We have recently seen many hotel chains hit with fake payment requests that are sent to members who have booked reservations on their respective websites or apps.
We have previously covered Accor and IHG cases, and I thought Marriott was not affected by them. However, a reader received one for a Marriott-affiliated Design Hotel reservation in the US.
You can access Marriott here.
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Fake Payment Request Cases:
Fake Hotel Payment Requests Continue: Case Voco Singapore Orchard
Fraudsters Target Guests with Upcoming Reservations at InterContinental Sydney Using Payment Links
Now Fraudulent Payment Links Sent To Sofitel Reservations In Australia
Case Santa Monica Proper Hotel a Member of Design Hotels
A reader from Germany who is a Bonvoy Titanium member forwarded us the above payment request for a reservation they have for this Marriott-affiliated hotel in Santa Monica, California.
The hotel, the reader’s name, the email address, and the stay dates are all correct, but the reservation number is not.
The email addresses that these payment requests come from have all been highly susceptible.
And if you happen to click the link, the underlying page should scream scam, but it is still alive in this specific case.
Conclusion
There must be a widespread continuous data leak with a company that all these hoteliers rely upon to some extent. We have now seen these payment confirmation scams for reservations with Accor, IHG, and Marriott (are these also sent for Hilton reservations?).
These payment requests are identical in format and must have been sent by the same party. The information, except the confirmation number, is correct.
I am sure that 99% of those who receive an email like the one above won’t click or pay, but there must be some who do and who then bear the financial loss.
Also, the leaking of data must expose these companies to potential privacy violation penalties in markets where strong consumer protection laws exist.
