What are the red flags of this scam?

You receive an unexpected email or text about a parking, lounge, or Fast Track booking — the message references your vehicle registration number or specific booking dates to appear genuine • The message asks you to click a link and 're-verify' or 're-enter' your card details to complete or hold your booking • The sender address looks almost right (e.g. manchesterairport-parking.com instead of manchesterairport.co.uk) — hover over the link before clicking • You never saved card details with Manchester Airport or your original booking confirmation came from a third-party provider, yet the message claims a payment issue • The message claims your parking booking will be cancelled within hours unless you confirm payment — legitimate airport operators do not threaten cancellation by email without prior notice

What should I do if this happened to me?

Do not click any links in the message — instead, log in directly to the airport's official website (e.g. manchesterairport.co.uk) to check your booking • Do not enter card or banking details on any page reached through an unsolicited link, even if it looks like an official airport site • If you received a letter or email from Manchester Airports Group about the breach, treat it as a warning to be extra vigilant — not a reason to click any links in further messages • Forward suspicious texts to 7726 (free on all UK networks) and report phishing emails to the NCSC at report@phishing.gov.uk • Report to Report Fraud at https://www.reportfraud.police.uk or call 0300 123 2040.

HIGH phishing Last reported: 5 Oct 2026 Share

A message says there is a problem with your airport parking booking and asks you to re-enter card details — it is a phishing attack using stolen data from the Manchester Airports Group breach

Q: Is this a scam?

Yes. This is a documented scam pattern. Fraudsters used data stolen from Manchester Airports Group (8.7M customers across Manchester, Stansted, and East Midlands airports) to send convincing phishing messages about parking, lounge, or Fast Track bookings. The messages reference your vehicle registration or booking type to appear genuine, then direct you to a fake payment page.

Fraudsters used data stolen from Manchester Airports Group (8.7M customers across Manchester, Stansted, and East Midlands airports) to send convincing phishing messages about parking, lounge, or Fast Track bookings. The messages reference your vehicle registration or booking type to appear genuine, then direct you to a fake payment page.

Also known as: Manchester Airport phishing scam, Stansted parking scam email, MAG data breach phishing UK, airport parking payment scam text, East Midlands airport fake email

Already happened to you? Do this in the next few minutes

1 Call your bank or card's fraud line right now. Use the number on the back of your card — not any number from the message or caller. Ask them to stop or reverse the payment and freeze the account.
2 If you paid by gift card, wire, or an app (Zelle, Venmo, Cash App): contact that company immediately and report it as fraud. Acting fast sometimes recovers the money.
3 Report to the FBI at ic3.gov and the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov. The sooner, the better.

What to do right now

1 Do not click any links in the message — instead, log in directly to the airport's official website (e.g. manchesterairport.co.uk) to check your booking
2 Do not enter card or banking details on any page reached through an unsolicited link, even if it looks like an official airport site
3 If you received a letter or email from Manchester Airports Group about the breach, treat it as a warning to be extra vigilant — not a reason to click any links in further messages
4 Forward suspicious texts to 7726 (free on all UK networks) and report phishing emails to the NCSC at [email protected]
5 Report to Report Fraud at https://www.reportfraud.police.uk or call 0300 123 2040.

Red flags

⚠ You receive an unexpected email or text about a parking, lounge, or Fast Track booking — the message references your vehicle registration number or specific booking dates to appear genuine
⚠ The message asks you to click a link and 're-verify' or 're-enter' your card details to complete or hold your booking
⚠ The sender address looks almost right (e.g. manchesterairport-parking.com instead of manchesterairport.co.uk) — hover over the link before clicking
⚠ You never saved card details with Manchester Airport or your original booking confirmation came from a third-party provider, yet the message claims a payment issue
⚠ The message claims your parking booking will be cancelled within hours unless you confirm payment — legitimate airport operators do not threaten cancellation by email without prior notice

Already happened to you? Do this in the next few minutes

What to do right now

Red flags

Sources