![\"Booking.com](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4JQ851G_7e635bd1b1c516565667fa935b6fc0ed_avif.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nBy Kristy Sexton-McGrath, ABC News<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nPersonal information may have been accessed by unauthorised parties, with customers being warned not to share credit card details by email, phone or text.
\nPhoto: ABC News\/Billy Cooper\n<\/p>\n
Some Booking.com customers are being warned their personal information may have been accessed by unauthorised third parties, prompting fresh concerns about the security of travellers’ data.<\/p>\n
The company operates more than 28 million accommodation listings globally, connecting travellers to hotels, apartments and other properties across hundreds of countries, as well as flights, rental cars and attractions.<\/p>\n
Have you been caught up in the Booking.com breach? Share your story with RNZ News – iwitness@rnz.co.nz<\/p>\n
In an email sent to those affected overnight, the company said information accessed could include “booking details, names, emails, addresses, phone numbers, and anything that you may have shared with the property”.<\/p>\n
“We recently noticed suspicious activity affecting a number of reservations and immediately took action to contain the issue,” the email said.<\/p>\n
“The security of your personal information is our utmost priority. We’ll continue to enhance and extend the robust security measures we have in place to secure your reservations with us.”<\/p>\n
The company said reservation PIN numbers had been changed “to keep your booking secure”.<\/p>\n
It also advised customers to take extra precautions, including installing antivirus software, to help protect against threats like phishing attempts – scams where criminals trick people into revealing personal or financial information by posing as trusted organisations.<\/p>\n
The ABC has contacted Booking.com for comment.<\/p>\n
It is not known how many customers have been affected, nor whether credit card details have been compromised.<\/p>\n
The news comes as the travel giant recently came under scrutiny following a sharp rise in complaints over lost money and trashed properties, and amid an already uncertain time in the tourism sector because of the Iran war.<\/p>\n
![\"Booking.com](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4JQ850T_5866dc5f35417465241ef4cca617e006_avif.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
\nThe company operates more than 28 million accommodation listings globally.
\nPhoto: ABC News\/ Mark Leonardi\n<\/p>\n
‘I thought it was Booking.com’<\/p>\n
Scams involving Booking.com customers have been on the rise recently, with Steve Atkin from Port Macquarie on the New South Wales mid-north coast one of many customers who have been targeted.<\/p>\n
He said he was left confused and frustrated after receiving a call from someone impersonating a Booking.com staff member, which led to money being taken from his account and sent overseas.<\/p>\n
He said the incident unfolded after booking accommodation in Bali in December. He raised concerns about the property, chose to leave for another hotel and requested a refund through Booking.com.<\/p>\n
He said he was contacted over the phone a few days later by someone claiming to be a Booking.com customer service agent, responding to the refund request.<\/p>\n
“He wanted my card details. I said if you’re a genuine Booking.com agent, you should already have that on file,” Atkin said.<\/p>\n
“I checked my bank account later and $100 had been deducted.”<\/p>\n
He said he later contacted Booking.com, which told him the individual involved had never worked for the company and was not authorised to act on its behalf.<\/p>\n
“I didn’t give him my credit card details, my booking was made through Booking.com, so I have no idea how he got my details, why he knew about my refund request, or how he got my money,” he said.<\/p>\n
Atkin said he received a refund for both the fraudulent transaction and his accommodation two months later.<\/p>\n
“It was a very painful process – an absolute nightmare,” Atkin said.<\/p>\n
Complaints add up<\/p>\n
Booking.com is the main brand for one of the world’s largest online travel companies.<\/p>\n
The Dutch parent company, Booking Holdings, generated more than $38 billion in revenue last year and owns other well-known travel brands Agoda, Kayak and Priceline.<\/p>\n
In Australia, Booking.com is the most used online travel website, accounting for more than 30 per cent of the online travel agent bookings, according to the latest IbisWorld report.<\/p>\n
National figures compiled by the ABC showed there were 842 complaints made about Booking.com to state and territory consumer bodies over the past two years.<\/p>\n
However, the real number is much higher, but could not be calculated because Victoria, Western Australia and the Northern Territory do not disclose complaints about individual companies.<\/p>\n
The National Anti-Scam Centre says “phishing swindled victims of more than $31 million last year”.<\/p>\n
More than 65,000 scams were reported to Scamwatch in 2025, with the bulk of the victims over the age of 65.<\/p>\n
Booking.com has warned customers that suspicious emails or phone calls may be from malicious actors impersonating the company or accommodation providers.<\/p>\n
It said it would never ask for credit card details over the phone, through text, or WhatsApp or to make a bank transfer that was different from the payment policy details in the booking confirmation section.<\/p>\n
– ABC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Kristy Sexton-McGrath, ABC News Personal information may have been accessed by unauthorised parties, with customers being warned…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-377039","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-podcasts","13":"tag-public-radio","14":"tag-radio-new-zealand","15":"tag-rnz","16":"tag-top-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topnews","19":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}