Yesterday, we covered a fraudulent payment link for an InterContinental Sydney (read more here). A similar issue appears to be occurring with some Accor hotels in Australia.
Another reader forwarded us an email similar to the one we covered yesterday but for an upcoming stay at Sofitel Noosa Pacific Resort.
You can access Accor here.
READ MORE: Accor ALL Rate & Bonus Points Offers
Reader’s Forwarded Email:
From: kfu@enterpol.dk
Date: Thu, 02 Jan 2025 21:00:54 +0100
Subject: Hotel Notification – Reservation Confirmation
To: “REMOVEDcom” <REMOVEDcom>
Dear Guest,
You received this email because you need complete confirmation of your reservation for check-in.
Reservation â„–: 1236320
Hotel: Sofitel Noosa Pacific Resort
Guest name: REMOVED
Check-In: Mar 23 2025
Check-Out: Mar 27 2025
You must complete confirmation, using button below for save your reservation. Select your payment method and confirm your identity. You will receive several PUSH/SMS for verification.
You have 12 hours for verification or your reservation will be canceled!
Confirm Reservation
Best regards,
Sofitel Noosa Pacific Resort Reservation Team
version-1.0.0
You should never click on these links, but I used an incognito window to see which website I would end up on:
They had used a URL shortener.
The payment website had been taken down or was unreachable from my current location (Europe).
InterContinental Sydney Case:
Fraudsters Target Guests with Upcoming Reservations at InterContinental Sydney Using Payment Links
Conclusion
Somebody, somewhere, is leaking hotel reservation information for stays in Australia and perhaps elsewhere. In both cases, the hotel, the guest names, and the dates were correct.
The payment demand emails were not professionally designed, the email addresses from which they were sent were not “corporate,” and the landing website URL was also “.buzz.” These are all huge red flags.
However, I have previously noted that readers should disregard various emails from properties asking for payment if they have correctly entered their credit card information on the chain’s website.
It is not our problem if the hotel’s systems or payment processor requires another credit card number capture procedure.
You can NEVER be sure where these links come from, where the payment goes, or who is responsible if a dishonest hotel employee diverts these funds elsewhere.
