We booked a villa in Antibes, France through Booking.com, which was listed with a perfect 10/10 review and marked as a "verified host." The listing required us to contact the host via WhatsApp to confirm the reservation — the phone number was posted directly on the Booking.com listing.Shortly after reaching out, the host sent a convincing email that appeared to come from Booking.com (with branding, layout, and a confirmation number) and provided payment instructions. Trusting the legitimacy of the platform, we proceeded to pay via Zelle.Hours later, the host requested an additional payment for a security deposit. That’s when we realized it was a scam. The host then declined the reservation through Booking.com, leaving us with no booking and no way to recover our funds.What’s worse:We had already reported this host and listing to Booking.com earlier, but no action was taken until we escalated the issue publicly.The listing remained live even after our warning.Booking.com refuses to offer any compensation, claiming the fraud occurred "outside their system" — despite the listing, host, and initial contact all being on their platform.We’ve reported the incident to the police and to our bank. This experience has shown that Booking.com does not adequately vet its hosts or provide sufficient protection for its users. Proceed with extreme caution — if anything goes wrong, you're on your own.
