Scams involving the popular travel website Booking.com have increased dramatically over the last two years worldwide.  The latest problem is a data breach which Booking.com confirmed earlier this week in an email to its users informing them that it had suffered a data breach in which booking details, names, emails, addresses, phone numbers and any other information Booking.com users may have shared with any hotel booked through Booking.com was compromised.  Scammers are using this information to contact Booking.com customers posing as Booking.com or a hotel with which the customers has made a reservation through Booking.com and under a variety of pretenses asks for credit card information related to an upcoming hotel stay.  The phone calls, text messages or  phishing emails will look entirely legitimate and refer to specifics as to actual reservations, making the scam more believable.

TIPS

As always, you can never be sure when you get an email, text message or phone call as to who is really contacting you so you should never click on a link, make a payment or provide personal information in response to any communication unless you have absolutely confirmed that it is legitimate.  In response to an email that appears to come from Booking.com, you can either use your Booking.com app to confirm whether the email was legitimate or call Booking.com at a phone number that you know is legitimate or go to the Help Center on the official Booking.com website.  Finally, when making a payment for a reservation through Booking.com you should only make the payment on the official website or app.

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