Crook conned family with caravan scam
Acrook ripped off a family by renting them a nonexistent caravan at Craig Tara. When Lynn Brown’s disabled mother turned up at the Ayrshire coast on Monday looking forward to a break – her accommodation was nowhere to be found.
Lynn spent £250 on the fournight stay for her mum, Angela Brown, 60, and a cousin after the caravan was advertised on Facebook Marketplace.
She said: “My mother was running around that park looking for a caravan and it wasn’t good for her. My mum is registered disabled and has had four strokes.”
The family discovered con artist didn’t own any caravan at the destination outside Ayr.
Lynn said he sent photos of another home. She said: “He led my mum on a wild goose chase. She was almost crying. She had been scammed out of money and was standing in the rain.”
The 31-year-old, from Bellshill, tried to chase the man up for her cash and the family put out a warning on social media about him.
The cheat claimed the money was being transferred and said he’d meet Lynn at Glasgow Central to sort it out but never turned up.
Worryingly, he also rang her up allegedly pretending to be a police officer threatening to charge her with slander. She said: “I thought to myself: ‘this guy is mental.’ I just wanted to do something nice and give my mum a break.”
The alleged suspect cannot be named for legal reasons but has a criminal record.
Lynn said she has still not received her money back. She wants to warn people after learning others have been victims. The call the suspected actually holiday centre worker managed to book her mum another last-minute caravan at the Craig Tara this week.
She said: “It cost me £550 for four days in Craig Tara. We could have gone abroad.”
A Police Scotland spokesman said: “We can confirm that a complaint was received on August 18, relating to a fraud involving holiday caravan accommodation at the Craig Tara Holiday Park. Inquiries into the report are now under way.”
A spokeswoman from Craig Tara operator Haven said: “We were upset to hear about Ms Brown’s experience of purchasing a fraudulent holiday. We continue to advise people who have been unfortunately affected by matters such as this to report them directly to the police.
“We always advise customers to book only through trusted channels such as the official Haven website, ABTA agents or affiliated third parties.”