What are fraudulent bookings
Fraudulent bookings are created with no intention of staying or paying. These can also be characterized as bookings seeking to gain marketing rewards or to attempt phishing.
Signs of potential fraud
Certain characteristics of bookings often provide signs of a potential fraudulent attempt.
Keep an eye out for:
- Bookings attempted with invalid credit card
- Last-minute bookings
- If you have more than one property, and have an abnormally large number of individual bookings at the same property
- Multiple bookings for same stay-dates (perfectly overlapping bookings)
- Multiple bookings made in rapid succession
- Bookings with an unusually high number of rooms
- Bookings with an unusually long length of stay
- Adjustments to the booking shortly after the booking was created
- A guest is sending links (phishing)
- A guest is trying to move communication outside of the Booking.com platforms
Fraudulent emails (Spoofing)
Email 'spoofing' is a technique use to trick you into believing an email came from a trusted sender, by falsifying the sender’s email address.
Spoofed emails can be used for several malicious purposes including phishing attacks, spreading malware, conducting scams or launching targeted cyberattacks.
Identifying Fraudulent emails
Urgent language
- Emails using language that creates a false sense of urgency.
Spelling and grammar errors
- Emails that present with numerous spelling errors or grammatical mistakes.
Urgent requests without previous communication shared
- Booking.com will never ask you for any urgent requests without sending prior communication.
- If you receive a suspicious email requesting urgent action, please refrain from taking any steps. Instead, contacted Booking.com Customer Service to confirm the information/request received.
Incorrect sender email addresses
- Don’t automatically trust the email display name.
- Check the email address in the ‘From’ header. If it looks suspicious, don’t open the email
Here is an example of a fraudulent email/message sent to a guest on Booking.com
Reporting potential fraud
Click on the below link to report fraudulent bookings or emails to Booking.com