They don't boot people out like that from Craigslist. If your ad gets removed for some odd reason, you can just put in another ad. So ironically it could turn out that for some hosts, the biggest threat to their businesses' safety and security was not a bad guest or a criminal guest, but Airbnb. Let's hope that is a very rare occurrence. And I do hope that his situation is resolved, though the language used in his case was extremely final-sounding -- "permanent deactivation" ...
Evelyn
Evelyn6 months ago
I have spoken to NY hosts whose accounts were deactivated as they were on the phone with Airbnb. These hosts had multiple listings on Airbnb and when the Attorney General came after us. Airbnb, much later, decided to shut them down. Rose colored glasses off.
Deborah
Deborah6 months ago
It's just so horrible that Airbnb would cave into political pressure like that, and cut off heads of the serfs to please dictator-tyrant Attorney Generals, who are dressed up as feudal kings. Rose colored glasses off indeed! I look forward to reading your blog on how hosts can make a living hosting if they get their head lopped off by Airbnb.
Lula
Lula6 months ago
As David from London said, do not put all your eggs in one basket. I will continue using the alternative CL. Also I read from another Host thst Flipkey is soon enteri g the business of renting rooms. So disappointed after rose colored glasses are off.
Deborah
Deborah6 months ago
That's very good to know about Flipkey, thanks Maria. I already use CL, as well. Airbnb would naturally prefer that we all use only Airbnb, but when one hears stories like this, the eggs start getting spread around more....
Juliet and Ed
Juliet and Ed6 months ago
Deborah, thanks for explaining how to check the log ins. I had no idea. I read Kelly's story and it sounds like the only explanation for his situation is that somebody hacked his account. Awful. I hope it can be resolved for him.
Reply Liked 1 like Delete
Joyce
Joyce6 months ago
This is awful! I agree, not very much "belonging" going on here. This poor guy has had the rug pulled out from under him with no explanation and no attention to his repeated requests for details. I hope it is worked out soon.
Reply Like 1 like Delete
Rachel
Rachel6 months ago
Thank you so much for this post Deborah. I have now done exactly as you suggested and changed my password as well. Such a sad story about Kelly - it could happen to anyone. Isn't it a relief to know that Airbnb are so supportive ....
Reply Like Delete
Lula
Lula6 months ago
That is scary that could happen to anybody. After reading the story I thought if this had happened to Andrew or any regular poster on this Forum. .... scary thought.
Reply Like Delete
Jeannette
Jeannette6 months ago
Ticked the notification box, THANK YOU DEBORAH.
Reply Like Delete
Nic and Rach
Nic and Rach6 months ago
Thanks for the share Deborah. I'm mystified of Kelly's circumstance of WHY ?
So we all know that Kelly's account has been hacked and Airbnb is terminating his account to stop the virus from coming in to their enterprise portal ? So, question is.. how secured is AIRBNB ? if a hacker can hacked Sony, NASA, IRS , ATT, HomeDepot, Target, CitiGroup, APPLE, GOOGLE etc... is it because Kelly is a " Life Hacker " ? Hello ?
Reply Like 2 replies Delete
Nic and Rach
Nic and Rach6 months ago
Airbnb has all my personal info... should I get a lifelock ?
Joyce
Joyce6 months ago
I think we are all at risk, no matter where we shop, work, etc. I originally signed on my account using my social security number (SSN), and quickly decided to apply for a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) instead because Airbnb, with all of its growth and the attention it receives, would absolutely be a target. I just hoped that when I replaced my SSN with my new TIN, it wiped out a record of my SSN from their database. Then I learned that the federal government had been hacked and millions of SSNs had been stolen. Since I have had federal background checks in the past for the purpose of obtaining work with children in various settings, I figured screw it. One way or another, my info is out there. Maybe we should all get lifelocked (if that really helps?).
Joyce
Joyce6 months ago
I kept thinking, why are they treating the victim like a criminal? And wondering if maybe the hacker(s) were sending threatening or disturbing messages using his account to the future guests. But he says that guests that he's contacted have expressed surprise and dismay, and never said anything about having received something out of the ordinary from him other than the cancellation message which made it appear as if it was his decision.
So, why treat the victim this way? Makes no sense! And is downright scary since I am transitioning into making Airbnb my primary source of income and livelihood.
Reply Like Delete
Evelyn
Evelyn6 months ago
Below is one of the comments on the article, who was a future guest of Kelly's. This guest's reservation was cancelled by Airbnb.
Hi Kelly,
I’m the guest who is supposed to check in at your place on the 17th. So worried that my reservation got cancelled without any reason but at least it’s good knowing you and your place are all safe.
I didn’t know you started having issues since the 14th. I onlyreceived the cancellation notice from Airbnb at 14:37 of the 15th (Bangkok time) and all they said made it look like you cancelled it (which made me quite mad):
Unfortunately, we have some bad news about your upcoming stay at Great Room, Big House Best Location.
Your reservation for Aug 17–20, 2015 was canceled. We know this is an inconvenience, and we want to do everything we can to make it easy for you to find a great alternative right away.
At that time, I could still see our conversation in the Inbox and apparently the Airbnb generated “no longer needs accomodation” message went through. After a few days however, the conversation disappeared and I noticed your account is vanished too. Totally bizarre.
I hope you find out what triggered the termination and have it sorted out
Reply Like Delete
Deborah
