Today’s Scam of the day is one that I first wrote about in April of 2024, but judging by an email I recently received from a Scamicide reader the problem does not appear to be resolved. Scams involving the popular travel website Booking.com have increased dramatically over the last two years worldwide with one hundred hotels in Japan among the hotels targeted last year. The scam starts with a phishing email to a hotel that uses social engineering to lure the unsuspecting hotel employee into clicking on a link and downloading malware that enables the scammer to access the hotel’s Booking.com account and obtain a list of upcoming reservations along with the email addresses of the future travelers. The scammers then use the hacked Booking.com management portal of the hotel to send an email to the future visitor in which they demand a credit card payment for the future stay. Thousands of victims of this scam have responded to the emails which appear totally legitimate by providing their credit card information which leads to identity theft and credit card fraud.
TIPS
The primary responsibility for this scam falls on the hotels whose lack of sufficient security enables the scammers to gain access to their Booking.com accounts, however there are things that we as consumers can do to protect ourselves from this sophisticated scam. Perhaps first and foremost, as I often advise you, you should never use your debit card for anything other than as an ATM card because while your liability for credit card fraud is limited to no more than $50 (and I have never seen a credit card company ever charge anything for fraudulent use), your risk of loss for fraudulent use of your debit card if it is not reported immediately could result in your entire bank account being stolen.
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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