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Las Vegas woman believes Airbnb account used to create fake listing

Posted at 6:11 PM, Jan 08, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-21 17:46:46-05

A Las Vegas woman thinks her Airbnb account was taken over and she has a warning for other users.

Brenda Logan started receiving confusing text messages and emails Sunday.

"People [were] notifying me they were coming in, when they would arrive, when their flight was coming in," Logan said. "I sent them back something like you got the wrong person."

Logan's never rented out her house before. She believes someone got into her account to create the fake rental listing.

"It showed a house in east Las Vegas and they were advertising it for $26 a night but it wasn't me," Logan said.

Logan says at least three reservations were confirmed at the house that may not even exist.

She also got an email notifying her payment would come in February.

In a statement, Airbnb said,

"The safety and privacy of our hosts and guests is our number one priority here at Airbnb. Fake or misrepresented listings have no place in our community and our team is working hard to constantly strengthen our defenses. We take a number of measures to safeguard all Airbnb accounts, including using multi-factor authentication whenever a login is attempted from a new device. While these instances are extremely rare, we are supporting the guest and working with her to resolve the issue immediately."

The company uses multi-factor authentication whenever a user attempts to log in from a new device. That means they require additional identity verification.

Airbnb representatives said text alerts are also sent in those cases in addition to emails.

Logan received one of the security warning emails, but she says she glossed over it because she thought it was spam.

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