How to spot scams like "Booking.com - Messages Waiting For A Response"

What kind of scam is "Booking.com - Messages Waiting For A Response"?

We have analysed the email and found that it is disguised as a notification from Booking.com regarding unread messages. This scam email is crafted to trick recipients into opening a phishing site and entering personal details. Such emails should be ignored to avoid negative consequences like account hijacking.

More about the "Booking.com - Messages Waiting For A Response" scam email

This scam email claims that the recipient has 10 guest messages waiting for a response. It suggests that these messages arrived yesterday and encourages the recipient to check their inbox and reply using a provided link. While we inspected the email, we noticed that the website was down. However, such emails usually direct recipients to fake login sites.

On these pages, visitors are requested to enter their login details (e.g., email addresses or usernames and passwords). Scammers can use the gathered information to hijack accounts (e.g., email, social media, or banking). More damage can be done if victims reuse the same login details on multiple accounts.

Depending on the accessed accounts, scammers can harvest more personal information (e.g., credit card details or ID card information), send phishing messages, deliver malware, steal money or identities, etc. Thus, it is important to carefully examine emails before responding and disclosing personal information.

Similar scam emails in general

Phishing emails often impersonate legitimate services to trick users into clicking fraudulent links and entering login details (or other information) on fake sites. This can lead to account theft, financial loss, or identity fraud. Recipients of such emails should avoid interacting with them and always ensure that received messages are legitimate before taking any action.

It is important to be aware that deceptive emails can be employed to trick recipients into infecting their computers. Some examples of phishing emails are "Email Quarantine Summary", "DocuSign - Document Review Notification", and "DHL - Shipment(s) Document Is Expected To Be Delivered".

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Malicious actors often deceive users into infecting their devices by embedding malware in email attachments or through fake links. These attachments tend to be documents (e.g., MS Office or PDF files), compressed archives (like ZIP or RAR), or executable files (.exe). If infected, these files can activate malware once opened or after taking additional actions.

Sometimes, these emails lead users to fraudulent or hacked websites. These sites may encourage users to download malicious files or software, or they might download malware automatically without requiring interaction from users.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Be cautious with emails and other messages - do not open attachments/files or click links if they are unexpected, irrelevant, or from an unknown sender. Keep your system and software up to date. Only download apps and files from official developer sites or trusted app stores.

Avoid downloading pirated software, cracks, or keygens. Do not trust ads or pop-ups on shady websites. Also, do not allow suspicious sites to send you notifications, and use reliable antivirus or security programs. If you have already opened malicious attachments, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Text presented in the "Booking.com - Messages Waiting For A Response" email letter:

Subject: 10 guest messages waiting for you

You have 10 messages waiting for a response

Hi ,

Looks like you've had new messages since yesterday.

Catch up on your inbox and quickly reply to your guests with the link below.
View messages

Not helpful? Opt-out of this reminder

© Copyright Booking.com 2025
This e-mail was sent by Booking.com

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Quick menu:

• What is Booking.com - Messages Waiting For A Response phishing email?
• Types of malicious emails.
• How to spot a malicious email?
• What to do if you fell for an email scam?

Types of malicious emails:

Phishing Emails

Most commonly, cybercriminals use deceptive emails to trick Internet users into giving away their sensitive private information, for example, login information for various online services, email accounts, or online banking information.

Such attacks are called phishing. In a phishing attack, cybercriminals usually send an email message with some popular service logo (for example, Microsoft, DHL, Amazon, Netflix), create urgency (wrong shipping address, expired password, etc.), and place a link which they hope their potential victims will click on.

After clicking the link presented in such email message, victims are redirected to a fake website that looks identical or extremely similar to the original one. Victims are then asked to enter their password, credit card details, or some other information that gets stolen by cybercriminals.

Emails with Malicious Attachments

Another popular attack vector is email spam with malicious attachments that infect users' computers with malware. Malicious attachments usually carry trojans that are capable of stealing passwords, banking information, and other sensitive information.

In such attacks, cybercriminals' main goal is to trick their potential victims into opening an infected email attachment. To achieve this goal, email messages usually talk about recently received invoices, faxes, or voice messages.

If a potential victim falls for the lure and opens the attachment, their computers get infected, and cybercriminals can collect a lot of sensitive information.

While it's a more complicated method to steal personal information (spam filters and antivirus programs usually detect such attempts), if successful, cybercriminals can get a much wider array of data and can collect information for a long period of time.

Sextortion Emails

This is a type of phishing. In this case, users receive an email claiming that a cybercriminal could access the webcam of the potential victim and has a video recording of one's masturbation.

To get rid of the video, victims are asked to pay a ransom (usually using Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency). Nevertheless, all of these claims are false - users who receive such emails should ignore and delete them.

How to spot a malicious email?

While cyber criminals try to make their lure emails look trustworthy, here are some things that you should look for when trying to spot a phishing email:

• Check the sender's ("from") email address: Hover your mouse over the "from" address and check if it's legitimate. For example, if you received an email from Microsoft, be sure to check if the email address is @microsoft.com and not something suspicious like @m1crosoft.com, @microsfot.com, @account-security-noreply.com, etc.
• Check for generic greetings: If the greeting in the email is "Dear user", "Dear @youremail.com", "Dear valued customer", this should raise suspiciousness. Most commonly, companies call you by your name. Lack of this information could signal a phishing attempt.
• Check the links in the email: Hover your mouse over the link presented in the email, if the link that appears seems suspicious, don't click it. For example, if you received an email from Microsoft and the link in the email shows that it will go to firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0... you shouldn't trust it. It's best not to click any links in the emails but to visit the company website that sent you the email in the first place.
• Don't blindly trust email attachments: Most commonly, legitimate companies will ask you to log in to their website and to view any documents there; if you received an email with an attachment, it's a good idea to scan it with an antivirus application. Infected email attachments are a common attack vector used by cybercriminals.

To minimise the risk of opening phishing and malicious emails we recommend using Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows. 

Example of a spam email:

What to do if you fell for an email scam?

• If you clicked on a link in a phishing email and entered your password - be sure to change your password as soon as possible. Usually, cybercriminals collect stolen credentials and then sell them to other groups that use them for malicious purposes. If you change your password in a timely manner, there's a chance that criminals won't have enough time to do any damage.
• If you entered your credit card information - contact your bank as soon as possible and explain the situation. There's a good chance that you will need to cancel your compromised credit card and get a new one.
• If you see any signs of identity theft - you should immediately contact the Federal Trade Commission. This institution will collect information about your situation and create a personal recovery plan.
• If you opened a malicious attachment - your computer is probably infected, you should scan it with a reputable antivirus application. For this purpose, we recommend using  Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows.
• Help other Internet users - report phishing emails to Anti-Phishing Working Group, FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, National Fraud Information Center and U.S. Department of Justice.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Why did I receive this email?

Receiving a scam email usually means your address was collected through a data breach, a phishing website, or a similar method. These messages are usually sent to many users at once and are not personally targeted.

I have provided my personal information when tricked by this email, what should I do?

If you entered your login details on a fraudulent website, update the passwords for any accounts that could be compromised. Contact the platform's support if you cannot access your account (or accounts).

I have downloaded and opened a malicious file attached to an email, is my computer infected?

Running a malicious executable file can instantly infect your device with malware. Documents, such as PDFs or Office files, are generally less risky, but can still cause harm if you enable features like macros. The likelihood of infection ultimately depends on both the file type and how the user interacts with it.

I have read the email but did not open the attachment, is my computer infected?

Simply opening an email is generally safe. Malware cannot be launched without clicking on malicious links or opening infected attachments.

Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections that were present in email attachment?

Combo Cleaner is effective at identifying and removing various known malware threats. Because some infections may be hidden within the system, running a full system scan is essential.