Fake ads and phishing: Booking.com faces massive EU probe
The European Commission believes Booking.com is not doing enough to prevent online fraud and scams. The Commission announced its findings on Wednesday. It is opening an investigation into possible breaches of European digital services rules, Belga News Agency reports.
"Booking.com is not doing enough to prevent online fraud and scams," a spokesperson said on Wednesday. He noted that the number of scams reported on the popular holiday website rose by 500 per cent between 2022 and 2024, with fraud totalling 4.2 billion euros in 2024.
The Commission therefore suspects that Booking.com is failing to meet its obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA). It is opening an investigation into three areas: how the company tackles fake adverts, protects against phishing, and provides transparency around payments to improve ranking in search results.
The Commission can now gather further evidence, for example by carrying out inspections. If it finds that Booking.com has indeed broken the rules and refuses to change its policies, it can impose fines of up to 6 per cent of the company's turnover.
Earlier, it was reported that Booking.com had warned of possible data breach.