A recent, popular WhatsApp scam is impersonating Booking.com to steal your money and personal data.
There are many scams by text or phone. Hackers are always showing ingenuity in developing new techniques that can trap you. Among the latest discoveries of these malicious people, we have been able to observe fake applications, but also identity theft to pretend to be someone in your family or entourage.
This latest technique seems to work on some victims since a new original attempt was recently identified and received by several users of the instant messaging service WhatsApp. The application developed by the company Meta seems tempting for many hackers since it is easy to add users found at random and send them a message with bad intentions.
The latest scam technique involves impersonating the online booking site Booking.com. Hackers impersonate the company to send you a message stating that the company is looking for new employees: “Good morning. We are looking for people to work on our mobile hotel attraction booking platform (Booking.com) to help hotels increase views, bookings and awareness.”
The scam is even more detailed and tempting since the conditions of the alleged job are enticing. The rest of the message specifies that “The average daily income is 50 to 500 euros” while the hours would be flexible, the tasks requested very simple to perform and everything can be done directly on your phone. In short, it has all the makings of a perfect job!
Unfortunately, this is indeed a scam. The rest of the message indicates that it is possible to contact the company Booking.com to find out more while adding a number starting with +62 (therefore located in Indonesia). The person you contact will therefore certainly try to obtain more information about you and send you a pirate link pretending to be the real Booking.com site in order to steal money from you.
If such a message were to be received on your phone, it is therefore advisable not to respond to it and to use the “report” option which is located in the “…” menu at the top right of the discussion. Then click on the “more” option to be able to report the discussion and the hacker to WhatsApp services and avoid potential future victims.