I was scammed via booking.com

kickstart said:
I don't see anything about PayPal that makes me consider it more or less secure. Credit cards at least come with insurance if you can demonstrate fraud; neither debit cards or PayPal have this.
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I have used PayPal in the past for all sorts of transactions but not in the last few years
I never keep a credit balance in it, it's always auto filled from my credit card
The advantage of this is when PayPal denied any claims of mine in the past for say "non delivery" or "item not fit for purpose"
I have been able to get a refund from my credit card through charge back
I presume the same would apply to hotel bookings??
 
I would think that scammers must avoid Paypal like the plague.
If you're a merchant Paypal won't release your funds to you if they suspect any type of scam going on,
even legitimate merchants frequently fall foul of this with having their funds withheld for months sometimes.
Further I think that Paypal make you wait a set length of time to get paid even if you're in their good books.
So afaik Paypal is probably a good option to pay with actually.
Also you're not revealing your card details except to Paypal.
 
Cervelo said:
when PayPal denied any claims of mine in the past ...I have been able to get a refund from my credit card through charge back
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Similar thinking with me - PayPal + Credit Card = belt and braces.

Having said that, I've rarely had to raise anything with PayPal & I'm pretty sure they refunded straight away.
 
kickstart said:
Credit cards at least come with insurance if you can demonstrate fraud; neither debit cards or PayPal have this.
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Don't credit card companies leave a time before any merchant gets paid so is always safer than debit ?
 
24601 said:
Did you email them your credit card details?
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Can I just stress, as has been said previously by others in here, do not put sensitive data in emails? The question is not if it will be intercepted by someone "out there", but how many bots or scanners will grab it while it is in transit.

Unless you encrypt an email before it is sent, having previously set up a decryption key and method with the recipient, the message will travel en clair, open to the world and his Mammy to grab and read. There are exceptions, but the suggestion is for your safety, you always operate for the worst-case scenario.
 
The idea that credit cards are more protected might stem from the UK where there is more robust legislation for credit card purchases. Here, both have similar protection.

I haven't used PayPal in a long time but at that stage their Buyer Protection had a distinct limitation in the small print. If you paid using PayPal account balance and they resolved a dispute in your favour, you only got a refund if they could obtain the funds from the other party.
 
mathepac said:
Can I just stress, as has been said previously by others in here, do not put sensitive data in emails?
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I've just been going around the houses looking for a home insurance quote and have entered lots of personal details* several times today.
I wasn't comfortable doing it either needless to say.
*Name, dob, address, eircode, phone, email. Fair amount there for someone enterprising to get started on an identity theft project if it leaks.
 
Are you putting these details in emails or on the insurance company's or broker's website? If it's the latter, and you register on the site with username and password, the data should be secure on their website and the component database.

Be wary if they send your details back to you in an email as part of the quotation process. Shop elsewhere. Once the data are released into the wild via email all their security counts for nought.
 
jimmij said:
have entered lots of personal details* several times today
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When looking for insurance quotes I always use a fake name & phone number & slightly different address in the same area. Once I have decided which offer to go for I enter the correct details for another quote. Helps prevent fraud, phishing & endless sales calls by insurance reps.
 
That's a great idea. I need to put together a set of fake credentials asap!
 
tomdublin said:
When looking for insurance quotes I always use a fake name & phone number & slightly different address in the same area
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I use a fake phone number (but all other details are genuine) when shopping around purely because I don't want to be plagued with callbacks.
 

I think Booking.com's service desk need to do a little more for you. They need to confirm if this particular host requires a damage deposit, and if so, how they expect to arrange it.

strly may well be a legitimate company but being used by a scammer to extract money form you, and leave you at the their doors looking for your money back. All advance fee frauds start with handing money over in a legitimate and unremarkable way.
 
Booking has become so untrustworthy that I am wondering if I should continue to use it in the future. After two separate in-app scam messages for a 1-night hotel stay I received another (probably legitimate) message from the hotel asking me to check in online. I messaged back to tell them that two dodgy messages in 24 hours was enough. I checked in the old-fashioned way when I got to the hotel but their system is now useless in terms of efficiency savings if you have to verify every detail of the booking outside of the app.

That said, I had a similar experience with Airbnb last year so I am not sure if there are any safe alternatives.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Having said that, there are no contact details so I would avoid it.
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It has a UK phone number for WhatsApp see screenshot and is claiming to be a software company.. This is at odds with being a provider of a damage waiver for property owners. The red flag for me is an inactive privacy policy link at end of its web page. Any company processing personal data should have one.
 

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I've never been asked for a damage deposit up front when booking apartments on booking.com. I do recall being asked to pay extra on arrival once before which I duly did. It's ages ago now though so assumed not required anymore.
I suggest you message them giving your eta now and again at a later stage just to see what the hosts might say.
 
I got asked for €20 for a late check at 9pm in apartment.
It wasn't set out in the terms of the booking!!!
 
Xelfyou said:
I got asked for €20 for a late check at 9pm in apartment.
It wasn't set out in the terms of the booking!!!
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That's hardly a scam though. Late check-in fees are common and only have to be listed where that option is selectable at booking.
 
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