Fake holiday home listing remains online for weeks

A woman whose holiday home was at the centre of an online scam says it has taken weeks for the host site to take the property off-line.

Kellie Walker noticed her six-bedroom holiday home in Orewa was on the Booking.com website in October, but she had never listed it on that site.

She told the site about the scam listing, but says nothing happened for weeks, until she contacted media about the issue.

Booking.com said it had closed the listing as a precautionary measure.

Walker told Checkpoint that she contacted the bogus lister, asking to view the house before she rented.

"There was no number to call, only an email, but he told me he could not let me see the house because it was booked with guests, and if I wanted to, I could pay a deposit with a link he sent through and then we'll organise a viewing, and if I don't like the house then I will get fully refunded if I didn't want to go ahead with the booking."

She eventually told the lister that it was actually her house.

"I said to him that I've been in touch with Booking.com because I thought the link was a bit dodgy, and they told me they'd sent it to their fraud team, because it was a fake listing and they were dealing with it."

She said he went quiet after that, but did respond to friends of hers who also contacted him about the house.

Walker said while she told him that Booking.com were dealing with the issue, the listing remained live.

"So I got in contact with Booking.com weeks and weeks ago, several times saying it's a fraudulent listing, it needs to be removed, it's not their house, it's my house. But they just send back a generic email saying that it's been sent to the fraud team and then you hear nothing more and it was only yesterday that I've noticed that the listing has been removed, because the NZ Herald got in touch with them and they've removed it as a precaution."

She said she was shocked by how long it took the site to respond to her concerns.

"Whether they have got such a backlog that they are dealing with, that they can't get rid of straightaway, but there seems to be a lot of listings like this, so I think it's pretty poor on their part.

"We have our legitimate listings through holiday houses and AirBnB, and you can call AirBnB any time, while Booking.com don't have a number to call, you have to have a booking reference number for a house you've booked if you're not a host with them. With AirBnB they'll get back to you within five minutes and their security measures are really quite strong.

"I know when you list through AirBnb you have to jump through a few hoops to prove who you are and send through identification verification. All the guests have to be verified. Because I've never dealt with Booking.com as a host, or to list a property, I'm not sure what their measures are, but clearly they aren't very good if they have so many fake listings."

In a statement, a Booking.com spokesperson said the company took the process of of verifying accommodation listings extremely seriously.

"In the very rare instance that there might be some cause for doubt or concern with a specific property we investigate immediately, and as in this case we've closed this listing as a precautionary measure."

The spokesperson did not directly address the length of time for the listing to be closed, but said the company was constantly optimising the robust security measures it had in place.

However, Booking.com spokesperson later told RNZ: "Our top priority at Booking.com is to facilitate safe and enjoyable travel experiences for our customers and partners. We are constantly optimising the robust security measures we have in place to protect our customers and partners, and take the process of verifying accommodation listings extremely seriously.

"In the very rare instance that there might be some cause for doubt or concern with a specific property we investigate immediately, and as in this case we've closed this listing as a precautionary measure."

Walker said her holiday home was booked solid with legitimate bookings through to April, and she felt terrible for anybody who showed up thinking they had made a proper reservation.

"It's a big house and that person who has booked it - who might have been fleeced by this guy - has organised 10 or 16 family members, you can imagine that many people turning up thinking they have accommodation when they don't. So even if we do get these people turn up, we can't accommodate them.

"And I do feel sorry for them, it's not their fault, Booking.com have just not been very accountable for it."

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