No fewer than five Nigerian families have reportedly lost thousands of pounds to suspected fraudsters after attempting to reserve holiday accommodation in London through listings found on Booking.com.
The affected travellers said they booked what appeared to be legitimate apartments advertised on the platform, only to discover shortly before their trips that the supposed hosts could no longer be reached and that no valid property addresses or check-in instructions had been provided.
One of the victims, Mrs Julienne Adeoti, said she found an apartment in central London while planning a family visit to the United Kingdom. According to her, she contacted Booking.com during the reservation process and was informed that payment for the property would have to be made directly to the owners.
Adeoti subsequently paid more than £8,000. However, just days before the scheduled trip, she had still not received the apartment’s full address, access information or any further communication from the purported host.
She said Booking.com later informed her that attempts to contact the property owners had been unsuccessful.
Another traveller, Mr Timothy Eze, reported a similar experience. Eze said he reserved an apartment advertised as being in central London and made payment through a link provided during the booking process.
He later discovered that the money had allegedly been transferred to fraudsters. Despite repeated attempts to reach the host, he has received neither the property address nor the information required to access the accommodation.
Ms Shade, another affected traveller, said she also booked accommodation advertised in London’s financial district through the platform but subsequently realised that she had allegedly been defrauded.
At least two other Nigerian families are said to have encountered similar problems, raising concerns about the authenticity of some accommodation listings and payment instructions encountered by travellers using online booking platforms.
The incidents have thrown the families’ holiday plans into disarray, leaving them with substantial financial losses and the urgent challenge of securing alternative accommodation in London, where last-minute bookings can be extremely expensive.
The affected customers are demanding an investigation into how the listings appeared on the platform, whether the accounts involved had been properly verified, and what safeguards were in place to protect travellers from fraudulent hosts and suspicious external payment links.
They are also calling on Booking.com to assist in recovering the funds and to strengthen its verification and monitoring systems to prevent other travellers from suffering similar losses.
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