These are the text messages that can ruin your summer

A few days ago, a new scam was making the rounds on the mobile phones of thousands of people. Specifically, those who had installed a booking app and a confirmed reservation to enjoy a well-deserved summer vacation. The scam was announced by OCU (Consumer and User Organization) via their social networks, who report a serious condition Identity theft and attempted fraud.

What is happening? OCU warns of a group of people Pretend to be employees of the hotel where you booked your vacation.which claims that it is necessary to complete certain information in order to confirm the reservation and warns of the possibility of immediate cancellation if the said information is not verified.

After completing two messages, users are directed to an external booking page. Fill in a series of information, including the required banking and personal information..

As you can imagine, once this data is sent, the balance of the linked accounts is triggered. Risk of theft within minutes.

CaixaBank, Santander and BBVA customers, victims of online fraud, booking

SMS and emails are not coming from the booking app itself.

As OCU correctly stated, the real danger of this scam is: The origin of the messages, which arrives in the booking inbox, in the same way that accommodations normally do to inform the user of real changes to the booking. It's easy to be alert when these types of scams arrive via SMS, but things change if they do. Notifications are sent from the platform where you made the reservation..

How is that possible? Although there is no official information, it is possible that scammers have managed to do so. Bypass booking securitythey can access platform messages and can refer to accommodation booking information. From there, they just need to contact users and impersonating a hotel Which they booked themselves.

Of course, it is easy for many users to spot an SMS from a suspicious source asking you, for example, to go to your bank immediately to pay a fine, but The mistrust disappears when a scammer uses the same platform to try to scam you.The community has been on alert for SMS scams for months, but a Booking message impersonating your vacation hotel is particularly sophisticated.

There is no doubt that it is one of More detailed scams The best implementation a user can encounter, because it plays with Trusted by the leading hotel booking companysome real information about your vacation and the possibility of losing that stay that was confirmed and paid for months ago.

How can you avoid a scam like this?

With well-thought-out scams like this, recommendations Pay attention to every detail. Or ignore the SMS you receive. Using Booking's private messages already generates enough trust, so if you receive something similar, our recommendation is to trust Actions you can do yourself.

Any decisions you make, such as, for example, Find the phone number of the hotel you booked and call them to tell them about the problem.It is no longer enough to be vigilant: it is necessary not to trust any communication that reaches you by almost any means.