Relax ... with our guide to beat holiday booking scams
FAMILIES preparing to banish the post-Christmas blues by planning a holiday next year are being warned to take extra care when booking online. Fraudsters will be out in force next month using an array of methods designed to trap the unwary into parting with cash and leaving them with no trip to show for it.
The rise of online letting marketplaces and specialist rental websites has made arranging a holiday direct with a property owner simpler than in the past. At the same time it has provided a lucrative source of easy money for scammers.
Official figures show that 100 people a week were duped last year by holiday fraudsters out of an average £1,200. But these figures are likely to be underestimates as many victims are too embarrassed to confess they have been tricked.
Top ruses include crooks posing as individual property owners on genuine websites such as Airbnb – or setting up sham villa letting companies. Either way, fraudsters often offer eye-catching deals – a temptation for those feeling the pinch after the festive blow-out.
Recent research found that nearly one in five people would be prepared to take a chance and deal with someone directly rather than through the protection of a holiday rental website in order to secure a bargain.
Nick Cooper, co-founder of longstanding villa company Villa Plus, says bogus websites are springing up weekly. Seventy were spotted in 2017 alone. He says: ‘I am worried about what could happen next month as fraudsters will be circling for prey in earnest.’
Fake websites also lure holidaymakers by paying to advertise through a search engine’s pay per click arrangements. By advertising, this means fraudsters can easily appear above natural search listings.
So each time a person clicks on the sham website the conmen will be billed – but this is nothing compared to the amount they can scoop from scamming a single victim.
Although search engines such as Google say they work as fast as possible to shut down fake websites, it can take days or weeks once they are alerted – often too late for families who have fallen for the deception.
The Mail on Sunday reported on numerous cases of families caught in such traps this year.
Some paid thousands of pounds for seemingly perfect properties found on Airbnb while others booked through authentic-looking websites set up by fraudsters using photos and details gleaned from genuine web pages.
In all cases the holidaymakers were persuaded by convincing patter to make a quick bank transfer to secure the booking. The most ruthless scammers successfully double-cross victims with worthless promises, such as ‘bookings cancelled four weeks before arrival eligible for 100 per cent refund’ and the promise of a ‘peace of mind payment protection scheme’.
Some even pledge to pick up families from the local airport to help seal the deal quickly.
Top of the list of destinations used by scammers to lure victims this year were Tenerife, Ibiza, Majorca, Menorca and the Algarve, according to analysis by Cooper.
Martyn James, of complaints website Resolver, says: ‘When booking a summer holiday it pays to have a healthy dose of cynicism about things that look “too good to be true”.
‘Since The Mail on Sunday last warned about holiday scams in the
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.