Warning to thousands of Eurovision fans about devastating new WhatsApp cons

LUCKY Eurovision fans who managed to snag tickets to the live show in Liverpool have been warned of a nasty new scam making the rounds.

Scammers have already jumped on all the fuss as their latest scheme to trick people out of money.

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Some ticket holders have reported receiving WhatsApp messages claiming to be from the hotel they booked through Booking.com.

Crooks pose as hotel employees and ask questions about their reservation.

They threaten to cancel your booking to get the targets to hastily cooperate.

This is a classic tactic used by cyber thieves to trick people into acting irrationally in the heat of the moment.

“I had just had my blood pressure skyrocketing and ALMOST fell for a scam by someone pretending to be my Liverpool accommodation,” revealed a target on Twitter.

“I wanted me to update the details otherwise they would cancel. I called the hotel to check and they assured me my booking was fine. Be warned, everyone.”

It’s quite common for scammers to jump on big events.

But it’s not clear how they found out who’s in Eurovision or not.

A spokesman for Booking.com said: evening standard: “Unfortunately, some of our accommodation partners have recently been the target of phishing emails, which in some cases has resulted in their accounts with us being compromised.

“While this was not a security breach of Booking.com’s system or platform, these accounts were quickly suspended to reduce further risk and we have been actively supporting our partners as well as potentially affected customers.”

Jake Moore, Global Cybersecurity Advisor at ESET, warned: “When scammers are contacted outside of official platforms, they can benefit from not being monitored.

“Scammers often take communication outside of the usual channels to bypass any warnings that may be in place to detect potential fraudulent activity.

“Because WhatsApp is not controlled by Booking.com or even Meta, criminals are able to skillfully manipulate people in what might look like an official form of communication.

“It is therefore advisable to keep all communication on well-known and trusted channels and never part with money outside of the official platforms.”

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