EU launches probe into Booking.com over fake listings and phishing scams
Booking.com faces a check-in from EU regulators.
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- The European Commission is investigating how Booking.com handles fake accommodation listings and impersonation fraud.
- Regulators will assess whether Booking.com removes fraudulent listings and protects guest data from phishing attacks.
- The probe will review Booking.com’s messaging service and safeguards against fraudulent payment requests.
- The Commission will also examine whether paid visibility in search results is clearly disclosed.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
The European Commission has formally launched an investigation into Booking.com to assess how the travel company handles fraudulent listings and phishing scams.
The executive branch of the EU will examine whether Booking.com has properly identified, assessed, and mitigated risks associated with fake accommodation listings, impersonation fraud, and non-compliant accommodation offers.
The probe also focuses on the effectiveness of the measures in place to mitigate these risks, including the removal of fraudulent and non-compliant listings.
Furthermore, the European Commission will look into phishing attacks that exploit reservation and guest data to assess whether these risks are addressed properly.
The Commission wants to know all there is to know about Booking.com’s design and functioning of its messaging service.
In addition, the Commission wants to determine whether the company has sufficient safeguards in place to prevent customer data from being misused to carry out phishing attempts and to solicit fraudulent payments.
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Lastly, the European Commission will assess whether Booking.com complies with the Digital Services Act’s (DSA) advertising transparency obligations.
Accommodation providers can pay higher commissions to boost their visibility in search results, but under the DSA, users should be able to tell whether a listing appears because it meets their requirements, or if someone paid for it.
“Europeans should be able to book their holidays without fear of being scammed. The Digital Services Act sets clear responsibilities on platforms to address these risks, and we must ensure that the leading booking platform in Europe takes those responsibilities seriously,” Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, said in a statement.
The investigation is conducted in collaboration with the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) and the Digital Services Coordinator of the Member State where Booking.com is established.
Back in April, Booking.com disclosed that reservation data had been exposed and that scammers were targeting travelers with additional payment requests associated with their reservations.
