Why you should definitely not open this email that you may have received

To steal your data, hackers are ready to use any subterfuge. A new fraudulent email is circulating with a phishing attempt.

A reader informed us that he received an email supposedly from Booking.com. He invites him to check his account linked to the famous travel reservation site. It even displays a big “Complete Verification” button as you can see below. The scam is quite well done since the name of the sender takes up the name of the site (this point is easy to falsify), the message is well written and the end mentions a copyright of 2024. However, if you receive this kind messages, don’t click, you might regret it.

Reader screenshot of phishing attempt using Booking.com as cover

Indeed, a characteristic sign shows that it is indeed a phishing attempt. This is the urgency of the message, with the threat of permanent deletion of the account if action is not taken within 48 hours. In order to ensure the comparison, we have created a new account on the site. As you can see in the message we received to confirm our email address, the bottom of the message differs. In the official message, the Copyright mentions the dates from 1996 (date of creation) to 2024. Then, an additional line indicates the origin of the message, namely Booking.com with the address of its head office located in Amsterdam in The Netherlands.

Screenshot made by us showing the email confirmation email received after registration

If you go to your account, you can actually activate the 2-factor authentication option (it’s even recommended). To do this, the site invites you to use an authentication application such as Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator. Finally, be aware that Booking.com does not delete accounts within 48 hours. On the other hand, the site can deactivate accounts unused for more than 24 months.

_
Follow Geeko on Facebook, Youtube and Instagram so you don’t miss any news, tests and good deals.

Receive our latest news directly on your WhatsApp by subscribing to our channel.

-

-

NEXT Intel Arrow Lake review analysis shows Core Ultra 200S CPUs are efficiency champions and gaming duds