SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — A new Illinois law could help address reservation fraud for restaurants.
The bipartisan plan will ban third-party reservation companies from listing, advertising, promoting, or selling reservations without written agreements with restaurants.
Any person who violates the ban could face a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for each violation. Customers will also have the ability to sue companies for listing fraudulent reservations online.
"They will post their reservations on a platform like OpenTable or Resy, which they have a third-party agreement with," said Rep. Margaret Croke (D-Chicago). "Then, another service will go and take all of those reservations with a bot and sell those on a third party."
Sponsors said they have seen some reservations resold at prices as high as $700.Â
This law passed unanimously out of both chambers this spring and will take effect Jan. 1.Â
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