Scammers use City pub address for fake hotel listings

The Liberty Bounds, a Wetherspoon pub located near Tower Bridge, has been used by scammers as a false address for luxury apartment bookings on Booking.com. This has resulted in numerous tourists being turned away from the pub after paying for accommodation that does not exist. Consumer protection organisation Which? reported that staff at the pub were dealing with up to 20 misled visitors daily.

Victims left stranded

One theatre-goer, Paul Dawson from Loughborough, paid £73 for a one-night stay for his family at a property listed as 'The London Crown apartments' in August. Days later, he received an email from the fake company containing a link to a fraudulent Booking.com page requesting his bank details. Mr Dawson discovered the address provided was that of The Liberty Bounds pub. Despite explaining his suspicions and the fact he had autistic children, Booking.com staff initially told him he needed to visit the non-existent property before they would arrange an alternative. The family ultimately stayed at a Premier Inn.

Reviews on the fake listing indicated a pattern of deception, with hundreds of negative comments alongside a small number of apparently fabricated positive ones. Wetherspoon confirmed it had alerted Booking.com to the scam as soon as it became aware. The pub chain stated that the listing was repeatedly removed only to reappear, and urged Booking.com to implement more rigorous procedures to prevent such fraudulent listings.

Platform's AI fails to identify scam

Booking.com acknowledged that legitimate listings were targeted by a 'sophisticated phishing attack', which granted cybercriminals unauthorised access to the accommodation's account. The platform stated it had suspended bookings for affected properties and was assisting customers. However, Booking.com's own AI trip planner, Dot, failed to identify a scam listing. When asked by a Which? researcher if 'The London Crown' was legitimate, Dot incorrectly confirmed it was a real property and even placed it near Longleat Safari Park, which is over 100 miles away from London.

Regulatory duties

Ofcom highlighted that online platforms have legal obligations to remove illegal content once they are aware of it. The regulator stated it would use its enforcement powers against platforms that do not comply with the Online Safety Act, having already initiated investigations into more than 100 websites.

The listing for 'The London Crown apartments' was no longer taking reservations on Booking.com at the time of reporting, though the page remained visible. Another fake listing, 'Apartments near Big Ben', which used Portcullis House as its address, was also identified as a victim of the same phishing attack.