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Scam & booking.com

judydaisy

Active Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Sarria - Santiago 2004
Roncesvalles - Estella 2009
Camino Ingles - 2012
Tui - Santiago - 2014
Yes, I have fallen for it! What an idiot. I am always telling people to be careful when purchasing on-line. I am planning a shortish camino (Roncesvalles to Logroño) in September of this year.
I often use Booking. Com for searching out accommodation and other things. I have a hotel booked in Logroño for the last night - found and reserved through said company.
Late last night I received an email purporting to be them telling me that there was a problem with my credit card and could I input it again. I didn’t think twice and did so as requested. For some reason I re-read the email and began to think that I had been had. Rang the hotel who told me that it IS a scam. Consequently around 1.00am last night I was phoning banks, blocking cards etc.

I suppose that in the grand scheme of things it could have been a lot worse, my account could have been emptied. All they took was the cost of the hotel reservation… £139.00.
My bank has told me that Booking.com is being targeted at the moment. The scammer(s) pose as booking.com and take the money using another company as a front. The other company is called TransferGo. This 2nd company is completely fine and okay. I emailed them to inform them that they had been used as well. They are now actively helping me to recover my £139.

I am posting this simply to make others aware that booking.com is being targeted and to make sure that you don’t respond in the same way I did. If in doubt, ring booking.com or the accommodation.
 
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Thank you for sharing on this scam, it might save someone future hardship and catastrophic consequences.
 
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That ad has nothing to do with this site or the Caminos in Spain/Europe. It's just an ad like any other that you see on many websites.
 
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The exact same thing happened to me. On the email they sent it had my booking number that I clicked on. Took me to what I would have sworn was the real booking.com. I listened to that still, small voice in my head and contacted the hotel. Scam. It’s terrifying how sophisticated it’s gotten and how many out there are trying to steal our money.
 
I had a similar problem with Booking dot com in October. I booked a room for the following night, went to bed, and in the morning there was an email saying they hadn’t been able to confirm the reservation, had cancelled it and refunded the money, and I would have to reserve the room again. It was suspicious but I did it because I needed that room.
When I reviewed my Visa bill once I got home, I saw that they had actually charged me three times for that reservation and had refunded only one of those charges. Five phone calls to Booking dot com later they still refused to refund the money. They insisted on blaming the whole thing on the property owner. At that point I gave up, asked my bank to deal with it, and got a new Visa card number. I wonder now if it really was Booking dot com, but in any event I will not use Booking dot com ever again.
 
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Hi judydaisy, thank you for posting about your experience -- I received a similar email from Booking.com this week with a message about validating my payment for a particular reservation (supposedly "an error" had been made) -- Scammers are getting very sophisticated these days and emails are looking legitimate - Glad to hear that you will recover your money and are giving warning about what's going on!
 
Same thing just last week but fortunately for me I had heard of this happening so I didn't fall for it. I sent booking, com the info as well as the hotel I booked at. Makes me mad that these things happen so often these days. Be vigilant all.
 

This booking.com scam happened to me as well. I received a similar email. I did not click the link but sign in to booking.com account to check my hotel reservations booked for April/May 2024.

I am not sure what exactly happened, after entering my card details etc. I received a prompt that there was not sufficient money and asked me to top up more. In the meantime, I received a text message from my bank that a credit card was charged CDN$613 by some financial company and if I wanted to proceed or stop the process. I hit stop, ended everything online and signed out of booking.com.

I then called the credit card and found out it was a fraud. I also called booking.com which checked with the hotel in Madrid and they both emailed me back to apologize.

I am also sharing this so that everyone are aware of this scam and will be heedful. And as per judydaisy, "If in doubt, ring booking.com or the accommodation".

Cheers and all the best.

D
 
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It is so easy to be caught on the hop, so thankfully, you seem to have reacted to save yourself. It is useful to keep posting these experiences. The scammers are alive and well. Not new, just new ways of them getting to be the fat cats!
The lesson? Stay alert. A word from long ago!
 
This scam is still going on. I got several emails this morning.
I called booking dot com's customer service number.
I was told my reservation was fine.
I also went to each individual reservation.
On one of my reservations was a message telling me it was a scam and not to click on links, but when I clicked on "see message" it was not there - so their site has also been hacked.
Anyway... I hope people see this.
 
I have seen it, and thanks for saying it again. A whole bunch of people I know have had their server hacked. Almost two weeks of not knowing, nor who will take responsibility... everything locked up in a cloud somewhere, and this morning one person told me they know where the hacker lives.
Isn't that so annoying?
Lesson? For myself more than for anyone else - wait before hitting send.
Edit: not booking.com, but scams and hackings. Vulnerable we are...
 
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Just as a helpful suggestion.
I have gone through all of my bookings and put the name, address, and phone number of every lodging into my contacts. If I have any questions, I can contact the property directly using WhatsApp or simply messaging them directly at their phone number.
 
Hi Guys! (mods can alter if needed)
Today from booking.com i got this supposedly from Aloha Hostel Pamplona .

​
​


Due to updated reservation rules, you will need to verify again. Don't worry, your reservation is fine. But if you do not verify within 24 hours, your booking will not be valid.

The verification process will not take more than 5 minutes, please make sure you follow the process to the end. Go to: removed link


Also note that your payment method must not contain a balance less than the value of your reservation and your limits must be raised.

Regards, Aloha Hostel!

I thought strange i usually just update card in the reservation in my account!
So i ignored this message above and did my usual Aloha responded within a couple of minutes with this:

Good morning,
We have had a hack in the system, please do not go to any links.
If you have any doubts please contact us via telephone.

Be very careful folks i have done about 60 bookings and never seen anything like it so i thought nah not right, glad i did.
All the best Woody
Forgot to add this came through booking.com messenger checked web address and was defo booking.com
 
I got a sneaky message from the “Booking.com” site at 5am today. I remembered an alert from this Camino Forum AFTER I clicked on the link. I luckily didn’t provide the requested info. At 9am I got my alert from the REAL Booking.com site that they had been hacked and to NOT activate the erroneous hyperlink nor give private info.

Thank you so much Camino Forum family. I’m spreading the word concerning this issue. Buen Camino
 
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Great man. I will do the same.
 
Just out of curiosity - why plurals? Hopefully it was only ONE card so should've been one call to one financial institution.

Are you telling us there is no protection on your CC against unauthorized purchases? If you 'confirm' that you made ONE reservation for £139.00 then all other charges pertaining to same are fraudulent! Booking should confirm that to your bank....

Long time ago I had my CC stolen in Europe. $16,000.00 were charged in a matter of like 15 mins. I was not liable for any and the card got promptly canceled....
 
This is also what I'm currently doing and saving confirmation as pdfs to my phone.
 
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Hi there folks,

a few weeks ago I reserved a room in Tuscany for summer break this year and got an e-Mail from "booking.com", that my payment didn't process and I have to reenter my payment data.
I had a good laugh, because there was no reservation fee, so no payment until I arrive in Tuscany.

The hotel got my full adress via the booking:com-system (verified by the card-company) and I don't book hotels that request a pre-payment for reservation. If I don't show up, booking.com will charge the fee off my card and process the payment via their system. But I'm insured against those circumstances (travel cancellation insurance for 37€ per year).

They awfully try hard to scam people that want to have a good time off.
 
One of the big ‘clues’ is the quality of the email in terms of messaging/ grammar. It’s is always a big giveaway. The above looks like it’s been written by a 5 year old. Booking.com and other companies of their magnitude will employ professional copywriters who can put a message across clearly and succinctly!
 
To be clear (scamming aside) if you make a booking where you pay on the day, there is no pre charge, and is fully cancellable, you still need to submit a valid payment card to hold your reservation obv in the event of you ‘no-showing’.
 
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TravellingMan22 said:
To be clear (scamming aside) if you make a booking where you pay on the day, there is no pre charge, and is fully cancellable, you still need to submit a valid payment card to hold your reservation obv in the event of you ‘no-showing’.
Click to expand...
Yes, booking holds all my data. All verified and ready to use, if needed.
There are rules in my country that make it possible to get around the reservation fees. But some hotel-chains want reservations fees either way. Therefore I don't book there. Plenty of other options available!

Some years ago I had a no-show because I got ill short-handed and got a bill from the hotel. No problem at all to process via booking.com, I agreed to the terms. The bill was sent to the insurance and they reimbursed me.
 
This is all quite interesting. I use booking.com a lot and have never received these fraudulent emails. I have, however, received genuine requests to update details when a payment has failed.
I wonder if they are targeting customers from particular jurisdictions.
 
I have used my app for booking.com for years and as yet have never noticed any attempts at scamming. I am now pay close attention to all my reservations, thanks to the alerts posted on these recent threads.
 
Let us pick up your suitcase once you arrive in Europe....
...and ship it to Santiago for storage. You pick it up once in Santiago. Service offered by Casa Ivar (we use DHL for transportation).
Yeah... and once more we should "thank" the Rise of AI! it wont take long before the criminals latch on to that and all grammar mistakes will disappear.

Unfortunately we "the good folks" are always 1 or 2 steps behind.... Just be diligent in what is going on. I like (and I actually use the same; if anything I got a hotel in Chamonix reserved for early July ) @Roland49 s idea of not to book anything 'pre-paid'. I believe if anything we can always log onto our accounts on Booking and verify for ourselves if our reservation is still intact....
 
Thanks. Sorry didn’t quite understand what you meant and I know embarrassingly little about AI, or its capability.

I guess all we can do is be vigilant, and messages delivered esp. via the App are very disconcerting and all we can do is support each other with tips and advice.

I am nomadic so I stay in properties booked via booking.com approx 250 nights a year, albeit low value per night and small number of nights per booking so I receive so many emails in this area albeit all genuine so far. So I have a reasonable eye for it so share any thoughts I have. Hopefully others will do the same. I never prepay and always roll with the most ‘generous’ canx policy. Thankfully yet to be be scammed ( or even attempted), but I get about 50 scam emails a day from others opcos’. I also only operate off debit card not credit card, but who knows what futures holds but need to be incredibly vigilant.
 
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TravellingMan22 said:
I only operate off debit card not credit card,
Click to expand...
Do you mean a prepaid "debit card"? That term seems to be used differently in different countries. For me, a "debit card" is connected directly to one's bank account, and separate prepaid debit cards are not so commonly used.
 
Camino Way markers in Bronze
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Charles Schwab gives me a 'virtual' credit card number when I purchase things online to protect my info. I'm sure other banks do this as well, though I'm not sure how you get it - maybe by just inquiring.
 
C clearly said:
Do you mean a prepaid "debit card"? That term seems to be used differently in different countries. For me, a "debit card" is connected directly to one's bank account, and separate prepaid debit cards are not so commonly used.
Click to expand...
No I would never do the prepaid card thing. I don’t get that at all. Just connected to my bank account. Its ‘sorta’ limits any scams to the balance in my bank, which I keep very low.
 
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Are there any defining features that help to know if it’s a clone booking .com or the real deal? I’ve done a bunch of bookings on the platform and they all seem legit….
 
Tess301 said:
Are there any defining features that help to know if it’s a clone booking .com or the real deal? I’ve done a bunch of bookings on the platform and they all seem legit….
Click to expand...
Booking on the platform is not the problem. The problem is that hackers have infiltrated the websites of the hotels that use booking.com. Just make sure that you don't click on links in emails that tell you that there's a problem with your booking. If you have concerns go directly to the booking.com website. They have a feature to securely chat with the hotel.
 
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Hover with your mouse over the sender in the email (do NOT clock on it or anything - just hover the mouse)
it will come up with the full email address - take a look!
Pay good attention to misspells (sometimes it can be 1 letter or number - i.e. booking.com vs book1ng.com) totally different addresses (Booking.Com <joeshmoe at yahoo> - clearly NOT Booking com) and stuff like that
If in doubt - call B.C and\or the Albergue Direct!
 
Understood! Thanks.
 
trecile said:
They have a feature to securely chat with the hotel.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, they’ve infiltrated that too.
Today I got the scam ‘credit card fail’ email.
So I went to the ‘secure’ messaging service inside the Booking.com App, and the scam message was in there too .
Not long after that, the hotel also sent a message to say that the scam message was a scam and to ignore it. They confirmed that the booking is still valid.
 
Camino Way markers in Bronze
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Ouch!
 
Good example. As someone who has written travel communications copy for a living if you look at the appalling grammar, wording, etc it shouts scam all over it. Any major travel organisation has professional copywriters to craft its messages so if it is written badly take a step back!

Due to my lifestyle I do about 250 nights a year through booking . com across maybe 80 bookings. Yet to have a problem though only do stuff through app (never put a card number into a link) which of course is not foolproof. I occasionally have to re enter a card number as my card is frozen or not enough funds but it has makes sense. If you are suprised to get a request then step back!
 
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I had made over half of my lodgings for my upcoming Sanabres Camino in the spring through booking.com last December. Since I have been aware now of the Scams on their website, I have been watching closely. I had noticed recently that one of my bookings showed canceled in an email I received, but I had no memory of doing that, so was confused, but re-booked the room as it still showed rooms available.
Yesterday, I decided to message the property through the booking.com website and they replied that I have two bookings; that they never canceled the original one, and that I should cancel one of them, which I have now done.
Everything looked legitimate on the fake cancelation and no new credit card information was requested, which I find odd since it was a scam.
Anyhow, it looks like everything is now in order and ok...hopefully so.
 
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