DON’T SAY ‘I DO’ TO SCAMMERS
Villa honeymoon was a con
couple’s romantic trip scuppered by fraudulent website
THE nuptials of David and Michaela Craig were on the verge of becoming a disaster after the couple were the victims of holiday fraud as they tried to book a villa as part of their wedding celebrations.
The couple paid more than £2000 to book the villa in Ibiza for a dream wedding party.
They’d planned to host a party the day after their ceremony in July this year and 70 guests were flying out to join them.
But after paying for the property via a bank transfer, David discovered they had been conned.
They booked a villa, where they planned to stay, through the website accommodationibiza.com on March 22, paying the full balance of Ð2360 (£2065) through money transfer firm TransferWise.
David received a confirmation email from “Raphael”, stating: “Your booking is now secured and your dates are reserved. I will contact you around two to three days before arrival.”
But he realised something was wrong when he tried to open a link to a web page for the villa only to find it was shut down. After sending an email with a query about the booking it bounced back, confirming his email hadn’t been delivered.
Michaela said: “We tried emailing them, calling them, but emails bounced back, the phone was unobtainable, so that’s when we thought there’s something definitely wrong.
“We were devastated, it was heartbreaking.”
The couple had to abandon the idea for a their wedding party on the Spanish island.
Fortunately they had a wonderful wedding, but not without a huge amount of worry and stress beforehand thanks to the scammers.
Michaela said: “We never received any money back and tried to go through small claims court but there was no response because the company simply didn’t exist any more.”
Since then Michaela and David have heard from others who have also been scammed before their wedding.
“I was probably naive,” added Michaela. “We go on holiday every year to Majorca and pay for private accommodation by bank transfer because we know and trust the people, so I just assumed this would also be fine.”
Digital security expert Scott McGready says scammers can set up fake websites within minutes that can look exactly like the real thing.
“They are preying on our emotions which can make couples planning on getting married an easy target,” he said.
“It may look like you are getting the dream wedding but a quick Google search and a bit of online investigation can indicate if there is a problem and the company is fake.”
Wedding planner Emma Douglas added: “Always trust your instinct and try to get a contract and read the terms and conditions.”