Booking.com phishing scam uses secret characters to trick victims - last-minute holiday hunters beware
Cybercriminals are using the Japanese alphabet to spoof Booking.com
Scammers are targeting people with listings on the site
Users are advised to carefully review incoming messages
Cybercriminals are spoofing Booking.com with a clever use of Unicode characters in their phishing landing pages to spread malware.
Independent security researcher alias JAMESWT recently reported seeing phishing emails being sent to people listing their real estate on the popular lodging reservation service. In the email, the victims are told that someone complained about their listing, and that they should review it fast or face termination.
The email also provides the link which when opened, at first glance looks legitimate. However, upon closer inspection, it can be seen in the URL that instead of the forward dash character '/', the link actually uses 'ん' - a Japanese hiragana character representing the sound 'n'.
Typosquatting
Hiragana is one of the three main scripts used in written Japanese, alongside katakana and kanji.
Those that fail to spot the trick and open the site will get served a malicious MSI installer from a CDN link. The researcher added that samples of the malicious site are already available on the cybersecurity platform MalawareBazaar, and that the any.run analysis already shows the infection chain.
It is believed that the attackers are spoofing Booking.com to deliver infostealers and remote access trojans (RAT).
Replacing a single character in the URL, in order to trick victims into opening websites, is a long-established practice. It is called 'typosquatting' and banks on the victims not being careful when reviewing the URL they are opening.
Booking.com, being one of the most popular lodging reservation services in the world, is often spoofed in such attacks, together with the likes of Amazon, Microsoft, DHL, and others.
Defending against these attacks is relatively easy, and requires users to slow down and carefully review incoming communications, especially unsolicited messages. Double-checking links, attachments, websites, and thinking twice about sharing sensitive data is the best course of action these days.
Via BleepingComputer
You might also like
Microsoft warns about a new phishing campaign impersonating Booking.com
Take a look at our guide to the best authenticator app
We've rounded up the best password managers
Solve the daily Crossword
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Country Garden wins bank creditor group's support for offshore debt overhaul
(Reuters) -Embattled Chinese property developer Country Garden said on Monday it had reached an agreement with a core group of bank creditors that holds 49% of its offshore debt, marking another step in its $14.1 billion restructuring plan. Once China's largest developer, the company defaulted on $11 billion in offshore bonds in late 2023, adding to a sector-wide crisis that had already seen high-profile failures, including of China Evergrande Group. Shop Top Mortgage Rates Personalized rates in minutes Your Path to Homeownership A quicker path to financial freedom Country Garden, seeking to slash its offshore debt burden by 78%, said holders representing 77% of its bond value had accepted its restructuring proposal. A restructuring proposal normally requires support from more than 75% in creditor value to pass. The deal follows the backing it won from a key bondholder group in April. Country Garden remains the subject to a liquidation petition, with a court hearing scheduled for January 2026. The developer said it was working with both bondholders and bank creditors to complete the documentation for the restructuring, which it expects to finalise by the end of 2025.
Gizmodo
24 minutes ago
- Gizmodo
The Biggest Winners of China's World Humanoid Robot Games
China just hosted the first-ever World Humanoid Robot Games—basically the Olympics, but for robots. The three-day event kicked off Thursday, August 14, inside Beijing's 12,000-seat National Speed Skating Oval, a venue originally built for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Over 200 teams from 16 countries including Japan, Brazil, Germany, and the U.S., competed across 26 competitions. The contests ranged from classic track-and-field events and gymnastics to kickboxing, soccer, medicine sorting, and even hotel cleaning. The games were meant to show off China's latest robotics breakthroughs and highlight how humanoid machines could one day be used in real-world scenarios. It's all part of the country's broader push to win the global robotics race. Over the past year alone, Beijing has poured more than $20 billion in subsidies into the sector and is reportedly planning a one trillion yuan ($137 billion) fund to support AI and robotics startups, according to Reuters. Some U.S. robotics companies, including Tesla and Boston Dynamics, have already urged U.S. lawmakers to create a competing national strategy. The games also followed the opening of China's first robot mall and the 2025 World Robot Conference in Beijing this month. But even before this month, China has been turning to high-profile events to showcase its tech, including a robot half-marathon and dancing humanoid robots during its Lunar New Year's Eve TV gala, watched by hundreds of millions of people, according to The New York Times. At the games, the humanoid robots pulled off some impressive feats. The first gold medal went to Unitree Robotics, whose H1 humanoid completed the 1,500-meter race in just 6:34 seconds. Unitree founder and CEO Wang Xingxing told local media that he expects future robots to run autonomously, most of them are still being controlled by remotely. The H1 humanoid robot currently goes for about 650,000 yuan (US$90,494). However, not everything went smoothly, proving the tech still has some limitations. Some robots froze at the starting line or failed to finish their race, and one robot even lost an arm mid-race. In a soccer match, one clumsy robot triggered a pileup. Unsurprisingly, Chinese firms dominated the games. Hong Kong–based investment firm Shoucheng Holdings was quick to brag afterward, noting in a press release that companies in its portfolio secured 37 medals, including 12 gold, 14 silver, and 11 bronze. Unitree Robotics and X-Humanoid won the most total medals. Unitree hauled in 11 medals, including four golds in the 400-meter dash, 1,500-meter race, 100-meter hurdles, and 4×100-meter relay. X-Humanoid, officially the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Centre, wasn't far behind, winning 10 medals, including two gold medals in the 100-meter sprint and a 'materials handling' contest meant to mimic factory-floor work.
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
Craft Breweries Are All In On Japanese Rice Lagers
Visit any local craft brewery nowadays and you'll notice something, the golden lager feels like it's everywhere. Craft IPAs are still king but more breweries are spending time making classic golden lagers or pushing the boundaries to create new lager styles like the French pilsner, a style that itself doesn't exist in France but is an American invention of breweries using French malt and French hops in a lager base. With this drive to create a world of lagers for their customers, American craft breweries are looking across the Pacific ocean to Japan for inspiration and taking a cue from the big Japanese breweries like Sapporo and Asahi to produce the Japanese rice lager. The Japanese lager is having a moment now in the U.S pFriem Family Brewers A Japanese rice lager is usually around 4-5% ABV, is a very light shade of pale yellow and is made with pilsner malt as well as about 10% to upwards of 50% of usually flaked rice, although breweries are experimenting with other rice styles like jasmine or koji. The beer is very lightly hopped with usually German hops. The Japanese hop sorachi ace with its pleasing lemon verbena note can also be used. pFriem Family Brewers in Hood River, Oregon has been making a Japanese rice lager for years now, well before it became popular. They actually may be one of the first breweries in the United States to brew this style, which is one of their year-round beers available in 16 oz. cans and draft. Co-owner and Brewmaster Josh pFriem poses with the can of Japanese rice lager. pFriem Family Brewers Brewmaster/Co-owner Josh pFriem credits its current popularity to the beer's supreme drinkability. The original Japanese brewers were influenced by German beer culture so pFriem looked to both Japan and Germany to create their beer. 'We looked at the historical origin of this beer with its heavy German influence that incorporated the use of rice. This combined with looking at the versions; we wanted to give a nod to both,' said pFriem. 'We did this while leaning into the very high quality approach that we take to beer. This has created a beer that is unique and individual, but feels familiar to well known industrial interpretations of Japanese lagers from Japan.' With the growth of American craft breweries making lager, something that pFriem Family Brewers has been brewing for years, Josh pFriem has enjoyed watching the style get bigger and bigger and enjoy a wider audience than merely industry professionals and beer geeks . 'We see craft beer focused drinkers love this beer as well as a crossover of folks that drink a lot of industrial lager. Also, if people have a connection to Japan, this beer really seems to resinate with them,' said pFriem. The Japanese Rice Lager Is A Huge Hit With All Types Of Drinkers One of the new breweries to the rice lager game is Marlowe Artisanal Ales, based in Mamaroneck, New York. Owner/Brewer Zac Ross brewed his rice lager called Sugoi for the first time in May for a late June release so it could last all summer but Ross admits the beer probably won't last because of its popularity. Since its release, it's been a top three seller in their taproom. Ross uses koji rice in his Japanese style rice lager, which he says give the beer added flavor more than some American interpretations. 'We decided to add yellow koji rice to our grist to give it some depth of flavor and considering we use a bunch of koji in our kitchen it made sense for us,' said Ross. 'The result was as we experienced in Japan: full flavor but still light and incredibly drinkable. I'm not sure if they are using koji in Asahi but our result was pretty darn close to the original.' Ross, like pFriem, also credits the popularity of Japanese culture in America as the reason for this style's success. 'I've also noticed a massive influx of Japanese culture in America lately with more Americans traveling abroad due to the exchange rate in our favor and that may contribute more to it,' said Ross. So stop by your local brewery to see if they are brewing a Japanese style rice lager. Chances are, you'll find it.
