Scammer advertises House of Commons office block on Booking.com
In a situation strangely reminiscent of a story reported earlier this month, it has been revealed that scammers are advertising holiday lets at a building belonging to the House of Commons using the world's biggest accommodation booking platform.
Which? reports that the listings for Portcullis House, located in Westminster, has seen many victims being told by Booking.com to turn up at the address looking for the supposed apartment, only to be turned away by security guards with guns.
This comes just weeks after it was reported that 10 Downing Street was advertised on the website by Which? to see if it would be flagged as a scam - it was not removed for two months.
Criminals used photos of a genuine flat to create the listing for what they described as "apartments near Big Ben", the location of which is part of the House of Commons estate where hundreds of MP's work.
Some victims realised it was a scam before travelling as the supposed owner made contacr saying they needed to confirm their booking by fillin in a form with their bank details. However, Booking.com refused to offer a refund or an alternative place to stay unless they physically went to the supposed location and try to check in, leading to some being sent on their way by armed security. One review under the listing claims there were multiple victims outside the address to check into an apartment which did not exist.
Which? argues that this was able to happen because of poor checks and balances by Booking.com.
Another example cited by Which? is for a listing for London Crown apartments. Like with the Portcullis House listing, after booking a one-night stay, Paul Dawson was emailed by 'London Crown' containing a link to a fake Booking.com page asking for his bank details. He was suspicious and did not input anything.
He contacted Booking.com and was told that he was need to visit the location and wait until 7pm before the platform would relocate him. This is was despite him saying that he had checked the location and the apartment was actually a Wetherspoons pub near Tower Bridge called the Liberty Bounds - staff there say on some days they are seeing 20 victims a day turn up.
Which? say this is further compounded by Booking.com's AI assistant, which insists that the listings are genuine.
In response, Booking.com says the listings ‘are legitimate and have hosted guests’.
It went on to say, ‘Our investigation indicates that both properties - which are legitimate and have hosted guests - were targeted by a sophisticated phishing attack. The attack affected the properties’ own computer systems and gave cybercriminals temporary, unauthorised access to the accommodation's Booking.com account.
'We take incidents like this extremely seriously, and suspended bookings at both properties, as well as supporting affected customers.’
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