Phishing scams impersonating the global accommodation booking platform 'Booking.com' are occurring in countries around the world.
On the 12th, the Asahi Shimbun reported that hacking incidents resulting in customer information leaks have occurred at at least 68 hotels in Japan that do business with Booking.com, and phishing scams exploiting this are continuing.
These phishing crimes begin with emails sent to hotels disguised as travelers. By including viruses in the emails, the hackers steal the IDs and passwords used by the hotels to access Booking.com, as well as information about visiting customers. Using the obtained information, they send phishing emails impersonating Booking.com to customers who booked the hotels, requesting advance payment. Through this, they induce repeated credit card payments, thereby stealing card information.
The Asahi Shimbun reported that these crimes may be related to Russian hackers, and that the operator of Booking.com has acknowledged that such crimes are occurring worldwide, not only in Japan. Since around November last year, similar crimes using the same method have been reported in Europe, the United States, Asia, and Oceania.
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