A Booking.com user has revealed how she nearly fell for a sophisticated scam after her details were leaked. 

In March, Newstalk producer Dee King booked accommodation with Booking.com for Edinburgh this summer. 

However, a few weeks later, the platform’s website was hacked and some people’s details were illicitly obtained. 

Booking.com contacted customers to warn them of the data breach but Ms King didn’t pay much attention to the email at the time. 

In June, she got a text message from a British number purporting to be the hotel she had booked. 

“It was basically just to verify my details,” Ms King recalled on The Claire Byrne Show. 

“They had my full name, they obviously had my phone number to WhatsApp me, they had the dates I was going for - they were all correct - and the number of rooms I had booked. 

“So, they had all my information and to ensure my booking remains confirmed, they needed some more details.”

There was a link on the WhatsApp message to fill out these extra details and Ms King decided to ignore it, thinking she would do it later. 

“Then a week later, I got another WhatsApp from a different number - but again, the exact same script,” she continued. 

“The exact same text all looks very, very official and looks very legitimate and it was a business account as well that it came from. 

“The only thing strange about this one was it was from a US number - so, that was a bit odd. 

“I don't know why a US number would be texting me about a British booking.”

A few weeks later Ms King got an email that claimed to be from her accommodation provider, which also looked “perfect”. 

“It had all the right branding of the accommodation,” she said. 

“It was all in perfect colour; there were no spelling mistakes, it was all formatted perfectly, looked like an incredibly legitimate email.” 

After she received a reminder email, Ms King decided to fill out her card details and it was only when she was ready to submit that she began to feel suspicious. 

She contacted the accommodation provider and they told her the email had nothing to do with them. 

“It turned out the whole thing was a scam,” Ms King said. 

“And I was this close to falling for it and I can absolutely see how anybody else would have, because mine is partly through luck, partly through laziness.” 

'Most reliable red flags'

Also on the programme, Newstalk’s Tech Correspondent Jess Kelly said it can be “incredibly difficult” to work out what is a scam and what is a legitimate email from a company. 

However, she suggested people should be suspicious of any email or text that suggests a booking will be cancelled unless people hand over their card details.   

“That to me is one of the most reliable red flags that we can look for, because as Dee said, there weren't spelling issues or anything like that,” Ms Kelly explained. 

“But 'if you don't do this, this consequence will happen' - that type of jeopardy is a red flag that very often scammers will use.”

Main image: A man using his debit card. Picture by: Alamy.com.