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Phishing scam used pub addresses to hijack Booking.com listings
Which? said Wetherspoon staff have turned away up to 20 tourists a day after scammers used the pub’s address.
A scam involving a “sophisticated phishing attack” has been used to hijack accommodation listings on Booking.com, steering customers to pub addresses instead of apartments, BBC Business reports. The issue came to light after a London theatre-goer booked a one-night stay in August for £73 for his family to watch Hamilton in the West End, only to find the address shown in the listing was a Wetherspoon pub.
Paul Dawson, 55, said he booked at The London Crown apartments but later discovered the listing pointed to The Liberty Bounds, a Wetherspoon near Tower Bridge. Consumer protection group Which? said Wetherspoon staff were turning away up to 20 tourists a day after scammers used the pub’s address as part of a listing for “a block of luxury apartments.”
Which? also said it was informed about another targeted listing, “Apartments near Big Ben,” that provided an address for Portcullis House, part of the House of Commons estate. Booking.com told Which? the affected listings for legitimate properties were targeted by a phishing attack that allowed criminals to hijack them.
Wetherspoon said it informed Booking.com about the scam “as soon as it came to their attention.”