I lost £5,000 to a fraudster when my dream holiday was HIJACKED
THOUSANDS of families booking holidays online are being stung by fraudsters. The Mail on Sunday shows how to turn detective and beat the scammers.
CHARLOTTE Gilmour was delighted when she stumbled across a perfect holiday property on popular bookings site Airbnb last month. She had been hunting long and hard for a place large enough to accommodate 11 family members for a trip to be paid for by her 86-year-old father as a treat.
But the booking for which she handed over more than £5,000 turned out to be a sham. The sevenbedroom luxury villa in the Balearic island of Majorca did not exist as described. The ‘proprietor’ she paid had hijacked the identity of a real Airbnb owner.
Charlotte, an actress from SouthWest London, says: ‘It looked like the ideal holiday location as we needed a big property for a family celebration and I clicked on the details. A ‘contact the host’ link appeared so I used it to ask the owner if the property was free for a fortnight’s rental in August.’
The ‘owner’ told her it was available and even asked if she wanted him to arrange for the family to be picked up from the airport. He suggested she should go ahead and book her flights. He then asked for €6,100 (£5,286) to be paid by direct bank transfer and sent within 24 hours in order to secure the property. Charlotte’s father Desmond made the payment and she then booked four flights for her immediate family at a cost of £1,400.
Only when she asked for confirmation of payment a couple of days later and received no response did alarm bells begin to ring.
Charlotte emailed the owner but got no response. She then tried using Airbnb’s website but the person who answered her plaintive messages told her his profile had been compromised and he knew nothing about the booking, nor the property involved. Charlotte says: ‘My heart fell into my boots.’
The family immediately contacted Desmond’s bank, Lloyds, which attempted to retrieve the money which had been transferred to the fraudster’s account in Italy. But it was too late. The bank told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Sadly, it appears our customer fell victim to an elaborate scam. While we sympathise, we made the payment in accordance with his authorised instructions. The beneficiary bank has confirmed the funds were withdrawn immediately, and therefore we are unable to provide a refund.’
Airbnb says such incidents are rare and that it uses fraud protection systems to spot fake properties and owners. The company urges customers to book only through its own secure platform, which offers refund guarantees, and not to transfer money direct to owners.
In a statement, it said: ‘Airbnb protects hosts and guests by handling all payment and communication through our secure platform.’ Of the Gilmour family’s plight, it would only state: ‘In the interest of providing excellent customer service, we are in contact with the guest and are providing them with our support.’
SURGE IN SCAMS
THE Gilmours are just one of thousands of families tricked by fraudsters every year through the online purchase of bogus accommodation, airline tickets, sports trips, timeshares or holiday clubs.
According to the City of London Police’s National Fraud Bureau 4,910 cases were reported in 2015, the latest figures available, with the amount lost up fourfold in a year to £11.5million. Figures due out next month are expected to show a further surge in reported victims.
Experts say episodes peak in the summer months and December as people rush to book last-minute breaks, with those aged 30 to 49 with young families the most common victims – losing on average £3,000. They usually pay by bank transfer or cash and have little chance of getting back their money.
BOOKING TRAPS
PROPERTY rental scammers work in one of three ways. They use fake property listings on a legitimate website. Or they use a real property listing and intercept booking emails before they reach the real owner. Some set up their own sham websites.
Nick Cooper, founder of established booking firm Villa Plus, trawls the internet for fraudulent sites and tries to get them shut down before too many holidaymakers are defrauded. He says: ‘Some fraudsters set up in winter listing properties that can only be booked from May onwards. This means they can rake in money before the first victims start reporting the scam online.’
He has succeeded in getting three websites closed down and has just informed the authorities about two new bogus ones – algarveviprentals.com and balearicluxuryvillas.com.
Travellers clicking on to the latter are currently diverted to balearicvillarentals.com. Cooper says: ‘Clients will see balearicvillarentals.com when they click on the website, but if this gets bad publicity, the crooks will quickly take the divert off and instead use balearicluxuryvillas.com.
‘Several of our villas are featured on these websites and they are usually given different names. It is easy to check if a listing is fraudulent using an online reverse image search application.’ These show if an image has been used in multiple places on the internet. If so, it can suggest that it has been copied and pasted into a website.
Tony Neate, of internet advice website Getsafeonline, says the key is not to rush a booking.
He says: ‘Slow down, take time out to make a cup of tea and think about it. Think about how you are being asked to pay. Be your own detective and research the property owner, check reviews and whether it is a member of a recognised trade association.
‘Check for guarantees offered if things go wrong. If the owner is pushing you to book quickly, offers a big discount or asks you to pay via the website, that should be a warning sign.’