- December 9, 2023
- Posted by: legaleseblogger
- Category: Related News
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Subject: Seeking Assistance with Unauthorized Debit Card Charge
Dear Customer Service,
I am reaching out to inquire about the possibility of initiating a chargeback for a recent unauthorized transaction on my debit card that I believe was the result of a scam.
A month ago, I made a reservation at a hotel through the booking.com app. Subsequently, I received a message from the hotel in my app’s inbox, requesting that I verify my payment method by clicking a link and entering my personal information, followed by a code sent via text message. Unfortunately, I fell for this fraudulent scheme under the assumption that it was a legitimate request, given that it originated from my hotel within the official booking.com app.
Regrettably, I discovered that $1500 had been withdrawn from my account shortly after, followed by a notification from my bank two hours later indicating that my card had been blocked due to fraudulent activity. I have since learned that this type of scam has been targeting users of the booking.com platform for almost a decade.
Despite the circumstances, my bank has informed me that they are unable to process a chargeback on the grounds that I voluntarily entered the verification code, leaving me feeling helpless and troubled by the significant financial loss I have incurred.
In light of these events, I am seeking advice and assistance in understanding whether there are any avenues available to recover the funds that were wrongfully taken from my account. This has caused me a great deal of distress and anxiety, and I would greatly appreciate any guidance or support that can be provided in this matter.
I am sincerely grateful for your attention and consideration of my situation, and I hope to receive some clarity and resolution on this pressing issue.
Thank you for your time and assistance.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
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****** just grabbed a
This isnÔÇÖt covered by a bankÔÇÖs fraud money back guarantee because it isnÔÇÖt fraud – itÔÇÖs a scam you fell for. You inputting the security code from the bank effectively authorised the scammers to take the money. It sucks but youÔÇÖd be extremely lucky to get money back from the bank as the bank arenÔÇÖt liable for this in any way.
I had this with multiple hotels I booked in Bali (sending messages asking for payment), I just told them booking.com already has my payment details and they can cancel my booking if they require private payment outside of booking.com. They always were fine with that / never replied.
I doubt booking.com will refund you as they state to only use their payment processing.
You donÔÇÖt say what country the hotel is in but in certain countries it would be almost impossible to get that money back. If itÔÇÖs Australia only maybe your bank can retrieve it, if itÔÇÖs Bali or something itÔÇÖs probably gone for good.
I also agree Booking.com should do more about this, but it sometimes might be a corrupt hotel employee on the hotel email which I assume is what was going on in Bali. In which case itÔÇÖs more about being aware that other countries are much different than Australia and having your wits about you as your money makes you a target
[deleted]
I read about this scam a few weeks ago in the travel section of the SMH. My husband also had a message through booking.com for a booking we have for a hotel in Tokyo but as I had warned him about it he messaged the hotel himself who said it wasnÔÇÖt from them.
I donÔÇÖt know why booking.com canÔÇÖt prevent this from happening.
I’m sorry this has happened to you. Please raise a formal complaint with booking. com, your bank and the place you booked for. Follow it through. Be relentless and persistent. It’s not fair that you can’t trust the booking .com app. A person I know, got most of their money back by chasing it up and escalating. Do not be too hard on yourself. You should be able to trust the app they ask you to use. Share the experience so that others do not fall victim. Best of luck.
Edit: if this is the same scenario, the place you booked with has had their credentials stolen/hacked and that’s how they get into your inbox from the same account. Don’t let them get away with being uncaring about internet security.
I used booking . com for years and have stopped after I received a phishing attempt just like this. After using it for years, I knew it was an odd/unusual request, so that saved me, but it really appears legitimate. The company is well aware of this scam and seems to be doing nothing about it. I can see why people fall for it, the message literally comes from the hotel within the app and is only asking you to verify your card, using a booking . com lookalike site. ItÔÇÖs a huge issue and they need to get on top of this. IÔÇÖm sorry it happened to you OP.
I just woke up today to a similar story.
A hotel messaged via Booking’s site and asked me to verify the card details. They had a fake booking site link in there with the exact details of my stay at this hotel, Check-in, Check-out dates and the price (but in the wrong currency).
It’s very convincing even the url was quiet similar to the original site. I’m surprised [Booking.com](https://Booking.com) doesn’t run 2Factor on its hotel accounts
Contact scam watch
So the takeaway is: Do not go around booking.com payment system? Is that sure fire way to avoid this?
https://grahamcluley.com/fraudsters-target-booking-com-customers-claiming-hotel-stay-could-be-cancelled/
This is purely booking.com’s fault. They let this happen and are OK with their system being ripe with abuse.
Raise hell for ith them. This is a known and documented issue. It’s the fault of them and partially your hotels.
There may be a chance. I had a similar scam in 2014. Booked a hotel in Paris. Week before, received email from hotel to pay in full to secure room.. I paid. Only to find out it was a scam and the hotel did not contact me at all.
Reported to Booking and fortunately got a full refund (400 euros) a few weeks later. Have no issues since with booking and continue to use them yearly.
ItÔÇÖs been a while but letÔÇÖs hope their fraud policy is still as kind.
To OP – please donÔÇÖt think any less of yourself, because you got scammed. I have seen fraud investigators themselves get scammed, and scams can target all walks of life. As hard as it is, please do not try to feel shame – majority of victims of scams donÔÇÖt report them because they feel shame – something that everyone in the industry is trying to change.
As other commenters have advised you, the best course of action is to make formal complaints with every entity you can that was involved. DonÔÇÖt let the bank convince you that there is nothing they can do – Visa and MasterCard have a lot of power when it comes to reversing charges. I see you paid with a debit card, so banks are slow to act as it isnÔÇÖt their money but yours. If you must use a credit card for any bookings of this nature as it is their money.
For anyone thinking of using Booking.com, just be wary that sometimes scammers use the site – I have noticed it a lot more recently in the last 6 months. It is sophisticated in that the scammers exploit vulnerabilities on hotel computers to gain access to the booking backend. Booking.com really needs to step up their game, as well as hotel IT security. If you must use it, sign up to Revolut and use a one time use virtual card.
I have found that if you call up hotels directly and state the price on booking.com they can match or beat it 99% of times.
As a final note, never enter any 2fa code on any website until you verify the domain. Also, never tell anyone your 2fa code unless you specifically called them and they have to verify your identity.
A rule of thumb is that if you get any phone calls from a financial institution, tell them you will callback on the official number to verify and donÔÇÖt confirm any personal details. If they cause a stink, just hang up.
First things first. This is a cyber crime and should be reported to law enforcement. If you havenÔÇÖt reported it, visit https://www.cyber.gov.au/report-and-recover/report. Make sure you keep a copy of the CIRS report number.
Secondly, contact IDCare. They have expert support to help you deal with being a victim of cyber crime. Contact them at https://www.idcare.org/contact/get-help.
Thirdly, lodge a formal complaint with your financial institution and if you are not satisfied with the response, make a complaint to AFCA: https://www.afca.org.au/make-a-complaint
Finally, ignore the armchair ÔÇ£expertsÔÇØ in this thread claiming that this is not a sophisticated scam or that this should have been easy to spot. This is not a Nigerian Prince situation. The criminals required access to booking.com systems to view to your personal information. Any real professional would not show such callous disregard for your situation.
INFO/Clarification: So you *donÔÇÖt* have a booking with the hotel? How do you know that the transaction wasnÔÇÖt to pay your booking?
It doesnÔÇÖt sound like a scam, it sounds like you just paid for your reservation.
Why are people downvoting practical advice like AFCA?
Lodge a formal complaint with your bank in writing asking for the transaction to be reversed.
Lodge a complaint here too: https://www.afca.org.au/
It sounds like the hotel itself also has some security issue, as in they’ve been hacked, or possibly are in on the scam themselves. I’d also go to booking.com and demand a refund of the money.
I’d also head on down to the police station and tell them you’ve been defrauded. The hotel itself may be in on it.
People will be super lazy with this shit but the fact is that money went to a bank account. Your bank has the ability to follow up where that went and put in a chargeback. The bank it went to then would investigate themselves.
Your bank should 100% be performing a fraud investigation here and if they drag their feet threaten the AFCA complaint (which you need to lodge anyway).
AFCA complaints are really useful because they light a fire under the banks. Yours would be that your bank has refused to investigate a fraud issue committed by a foreign hotel that sent you messages to confirm bookings via the booking.com app.
Also, take screenshots of all that communication RIGHT NOW and keep it. Including the hotel telling you it was an issue or whatever. I mean, that’s utter BS. They’ve got some security issue and/or are in on it.
I never reply to any messages. When I get emails from hotels I go to booking.com and message the hotel to verify.
IÔÇÖm not sure what booking.com is doing to rectify this issue. It has been on-going.
I’ve been booking hotels in Asia, US, EU, AU through [Booking.com](http://booking.com) for years now and there are only 2 types of payment mode I encountered with using them and that’s either:
– you pay through their website OR
– you pay directly at the hotel when you arrive/check-out.
Anything outside of this should ring alarm bells.
Having recently travelled and using booking.com. I noticed many of the places that I booked would send an initial message saying something along the lines of “this hotel will never ask you for card numbers or external codes” etc. etc. so that put me on reasonable alert. If anything was requested with regards to payments, I made a point to call the hotels on their direct line to follow up.
Depending on the booking however, the majority of hotels would just take card on arrival. The apartment (air bnb) type stays sometimes required payment online within 48hrs of arrival.
I can definitely see how people could be scammed. And the increase in hotels sending me that message makes me think it must be getting worse.