{"id":655,"date":"2026-09-02T09:17:05","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T09:17:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.robustittraining.com\/blog\/?p=655"},"modified":"2026-09-02T09:26:37","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T09:26:37","slug":"training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.robustittraining.com\/blog\/2026\/09\/02\/training\/","title":{"rendered":"Fancy a Night at Number 10? Just Don\u2019t Expect Breakfast!"},"content":{"rendered":"<table style=\"width: 718px; height: 373px; border: none !important; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0;\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr style=\"border: none !important;\">\n<td style=\"width: 320px; border: none !important; padding: 0 20px 0 0; vertical-align: top;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-651\" style=\"display: block; border: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.robustittraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Blog-No10-300x300.png\" alt=\"Fancy a Night at Number 10? Just Don\u2019t Expect Breakfast!\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.robustittraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Blog-No10-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.robustittraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Blog-No10-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.robustittraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Blog-No10-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.robustittraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Blog-No10-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/www.robustittraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Blog-No10.png 1254w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 398px; border: none !important; padding: 0; vertical-align: top;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0; text-align: left;\">If you have ever dreamed of staying at <strong>10 Downing Street<\/strong>, meeting Larry the cat and enjoying a morning coffee with the Prime Minister, you may have thought your luck was finally in.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Unfortunately, you would still need to get past the police\u2014and the accommodation listing was completely fake!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Consumer group <strong>Which?<\/strong> created a bogus Booking.com listing for 10 Downing Street as part of an investigation into online fraud. The famous address was advertised as a \u201cone-bedroom apartment in the heart of London.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left; margin-bottom: 0;\">To be fair, the location is excellent. It is close to Westminster, has plenty of meeting rooms and comes with its own resident cat.<br \/>\nParking may be slightly difficult, though.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>A Fake Listing That Passed the Checks<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The researchers reportedly managed to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Create the fake property listing using the Downing Street address and photograph.<\/li>\n<li>Process payment for a test booking.<\/li>\n<li>Upload a glowing review mentioning time spent with Larry the cat.<\/li>\n<li>Send an external link through the platform\u2019s messaging system asking for payment-card details.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>According to Which?, the listing was not removed until <strong>27 August 2026<\/strong>, around six weeks after it was created.<\/p>\n<p>Booking.com disputed parts of the account, saying the property was not publicly bookable during the period reported and that some automated fraud controls were not activated because of its restricted status. The company said it uses verification checks and artificial intelligence to identify and remove fraudulent listings.<\/p>\n<p>However, the test still raises an important question: <strong>if a system does not immediately recognise that the Prime Minister\u2019s official residence is probably not available for a summer holiday, what else could get through?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Serious Cybersecurity Lesson<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Although the story is funny, online booking fraud certainly is not.<\/p>\n<p>Scammers regularly create convincing listings, websites, emails and payment requests designed to steal money or personal information. Modern technology\u2014and particularly AI\u2014can help criminals produce professional-looking content remarkably quickly.<\/p>\n<p>Before booking accommodation online:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Check the property\u2019s address and photographs carefully.<\/li>\n<li>Be suspicious of prices that look too good to be true.<\/li>\n<li>Never enter payment details through a link sent unexpectedly in a message.<\/li>\n<li>Check reviews across more than one website.<\/li>\n<li>Contact the booking platform directly if anything feels unusual.<\/li>\n<li>Use secure payment methods that provide appropriate protection.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And if your booking includes breakfast with the Cabinet, access to classified documents or unlimited cuddles with Larry, it may be worth checking the small print.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Could You Help Stop the Next Scam?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Stories like this show why trained cybersecurity professionals are needed by organisations of every size. They test systems, identify weaknesses, investigate suspicious activity and help protect customers before criminals have the opportunity to strike.<\/p>\n<p>Cybersecurity is not only about people sitting in dark rooms wearing hoodies. It includes areas such as security analysis, ethical hacking, risk management, cloud security and incident response.<\/p>\n<p>At <strong>Robust IT<\/strong>, we help people from a wide variety of backgrounds develop the knowledge, practical skills and industry certifications needed to begin working towards a career in cybersecurity.<\/p>\n<p>You may not get a room at Number 10\u2014but with the right training, you could help stop somebody else from fraudulently listing it again.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Interested in changing careers? Visit <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.robustittraining.com\/\"><strong>Robust IT Training<\/strong><\/a><strong> to explore our cybersecurity training options.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Sources: <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/cly4e0wn452o\"><em>BBC News<\/em><\/a><em> and the <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.which.co.uk\/policy-and-insight\/article\/fake-10-downing-street-listing-exposes-dangerous-fraud-failings-at-booking.com-which-reveals-aCeZJ9m8zrkF\"><em>Which? investigation<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you have ever dreamed of staying at 10 Downing Street, meeting Larry the cat and enjoying a morning coffee with the Prime Minister, you may have thought your luck was finally in. Unfortunately, you would still need to get past the police\u2014and the accommodation listing was completely fake! Consumer &#8230; <\/p>\n<div><a class=\"more-link bs-book_btn\" href=\"https:\/\/www.robustittraining.com\/blog\/2026\/09\/02\/training\/\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[260,27,28,366,129,344],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cloud","category-cybersecurity","category-data","category-microsoft-certifications","category-technology","category-training"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robustittraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robustittraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robustittraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robustittraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robustittraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.robustittraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":664,"href":"https:\/\/www.robustittraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655\/revisions\/664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robustittraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robustittraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robustittraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}