Addressing hotel booking phishing cases involving genuine booking details and obligations of hotels and booking platforms to notify affected customers

Question:

Mr Jackson Lam: To ask the Senior Minister, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs (a) since January 2026, how many of hotel booking phishing cases involving scammers using customers' genuine booking details have been reported; (b) whether the Police have established how scammers obtained these details; and (c) what obligations do hotels and booking platforms have to alert affected customers.


Answer:

Mr K Shanmugam, Senior Minister, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs:

1. In this scam variant, victims typically receive messages with phishing links impersonating hotels or booking platforms, prompting them to verify card details or confirm their upcoming accommodation bookings. The victim would typically discover the scam after detecting unauthorised transactions or after checking with the hotel. As the impersonated hotels and booking platforms would not be aware of the scam before the victim, they would not be able to alert affected customers.

2. Since January 2026, there have been at least 148 cases of phishing scams involving hotels and hotel booking platforms, with total losses amounting to at least $185,000. The Police do not monitor the number of cases involving customers’ genuine booking details and how scammers may have obtained these details.