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Fake 10 Downing Street listing stayed up on Booking.com for two months
Consumer watchdog Which? created a bogus property at the UK prime minister’s address, and while requests surged during a short booking window, the listing was not removed for about two months.
A consumer watchdog has accused Booking.com of security failures after it was able to publish a fake property listing for 10 Downing Street, which remained on the travel platform for roughly two months, BBC Business reports. Which? said it created the “limited test” listing and was able to place a booking request and submit a fake review describing “hanging out” with a resident mouser cat.
According to BBC Business, Booking.com did not remove the listing until about two months after it was uploaded, despite clear signs it was not genuine. A Booking.com spokesperson said the listing was not live to the public across the full period of the test, so some automatic fraud controls were not triggered to fully take down the closed listing.
Which? set the test so researchers could only view the listing and request to book it during a 20-minute window. BBC Business reported that 14 people asked to book during that window, and Booking.com accepted only the request from a person the watchdog said was known to be a researcher.
The watchdog also said Booking.com allowed an internal message to reach the researcher that included an external link to confirm payment details, a step booking sites typically block, according to BBC Business. Booking.com pointed to a range of checks and said technologies including AI help detect and remove most fraudulent listings within 24 hours.