Help with fraudulent hotel booking
Discussion
I’m looking for some advice about further steps to take in this slightly unusual situation. In summary
- I was alerted to this through email confirmation by booking website - thanks for your booking at hotel x, etc here’s your confirmation number
- Bookingwebsite app corroborates this, so the booking has been made and is real, but not by me
- Money has left my bank account, transaction labelled as bookingwebsite as it normally would be if I’d made the booking
I’ve called my bank and reported the fraudulent transaction. They are now in the process of recovering the funds and believe will contact the hotel booking website. Card is frozen obviously.
Bookingwebsite only has an AI phone number or a messaging service with reply “within 24 hours”
And the plot thickens because according to the reviews of the property on the website, the “hotel” doesn’t even exist. Attempts to call them on the phone number on the booking would seem to confirm this.
So there are 2 issues
1. A fraudulent booking has been made through my account and using my email address etc
2. The booking itself is for a non-existent property
Has anyone experienced this before and/or can offer any advice on further actions to take?
Thanks
- I was alerted to this through email confirmation by booking website - thanks for your booking at hotel x, etc here’s your confirmation number
- Bookingwebsite app corroborates this, so the booking has been made and is real, but not by me
- Money has left my bank account, transaction labelled as bookingwebsite as it normally would be if I’d made the booking
I’ve called my bank and reported the fraudulent transaction. They are now in the process of recovering the funds and believe will contact the hotel booking website. Card is frozen obviously.
Bookingwebsite only has an AI phone number or a messaging service with reply “within 24 hours”
And the plot thickens because according to the reviews of the property on the website, the “hotel” doesn’t even exist. Attempts to call them on the phone number on the booking would seem to confirm this.
So there are 2 issues
1. A fraudulent booking has been made through my account and using my email address etc
2. The booking itself is for a non-existent property
Has anyone experienced this before and/or can offer any advice on further actions to take?
Thanks
Never had this before, but is not a way to cancel the booking on the website, or is it a non-refundable booking?
In any case if you do use that website, then change your password and enable 2 factor authentication on it if they support that. Also change your email password to be on the safe side.
In any case if you do use that website, then change your password and enable 2 factor authentication on it if they support that. Also change your email password to be on the safe side.
Why would someone book a hotel that doesn't exist? I can't see a motive.
My e-mail address somehow escaped from booking.com and I got about 100 bounces and replies from hotels all over Europe along the lines of a lost/damaged luggage scam. As far as I can tell nothing happened, at least not to me.
My e-mail address somehow escaped from booking.com and I got about 100 bounces and replies from hotels all over Europe along the lines of a lost/damaged luggage scam. As far as I can tell nothing happened, at least not to me.
Some banks allow you to create a "disposable" debit card (number and CVC) which can be created and shut down fairly easily. Natwest has recently (at least for me, with an app update) introduced this but many others already do it.
I am assuming its a debit card since you say your bank, and not a credit card company, is investigating the fraudulent transaction.
I am assuming its a debit card since you say your bank, and not a credit card company, is investigating the fraudulent transaction.
Simpo Two said:
Why would someone book a hotel that doesn't exist? I can't see a motive.
My e-mail address somehow escaped from booking.com and I got about 100 bounces and replies from hotels all over Europe along the lines of a lost/damaged luggage scam. As far as I can tell nothing happened, at least not to me.
Easy if the booker is the “hotel”My e-mail address somehow escaped from booking.com and I got about 100 bounces and replies from hotels all over Europe along the lines of a lost/damaged luggage scam. As far as I can tell nothing happened, at least not to me.
blueovercream said:
I m looking for some advice about further steps to take in this slightly unusual situation. In summary
- I was alerted to this through email confirmation by booking website - thanks for your booking at hotel x, etc here s your confirmation number
- Bookingwebsite app corroborates this, so the booking has been made and is real, but not by me
- Money has left my bank account, transaction labelled as bookingwebsite as it normally would be if I d made the booking
I ve called my bank and reported the fraudulent transaction. They are now in the process of recovering the funds and believe will contact the hotel booking website. Card is frozen obviously.
Bookingwebsite only has an AI phone number or a messaging service with reply within 24 hours
And the plot thickens because according to the reviews of the property on the website, the hotel doesn t even exist. Attempts to call them on the phone number on the booking would seem to confirm this.
So there are 2 issues
1. A fraudulent booking has been made through my account and using my email address etc
2. The booking itself is for a non-existent property
Has anyone experienced this before and/or can offer any advice on further actions to take?
Thanks
If you use the login details for anything else you should assume your account on said "anything else"s are compromised.- I was alerted to this through email confirmation by booking website - thanks for your booking at hotel x, etc here s your confirmation number
- Bookingwebsite app corroborates this, so the booking has been made and is real, but not by me
- Money has left my bank account, transaction labelled as bookingwebsite as it normally would be if I d made the booking
I ve called my bank and reported the fraudulent transaction. They are now in the process of recovering the funds and believe will contact the hotel booking website. Card is frozen obviously.
Bookingwebsite only has an AI phone number or a messaging service with reply within 24 hours
And the plot thickens because according to the reviews of the property on the website, the hotel doesn t even exist. Attempts to call them on the phone number on the booking would seem to confirm this.
So there are 2 issues
1. A fraudulent booking has been made through my account and using my email address etc
2. The booking itself is for a non-existent property
Has anyone experienced this before and/or can offer any advice on further actions to take?
Thanks
It might be useful to put your details into https://haveibeenpwned.com/
Not to be a debbie downer but this might turn into a big hassle for you depedning on how "disciplined" you've been about cyber security.
andburg said:
Simpo Two said:
Why would someone book a hotel that doesn't exist? I can't see a motive.
My e-mail address somehow escaped from booking.com and I got about 100 bounces and replies from hotels all over Europe along the lines of a lost/damaged luggage scam. As far as I can tell nothing happened, at least not to me.
Easy if the booker is the hotel My e-mail address somehow escaped from booking.com and I got about 100 bounces and replies from hotels all over Europe along the lines of a lost/damaged luggage scam. As far as I can tell nothing happened, at least not to me.
To complicate matters...
I have a friend who owned a hotel on a Scottish Island, after Covid he struggled with getting the occupancy numbers back to where they were, he decided to use a very popular booking site to help increase his bookings - which worked perfectly.
However, he was telling me that regardless of whether the customer pays in full or on the day he doesn't get any money from the booking (minus the booking fee) for 90 days after the booking has been completed.
So with this in mind I'm unsure how this scam would work.
I have a friend who owned a hotel on a Scottish Island, after Covid he struggled with getting the occupancy numbers back to where they were, he decided to use a very popular booking site to help increase his bookings - which worked perfectly.
However, he was telling me that regardless of whether the customer pays in full or on the day he doesn't get any money from the booking (minus the booking fee) for 90 days after the booking has been completed.
So with this in mind I'm unsure how this scam would work.
Freakuk said:
To complicate matters...
I have a friend who owned a hotel on a Scottish Island, after Covid he struggled with getting the occupancy numbers back to where they were, he decided to use a very popular booking site to help increase his bookings - which worked perfectly.
However, he was telling me that regardless of whether the customer pays in full or on the day he doesn't get any money from the booking (minus the booking fee) for 90 days after the booking has been completed.
So with this in mind I'm unsure how this scam would work.
Never mind the OP, that's a fI have a friend who owned a hotel on a Scottish Island, after Covid he struggled with getting the occupancy numbers back to where they were, he decided to use a very popular booking site to help increase his bookings - which worked perfectly.
However, he was telling me that regardless of whether the customer pays in full or on the day he doesn't get any money from the booking (minus the booking fee) for 90 days after the booking has been completed.
So with this in mind I'm unsure how this scam would work.
king scam right there. Is the booking site run by Tesco?eeLee said:
Good luck with that! They're utterly useless at replying; they take 23hrs for every response and assume that they're the innocent party in any dispute, and ask the same questions repeatedly. We had a protracted argument around a double-booked apartment when we arrived in the Dolomites.littleredrooster said:
eeLee said:
Good luck with that! They're utterly useless at replying; they take 23hrs for every response and assume that they're the innocent party in any dispute, and ask the same questions repeatedly. We had a protracted argument around a double-booked apartment when we arrived in the Dolomites.The contrast in service between them and Airbnb is night and day.
Booking - stuck in endless loops, they’ll do everything to stop you finding a way to talk to someone. ‘Ask the community’….no I want to ask an employee a question! If you have an issue using booking .com it’s best to go in considering yourself on your own. I’ve yet to have a response on the host intranet that hasn’t taken 48hrs or more, usually doesn’t help. If it seems like if a real person they’ll ask you to give your property ID which you’ve already included in the previous message….so then you wait another 48hrs.
Airbnb: i was once scrolling through the menus and came across a section heading (or so I thought) for reporting abusing guests. Thought I’d have a look… had a call in 30 seconds ‘hi it’s Airbnb, are you in danger?’ I said oops no my mistake…sorry. They wouldn’t get off the call until they had spoken to my wife (property in her name).
Customer response it usually immediate. ‘Hi this Josh, what’s the issue. Oh you need to cancel a booking due to problem, yeah let’s get that solved for you then, I see you are in bali, how’s the weather there….’
We were going round in circles with Booking on an issue….found they have a physical office not that far from us. No way to enter it, locked reception doors, passcode lock on the other entrance. I found an alley and had a poke around the back (nice chairs and tables outside for staff) and got the timing right to follow in behind an employee going back inside. Found my way to the reception and sat down opposite a conference room full of employees.
Eventually a lady came out looking puzzled, are you here for a meeting? Nope I’m here to get my issue resolved. It’s a corporate office sir… Okay, cool, but I’d still like to talk to someone, She was actually pretty decent about it, got her laptop…no joy. Eventually three of them typing away.
No solution. She had to get on phone to solve it…it was quite funny when she couldn’t get hold of someone.
Erm….they said someone will call me back…. Yeah sure, I’ll order coffees, what are you guys having?
If we could ditch Booking we would.
Concur that Booking is a bit of a ste outfit to deal with as a customer also.
2 weeks ago 6 of us had a trip planned from U.K. taking in France, Switzerland and Germany - Plan in Germany was to stop in Stuttgart on a Saturday evening and attend the MB museum next day before then heading onwards to Strasbourg.
6 rooms booked months ago in Stuttgart at a city centre hotel with the necessary secure parking as we were all going in classic cars. 48 hours before we were due to arrive in Stuttgart and were actually up in the Swiss mountain passes so mobile signal wasn’t great Booking emailed our group organiser to say all rooms no longer available at the Stuttgart hotel.
Like others on here there was simply no way of getting a useful response from Booking and the stress trying to find another hotel in Stuttgart on a Saturday with less than 48 hours notice proved very testing.
We thankfully found somewhere in the end after several hours of internet searching…not sure I’d rush to use Booking again.
te outfit to deal with as a customer also.2 weeks ago 6 of us had a trip planned from U.K. taking in France, Switzerland and Germany - Plan in Germany was to stop in Stuttgart on a Saturday evening and attend the MB museum next day before then heading onwards to Strasbourg.
6 rooms booked months ago in Stuttgart at a city centre hotel with the necessary secure parking as we were all going in classic cars. 48 hours before we were due to arrive in Stuttgart and were actually up in the Swiss mountain passes so mobile signal wasn’t great Booking emailed our group organiser to say all rooms no longer available at the Stuttgart hotel.
Like others on here there was simply no way of getting a useful response from Booking and the stress trying to find another hotel in Stuttgart on a Saturday with less than 48 hours notice proved very testing.
We thankfully found somewhere in the end after several hours of internet searching…not sure I’d rush to use Booking again.
I used to use booking.com for most travel accommodation stuff, but we had a big issue with them when a group of us (all booking separately) all received convincing messages, through the booking.com messaging service, and several provided their credit card details again..only to be scammed. We then found out that booking.com have known about this vulnerability in their IT for a long time now and not sorted it. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-67591310
paul_c123 said:
Some banks allow you to create a "disposable" debit card (number and CVC) which can be created and shut down fairly easily. Natwest has recently (at least for me, with an app update) introduced this but many others already do it.
I am assuming its a debit card since you say your bank, and not a credit card company, is investigating the fraudulent transaction.
Thanks for this, I didn't know that I am assuming its a debit card since you say your bank, and not a credit card company, is investigating the fraudulent transaction.
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