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There is another type about digital fraud to know, as in BBC. It is called “reservation hijacking”.
The name gives you an idea of how it works. Basically, fraudsters use information about your reservation (perhaps a hotel or flight) to trick you into sending money where you shouldn’t.
While this type of fraud is nothing new, the recent data breach at Booking.com has raised the risk of getting caught. With information about you and your reservation, a satisfactory setup can be established—why wouldn’t you trust that someone who claims to be an employee from the spa you booked is telling the truth about who they are, especially if they know the dates of your visit, your phone number, and your email address?
According to Booking.com, no financial information was disclosed in the April 2026 hack. However, names, email addresses, phone numbers, and booking information were released. The travel site says that affected customers were sent emails about the increased risk, so it’s the first thing you should look at to stay safe.
Reducing the risk of identity theft involves many of the security measures you may already be taking, and just knowing that this is a step you can take can make a difference.
How Reservation Hijacks Work
We’ve already covered the basics of reservation theft, but it can happen in a number of ways. Like other forms of fraud, it tends to change over time. What’s important is that someone contacts you claiming to be from the place you booked, whether it’s a car rental company or a hotel.
Hackers will try to gather as much information as possible about you and your booking. Sometimes they point staff at your reservation to access their systems, and sometimes they can take advantage of a data breach (like the recent Booking.com one).
They can also get information through other means. Maybe they have access to your email, or some of your social media posts (where you’ve shared where you’re going on vacation and counting how many days are left). Don’t get caught out if you find yourself talking to someone who knows a lot about your travel plans.
