On June 12, the Japan Hotel Association called on users of Booking.com to be vigilant about phishing messages.
Since around Japan’s Golden Week holiday period, there has been a surge in cases in Japan in which people who booked hotels through Booking.com have received phishing messages via messaging apps such as WhatsApp, fraudulently posing as the hotel. These messages include the actual reservation number and stay dates, and state that “the reservation will be canceled unless you complete the procedure because your credit card information cannot be verified,” thereby prompting recipients to visit a phishing site through an embedded link.
Hotels where such incidents have occurred are warning guests not to click the links if they receive suspicious messages, and Booking.com is also issuing alerts on its website. No abnormalities or signs of information leaks have been detected in the management systems used by the individual hotels, and how the reservation information was leaked remains unclear at this time.
Separately, it has also been revealed in Japan that Polaris Holdings suffered damage from unauthorized money transfers caused by illicit access to the systems used by hotels.
The Japan Hotel Association is requesting that Booking.com promptly investigate the cause, disclose the results, and implement countermeasures. It is also reporting the matter to relevant authorities in Japan and requesting their response.
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