You are battling the January blues and see a cheap deal on one of your socials for a two-week break in Spain during August. Better still, the price is £200 cheaper than elsewhere, possibly because the holiday is almost sold out.
When you text to confirm the details after making the payment, you are talked through the booking by a convincing contact.
Unfortunately, that will be the last you hear from the travel agent as they are criminals, and the advertisement was a fake set up to lure you in.
January is one of three months during the year – June and July being the others – when scammers ramp up their efforts to defraud people planning summer and winter breaks. This time of year is traditionally when holiday companies see a rush of bookings as people crave something to look forward to after Christmas.
Jim Winters, head of economic crime at Nationwide, says the building society sees a pick up in holiday scams at this time of year. Typically, people are drawn in by a social media ad, which is either a direct copy of a legitimate one from a reputable company, or created by AI.
“They’ll look at where the popular holiday destinations are, and if there’s one that is up and coming they’ll tailor the scam,” he says.
Nationwide said the average loss to people is about £3,500.
What it looks like
The hook is a credible-looking ad on social media for two weeks in the sun, or a winter break skiing. The reason it looks like the real thing is that it has probably been copied from a genuine travel site, however the price quoted will be significantly less than you might expect to pay.
After clicking on the ad, you will be asked to fill in your details and then be contacted on a chat app, such as WhatsApp, later. Or you may be able to click through directly to the chat from the ad.
Winters explains: “The offer will look like a bargain, an incredibly good value holiday. They might even give you some time pressure – as in ‘this is a one-time only deal’ or ‘you’ve got to sign up to it in the next 24 hours to qualify for this price’, and ‘we’ve only got x amount of tickets at this amount’.”
The fraudsters will ask for payment through bank transfer, and then, typically, cease contact, although some will still answer inquiries to lend some sort of legitimacy to the fraud. But, ultimately, the holiday does not exist.
What to do
When booking a holiday, make sure that you start the process on a reputable website, and not via a chat app. A good tip is to check the URL of the site in your browser. Be aware of the tactics of criminals. Urgency, and the fear of missing out on a deal, are big ploys to make victims act quickly and without thinking through decisions.
“Fraudsters know when peak periods are,” says Winters. “They know when people will be shopping for holidays. And, crucially, they know when they’ll be vulnerable to ‘too good to be true’ offers.”
Being asked to pay via bank transfer is a significant red flag as you will not have the section 75 protections that come with using a credit card.
If you think you have been defrauded, contact your bank immediately. After that, contact Action Fraud, the central hub for fraud and online crime.
