TURN DETECTIVE – AND RUMBLE THIS CLASSIC CASE OF FRAUD

ANYONE looking for a Canary Islands holiday last week might have stumbled across canarylettings.com – a classic example of a fraudster at work. Here is how to spot the clues.

THE website claims to have ‘more than ten years years’ experience’. But its registration date shows it has only been around since November 17, 2017.

Tip: Check the website domain name with a service such as lookwhois.net. Be wary if it has only been recently registered and if the registration period is short.

Misspellings and poor grammar. The website used the word ‘acomodation’ rather than the correct ‘accommodation’.

Tip: Be wary. Poor spelling does not always mean a website is fraudulent but it is unprofessional and should ring alarm bells.

THE pictures of villas are genuine but stolen from a real estate e website and names changed. h For example, the fourbedroom luxury villa pictured right is described as Villa Seriana Mar – charging just €125 a night. But it is in fact villa Callao Salvaje, on the market for €1.5 million.

Tip: To find out if a photo has been filched, use a website search engine such as Google. Right click on the picture and tap on ‘search Google for image’. This will reveal other places where the photo appears. t

A PHONE number that has only an answer mach machine. h

Tip: Be suspicious if you cannot get through or no one calls back.

THE photo of manager ‘Pedro’ is in fact someone called Gunther who works for a German building materials company and ‘Maria Ana’ is in fact a woman called Barbara. To make it harder to be rumbled, the scammer has flipped the image.

Tip: Use online tools to flip the photo, such as flipapicture, and then do an image search.