$41,000 lost: At least 30 fall prey to hotel booking scam since September

SINGAPORE - At least 30 people have fallen victim to a hotel booking scam since September, with losses totalling some $41,000.

The police said on Sunday that the victims had made hotel bookings using online reservation portal Booking.com and would receive e-mails or messages from Booking.com’s in-app chat function from scammers posing as hotel representatives.

The scammers would request that victims confirm and verify the reservation using a fraudulent link.

After clicking on the link, the victims would be asked to provide their personal and banking details, such as one-time passwords and credit card numbers.

In some cases, the fraudulent websites would prompt the victims to make payments to confirm the reservation.

The victims realised they had been scammed only when they tried to contact Booking.com or the hotels, or discovered unauthorised transactions on their bank accounts or credit cards.

The police have advised the public to adopt precautionary measures such as adding the ScamShield app and enabling security features such as two-factor authentication (2FA) and multifactor authentication for banks.

People should also set up transaction limits for Internet banking transactions, including PayNow.

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Individuals are urged to always verify the authenticity of information with hotels through their official contact details and to not click on links provided in unsolicited messages. The public is also advised to look out for signs of phishing websites and to never disclose personal or banking credentials to anyone.

Those with information relating to such crimes, or those who have doubts, are encouraged to call the police hotline on 1800-255-0000, or submit the information online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.