Online hospitality service Airbnb has recently introduced new security measures to prevent scams

Airbnb have recently introduced new security systems and tools to help fight against fake listings and scammers in an attempt to protect customers online.

The global online hospitality service issued a statement to the Herald after an article was run about a group who lost nearly $5000 to scammers.

The host and listing from the scam has since been removed from the Airbnb platform, with the company claiming to have made a number of changes to tackle "fraudulent activity and bad actors".

"We recently introduced new security tools to help tackle fake listings and educate our community about staying safe online, including more education to users on how to book safely.

"Fake or misrepresented listings have no place in our community," an Airbnb spokesperson said.

The statement said that there are warnings on every page to prevent customers from taking a wrong turn to a hack site.

Airbnb advise people to protect their payment by never transferring money or communicate outside of the Airbnb website or app.

The group has a "Trust and Safety" team that works on protecting the Airbnb community 24/7 by preventing fraud and permanently removing people if necessary.

"We have a real-time risk detection system that uses machine learning and predictive analytics, instantly evaluating hundreds of risk signals to flag and then stop bad actors and scams before anything happens," the statement reads.

More than 260 million people have used Airbnb and it claims negative experiences are "extremely rare".

"The most important thing to know is that as long as you stay on the airbnb.com platform and only send money through Airbnb, you will always be protected."