Hello
Long time lurker, first time poster etc etc...
Interested what you guys make of these WhatsApp messages I just received...
...I have no such booking...
Obviously this sort of scam/phishing nonsense is nothing new to me, but a few things stood out...
- They have my full name and phone number 😕
- I do use booking.com (but I suppose many do so they could assume...)
- This WhatsApp message has been marked as "using a secure service from Meta"... So this isn't just a random phone (I have anonymous messages blocked) they have some sort of privilege on the platform... WTF
- They even have some special reply buttons at the end of the message.
- I just don't get it... Like, what are the odds they guess the dates and hotel accurately that I would bite...? And having gone to this length, why then fall at the last hurdle by having a weird sender name like "Rus Education"...?
I get that, and it was almost certainly Booking.com who leaked it as I have had shady messages through even their own messaging platform before…
I think what baffles me is that this gets so close to convincing (if you’re not internet savvy), and then they throw in something so bizarre like having a username of “Rus Education” 🙄