Armed security guards at an office block belonging to the House of Commons have turned away Booking.com customers after criminals used the address to set up a scam listing. The listing, named 'Apartments near Big Ben', used photos of a genuine flat but listed Portcullis House, part of the House of Commons estate, as its address.
Some customers who became suspicious after receiving requests for bank details were reportedly told by Booking.com to go to Westminster and look for the supposed 'apartment'. Many did so and were turned away by security guards.
In a separate incident, hundreds of Booking.com customers were directed to a London Wetherspoons pub, advertised as 'London Crown apartments', in another scam. One customer reported being told by Booking.com to visit the phoney apartment and wait until after 7pm before being relocated, despite explaining the address was a pub.
One victim of the Portcullis House scam, Tony Walker, was charged £243 for a three-night stay. He received a chat message through the app asking for bank details, warning he would lose the booking if he did not provide them. He subsequently froze his bank account after realising the deal was suspicious.