Metallica / Compact and Romanian Fraud

If you were wondering why did hotel prices jump to 3-5000 RON/night yesterday, it was obviously because of the Metallica concert.

Varianta în limba română pe FaṭăCarte Meta Zamolxis.

• I discuss and link to Metallica singing a Romanian rock song.
• Multiple scams take place due to poor enforcement

..and play the sold-out stadium they did.

I did not attend, and thusly I missed an amazing moment: they played a Compact song (Euronews, yt-srch, ir-metcomp).

I’ve mentioned Compact and linked to many of their songs, including my favorite cover, by Calin/Vitrina via Darius in RadioVacanta, Holograf profi and many others. It was a nice surprise for such a band to cover.. such a Romanian band and, not to look a gift horse in the mouth, not the greatest cover, really..

And on this subject, it’s interesting to read the other news on similar subjects:

• Securitate used to “cover” rockers (ir-consrck)
• M sold out (ir-mso)
• ex-czar of consumer protection scammed for tickets (ir-hcm)
• 20000+ foreigners expected (ir-jr20k)

Not to be outdone, CC Catch (Sisi Craci?) had her own concert at Sala Palatului, with Joy.

So, no wonder that hotel prices jumped to 3-5000 RON/night even on deep discount platforms.

On this background, I should mention that a few days ago I made a reservation on Booking.com ($BKNG), 4 nights, one room on Calea Victoriei 166, 200 RON. An astonishingly low price, with the payment to be made on the property. That address belongs to “Leonardo Hotel” but the listing was called “Calea Victoriei”. I have a Genius 3 discount level (the highest) on Booking and though the price was incredibly low, I figured “what’s the worst that can happen”?

Here’s our WhatsApp convo, after having set my check-in time on BKNG:

[1:15 p.m., 2026-05-11] Z: Sunt la intrare, cum intru?
[1:32 p.m., 2026-05-11] B&Bkng: Trebuia să mă anunți
[1:32 p.m., 2026-05-11] Z: Thank you for your message. I'm not on right now, but will respond as soon as possible.
[1:32 p.m., 2026-05-11] B&Bkng: Eu nu am ce să fac acum
[3:08 p.m., 2026-05-11] Z: Cum intru? Sau preferați să anulați?
[3:56 p.m., 2026-05-11] B&Bkng: Trebuie să plătit
[3:56 p.m., 2026-05-11] B&Bkng: Plătiți
[3:56 p.m., 2026-05-11] B&Bkng: Pentru a intre
[3:56 p.m., 2026-05-11] B&Bkng: Intră
[3:59 p.m., 2026-05-11] Z: Scrie in anunț că se plătește la locație
[6:34 p.m., 2026-05-11] B&Bkng: V am spus ca trebuie plătit înainte!La acest preț dumneavoastră ce doriți?
[6:34 p.m., 2026-05-11] B&Bkng: De ce scrieți mesaje negative?
[6:35 p.m., 2026-05-11] Z: Vă rog să vă îndepliniți obligațiile contractuale. Aveți check in până la orele 18:00
[6:35 p.m., 2026-05-11] B&Bkng: Teoretic da domnule
[6:35 p.m., 2026-05-11] B&Bkng: Practic nu
[6:36 p.m., 2026-05-11] B&Bkng: Ca suntem în România, se poate face Check in si la 12 noaptea
[6:36 p.m., 2026-05-11] B&Bkng: Înțelegeți?
[6:36 p.m., 2026-05-11] B&Bkng: Anulați dacă nu doriți
[6:36 p.m., 2026-05-11] B&Bkng: E simplu!
[6:42 p.m., 2026-05-11] Z: In conclusion you are refusing to meet me and receive payment, correct?
[6:42 p.m., 2026-05-11] B&Bkng: No
[6:42 p.m., 2026-05-11] B&Bkng: 😂😂😂
[6:43 p.m., 2026-05-11] B&Bkng: I told u payment and after i give u the keys
[6:43 p.m., 2026-05-11] B&Bkng: What s hard to understand?
[6:43 p.m., 2026-05-11] Z: So come, take my money, and give me the keys
[6:44 p.m., 2026-05-11] B&Bkng: Okay
[6:44 p.m., 2026-05-11] Z: ?
[6:44 p.m., 2026-05-11] Z: It's not a complex transaction
[6:46 p.m., 2026-05-11] Z: When are you coming and where exactly?
[7:22 p.m., 2026-05-11] Z: +2                   Articolul 244 din Codul Penal al României incriminează înșelăciunea, definită ca inducerea în eroare a unei persoane prin prezentarea unei fapte mincinoase (sau ascunderea uneia adevărate) pentru a obține un folos patrimonial injust, provocând o pagubă. Pedeapsa principală este închisoarea de la 6 luni la 3 ani (alin. 1), crescând la 1-5 ani dacă se folosesc mijloace frauduloase.

The last message appears with a single checkmark as opposed to double, suggesting that I was blocked. Meanwhile, although I have sent numerous messages to BKNG, the listing is still there and my booking shows “confirmed”. Though my credit card was not charged, it was used to guarantee the booking and could still be charged at the end of the booking, which is soon.

*(*This article is unfinished – it was scheduled to appear in the hope that it will be finished before, but since this message is here and until it is removed, the article is to be considered work in progress*)*.

Sources / More info: ir-metcomp-hn-rtv-b1tv-a3-l-ptv, ir-cnsrck-nr-cr-g4-ep, ir-mso-nr-hn-g4-mf, ir-hcm-mf-ro-g4, ir-jr20k, ccc

Also Sprach Zamolxis: metallica OLD, #metallica, compact OLD, #compact, rock OLD, #rock, rocker OLD, #rocker, rocknroll OLD, #rocknroll, rock'n'roll OLD, #rock'n'roll, music OLD, #music, concert OLD, #concert, tourism OLD, #tourism, travel OLD, #travel, booking OLD, #booking, bkng OLD, #bkng, hospitality OLD, #hospitality, turism OLD, #turism, horeca OLD, #horeca, bucharest OLD, #bucharest, bucuresti OLD, #bucuresti (Tags)