Scam Secrets - The Booking.com Scam
You've booked a holiday and the hotel gets in touch to ask for a payment to confirm your booking. They know your name and they've got all the details of your reservation. Would you know what to do? In this episode, people using booking.com are targeted by a hard-to-spot scam where official-looking messages arrive, asking for payment. Needless to say, that payment doesn't go to the hotel. But how do the criminals do it? And what chance do you have of spotting it?
Shari Vahl, Dr Lis Carter and Alex Wood find out, with the help of cyber crime expert Rafe Pilling.
Remember you can contact the programme at scamsecrets@bbc.co.uk.
PRESENTER: SHARI VAHL
PRODUCER: TOM MOSELEY
Published on Thursday, 30th April 2026.
Available Podcasts from Scam Secrets
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