SERBIAN POLICE ISSUE URGENT STATEMENT: Personal data leaked in Booking.com hack! Here's what to do now!

Photo collage; Shutterstock/Photo For Everything, Wikimedia/MUP

Acting on currently available information about a security incident affecting the Booking.com platform, which involved unauthorized access to some user data, the Service for Combating High-Tech Crime of the Technical Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia (MUP) has warned citizens about increased risk of data abuse and online scams.

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According to available information, unauthorized persons were able to access data such as names, contact and booking details, which can be used for targeted scams and phishing attacks.

Although, according to the company, payment card data has not been directly compromised, data that has reportedly leaked can be used to carry out scams in which the user is subsequently asked to provide payment card information or perform transactions.

For this reason the Service is warning Serbians who use the platform and have shared their payment card information to pay special attention to all transactions, to immediately contact their bank in case of any suspicious activity in order to block the card, to consider temporarily reducing the daily limits set for cards used for online payments, not to submit payment card information via e-mail, text messages or via messaging applications, as well as to be especially careful with messages presented as communication concerning accommodations or the platform, that ask for urgent payments or "verification" of the card.

"We also point out that in the previous period, cases of data abuse were recorded involving false representation as accommodation facilities, where the attackers use real data about bookings in order to make their scam schemes more believable," the MUP statement said.

In the event of noticing unauthorized transactions or suspecting abuse of their data, citizens should immediately notify their bank, block the card and report the case to the competent authorities.

The Service will continue to monitor the situation and take measures within its competence in order to protect citizens and suppress cybercrime.

(Telegraf.rs)