Travellers are getting seemingly convincing messages asking them to provide bank card details and threatening their reservation will be cancelled
Travellers using the popular hotel website Booking.com are being warned not to fall for scam emails asking them to confirm their hotel payment, after a hack of Booking.com’s email system.
In recent weeks the Observer has been contacted by a number of customers claiming that they had received scam emails from within the Booking.com system.
In each case the customer has either checked in, or was due to check in, to a hotel they had reserved using Booking.com. The email – sent from
noreply@booking.com – claims their stay may have to be cancelled unless they hand over their bank card details via an embedded link.
If they fail to do so within four or 12 hours – the emails vary slightly – the reservation will be cancelled. Notifications of the email have also appeared in the company’s app on mobile phones.