Scam hotel booking sent family to Wetherspoon pub

Paul Dawson from Loughborough, Leicestershire, booked a one-night stay at The London Crown apartments in London for his family to watch the musical Hamilton. However, he was scammed by a sophisticated phishing attack. The address provided for the luxury apartments turned out to be the Liberty Bounds pub, a Wetherspoon pub near Tower Bridge.

Consumer protection group Which? reported that Wetherspoon staff had been turning away up to 20 tourists daily after scammers used the pub's address as a listing for luxury apartments. Booking.com confirmed that listings for legitimate properties had been targeted by the phishing attack, allowing criminals to hijack the listings.

Wetherspoon informed Booking.com about this scam as soon as it came to their attention. Dawson, who has autistic children, was told he would need to go to the property and wait until after 7 pm before it would be relocated, despite his concerns about the safety of his family. The listing for the London Crown apartments had 250 negative reviews and a handful of likely fake positive reviews.

Booking.com has blocked the ability to book the property, but it has reappeared, though bookings have been blocked. The BBC checked the listing and found that the information was still visible, with a message indicating that the property was not taking reservations. Wetherspoon stated that the listing was removed only for it to reappear. Booking.com has requested its removal permanently.