‘Never go off-site to pay for your holiday’

summer, we have heard from an increasing number of people who have been ripped off. So triplecheck those reviews, do your research and never ever go ‘offsite’ to pay for a holiday.’

CHECK IDENTITIES

HOLIDAY home booking websites rely on trust between owners and holidaymakers to oil the wheels of a deal. But scammers will prey on that trust.

Companies such as Airbnb check the ID of members but this does not mean fraudsters will not manage to hijack genuine profiles. Airbnb reminds customers to pay a property owner only via its own secure payment system which offers protection should the booking go wrong.

Not all online marketplaces do ID checks or allow for secure booking. Extra care must be taken. One way to protect yourself is to pay by credit card. The card company must refund the cost if the booking is bogus – so long as the holiday cost is between £ 100 and £ 30,000. This should work even if you only paid the deposit with the card and the rest with another method.

If a bank to bank transfer is the only payment option it is vital to do your homework. Use Google maps to locate properties and scour search engines to verify details of owners. Speaking to an owner by phone, although not foolproof, can help separate the real from the fake. Asking for ID or proof of ownership (such as a utility bill) can be embarrassing but worth the effort.

David Pope is marketing manager for HooYu, a service that checks owner identities for a £5 fee. HooYu texts the owner in your name and requests a selfie and photo of a passport or driver’s licence.

Pope says: ‘ We recommend a holidaymaker warns the owner this is going to happen. If they are genuine there should be no problem. If they resist then that should raise suspicions. We had one woman who was about to transfer thousands of pounds for a villa. She told them a request would come from us but then they stopped all communication.’

The service uses the owner’s photo to check his or her digital footprint – such as on social media – and verify the ID is genuine.