How one woman got caught in a year-long struggle with Airbnb and PayPal to get her money back

Teresa Santos tried for a year to get her money back after her Airbnb account was hacked and a $2,407.88 charge was made to her PayPal account. While the hosts of the property were understanding and approved the full refund, Santos, a single mom of three, was caught in a struggle between Airbnb and PayPal to actually get her money back.

“I was going in circles,” she told ABC 7 New York (1). “Airbnb was insisting that they canceled it.” However, Santos’ refund from the company was originally only $110 because of the open dispute with PayPal.

PayPal told Santos: “Based on our review, the transaction is consistent with your PayPal history,” and refused to process the refund.

Santos had worked hard to afford an apartment in the Stuytown neighborhood, and was afraid that the outstanding bill, which had gone into collections, could negatively impact her credit score and make her ineligible for the apartment she had long coveted.

While many scam victims don’t have a year-long recovery process, having your online accounts or banking information hacked can seriously mess up your finances, your credit, and your wellbeing. Here’s what you can do to protect yourself from similar issues if you become the victim of an account hack.

Unauthorized charges on your payments accounts are often a sign of identity theft, as stealing your login credentials to impersonate you and use your account information and linked payment methods is a form of fraud.

Online safety platform Aura (2) warns that while account hacks are not the most common Airbnb scams, they can do the most damage. They say hackers often change the login credentials to lock you out of your Airbnb account, making it more difficult for you to resolve the issue with the company’s customer service team.

The Federal Reserve (3) warns social engineering, phishing, and other tactics are often used by scammers to convince you to hand over your login details and other sensitive information. While both Airbnb and PayPal have consumer protection policies in place, account hacks can make it difficult to resolve the issue. And while Santos didn’t say how she believes her account was hacked, McAfee (4) warns a common way scammers get your login information is by sending phony messages ‘confirming’ a purchase through your account. When you click the link in the email to login and ‘verify’ the purchase, the scam site records your email address and password. You can report these emails to phishing@paypal.com.

Read More: 5 essential money moves to make once you’ve saved $50,000

A post on AirbnbHell (5), a forum where disgruntled customers complain about various issues with the company, shows several others claim to have had similar hacking issues as Santos over the years, and have also similarly had issues seeking a resolution with both Airbnb and PayPal.

Back in 2019, USA Today (6) reported a spate of Airbnb account hacks had users vowing to ditch the platform due to the difficulty in resolving the issues and receiving refunds on both their credit cards and PayPal accounts.

The Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) (7) reported in 2025 that victims of identity theft were far more likely to consider self-harm in their response to identity theft than the general population. This shows the serious negative impact that victimization can have beyond the financial issues, such as a damaged credit score, being sent to collections for debt that you were unaware of — or even losing your tax refund, your health insurance coverage, or your home.

ITRC reports victims are increasingly more likely to be targeted again by scammers, making the emotional, psychological and financial toll even heavier. That’s why it’s important to take steps to protect yourself before you become a target.

In February 2026, PayPal announced a cybersecurity incident (8) impacted “a small number of customers” between July and December 2025, allowing their private data to be accessed by a third party, and “a few customers experienced unauthorized transactions on their account and PayPal has issued refunds to these customers.”

This data breach shows relying on payments companies to safeguard your data isn’t a foolproof solution for keeping your money safe. Some tips for avoiding becoming the target of a fraudster include:

• Making online payments through a credit card instead of a third-party payments company. Credit cards typically have more robust consumer protection in case of fraud.

• Regularly review your transaction history on payments platforms and in your bank accounts to check for any transactions you don’t recognize.

• Regularly update your passwords on websites that store your third party payments or credit card information.

• Better yet, remove your saved credit card and payments information from these websites to protect yourself in case of a breach.

• If you’re not planning to open any new accounts, you can also freeze your credit to prevent scammers from opening a new credit account in your name.

• Report any potential fraudulent transactions as soon as you find them, and place a fraud alert on your account with a credit bureau.

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ABC 7 New York (1); Aura (2); Federal Reserve (3); McAfee (4); AirbnbHell (5); USA Today (6); Identity Theft Resource Center (7); PayPal (8)

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.