Parents Hacked over Booking.com Email - Kind of Confused - SOLVED

Saul Goodman on 13/02/2023 - 15:40
Last edited 13/02/2023 - 16:42

My parents made a booking through booking.com yesterday and today they received an email saying there was an issue with the payment and to scan/click a QR code where they then re-entered credit card details on a page that looked identical the real site. To everyone here it's obviously a scam but they're old.

What suprised me was that the email was from sent from booking.com and had all their booking details in there - correct reserveration number, dates and all the personals. All the links in the email were to booking.com URLs exept the QR code image. I spoke to booking.com and they said they were not hacked.

Can someone explain how the scammers got all the correct reservation numbers etc if they were not hacked? I guess my parents email address could have been hacked but the email came from the sites legitimate email address.Just a bit confused over this. Thanks

UPDATE

Hotels listing was hacked.

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Comments

  • Puglife on 13/02/2023 - 15:44

    Better Call Saul…

  • spackbace on 13/02/2023 - 15:45
    +2

    Did it really come from booking.com though? When you look at the email headers etc, they likely show a different email

    • Saul Goodman on 13/02/2023 - 16:12
      +4

      Yeah it did. Looks like it was the hotel listing that was hacked.

      • mbck on 13/02/2023 - 17:36

        Thanks for updating, instead of leaving this post in limbo

  • askbargain on 13/02/2023 - 15:46
    +2

    email or pc hacked…

    • Yummy on 13/02/2023 - 15:50

      Parents are hackers?

      • askbargain on 13/02/2023 - 15:58

        what do you think?

  • orangetrain on 13/02/2023 - 15:50
    +1

    Hijacked booking.com listing, the third party saw booking details and then "tried to confirm payment details again".

    That's off the top of my head. Could be wrong

  • ESEMCE on 13/02/2023 - 15:51
    +14

    Yes, this has been going for a long time.
    Relevant article from last week.

    https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/02/myste…

    Per the last sentence.
    Next time use someone else.
    Booking.com are sticking their head in the sand rather than solving the problem.

    EDIT:
    Potentially a pertinent comment from that article

    It's not that booking.com has a security problem - it's the end hotels that have the issue.
    Hack the hotel, get the details of the booking and then use the booking.com messaging to message the customer via the hotel's booking.com account.

    • Saul Goodman on 13/02/2023 - 16:22
      +1

      Oo didn't think of that one. Makes sense.

  • jorf on 13/02/2023 - 16:16
    +1

    Booking.com probably just email bookings through to the accommodation provider. Someone there has a compromised email account. From there, it's easy to send out a targeted email.

    • ryefig on 14/02/2023 - 08:57

      Or a disgruntled hotel/booking . com employee knows the booking details and set your parents up.

  • jv on 13/02/2023 - 16:32
    +3

    correct reserveration number

    The typo always gives it away that it's a scam…

    • bdl on 13/02/2023 - 16:36

      no

    • meowsers on 13/02/2023 - 17:09
      +2

      This one weird trick scammers don't want you to know!

  • [Deactivated] on 13/02/2023 - 17:11
    +2

    Booking.com is likely using MailChimp or similar mass emailing service. Few of them leaked their API keys recently:
    MailChimp, Mailgun, and Sendgrid API leak endangered over 54m users

    So, for a while, do not trust legitimate looking emails and always double check it by logging in yourself in browser or via their apps.

    • jv on 13/02/2023 - 17:46
      +3

      endangered over 54m users

      Most OzBargain users are between 1.6m to 1.9m though…

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