The worst types of holiday fraud

Last year fraudsters stole £1.5million from holidaymakers. Here's how they did it and how to avoid becoming a victim.

Holidaymakers lost out on a total of £1.5million last year in 1,000 cases of holiday fraud.

The most common, which made up 45% of cases, were websites selling fake plane tickets which customers paid for but never arrived.

Accommodation, luggage and visa applications were also targetted as fraudsters conned holidaymakers out of their cash.

The reseach from the City of London Police’s National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) also found that men were more likely to be victims of holiday fraud than women.

Holiday fraud

One in three people who reported cases of holiday fraud were scammed when trying to make accommodation bookings. These typically happened when a customer booked a hotel or villa and on arrival found out it didn’t exist.

The two key areas for this kind of fraud were Spain and London and the rise of self-catering accommodation, where the owner liaises directly with the traveller, has been blamed for the rise in this type of fraud.

Holiday-goers booking packaged deals are also at risk as fraudsters see them as an easy target.

This often happens when someone books a package deal which includes an event, such as The Ashes, because tickets may be hard to get hold of and expensive. With packages like this people are more likely to be conned because they’re desperate to get their hands on tickets.

Another area tourists are getting conned is buying visas. Fraudsters have used the visa system to steal money and private information by setting up copycat websites, especially for the ESTA visa for the US.

Fraud protection

Although everyone is at risk from holiday fraud, men are more likely than women to be victims and it's most common for those aged 30-49 to be caught out.

The main reason for becoming a victim is not doing the proper research before booking a trip. One in ten travellers don’t research the travel company they’re booking with, according to a YouGov poll for ABTA, and a quarter are willing to pay our £200 or more for a deposit to secure the booking.

The warning today comes as part of a campaign launched by ABTA, Get Safe Online, Action Fraud and NFIB. It’s expected the actual figures are much higher than the 1,000 quoted as these are only the figures for the reported cases.

Don’t become a victim of the fraudsters

There are lots of things you can do to avoid becoming a victim of holiday fraud.

Do your homework

The number one tool to protect yourself from fraud is doing your homework and researching the companies you’re booking with. This will give you an idea if they actually exist and how reputable they are before you arrive. Googling the company and finding an address and phone number is also a good plan.

When booking a packaged holiday make sure the company you’ve chosen is a member of a trade association such as ABTA or the Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing (Atol).

If it is you’ll be fully protected should anything go wrong with any part of the package. This will either be through a refund or a holiday rep organising alternative flights or accommodation for you.

Get the right insurance

If you book your holiday independently you have less protection than when booking a package. However, if you have the right travel insurance in place you should be covered if something goes wrong with any part of the trip.

Always check the small print before you buy a policy to make sure you are in fact covered and keep a record of anything you need to pay out for, such as a night’s hotel stay, so you can claim this back when you get home.

Read our article - How to get top travel insurance for your holiday - to make sure you're fully covered.

Pay on credit card

Buying anything on a credit card gives you a little more protection if your purchase is worth £100 or more. This is because under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 the retailer and the credit card provider are jointly liable to cover the cash if something goes wrong.

This also counts towards partial payments, for example if you paid £50 in cash and £50 on your credit card. Before you make any payments, make sure the site you're using is secure. It should have a small padlock in the address bar and the address needs to begin with 'shttp' or 'https'.

You can find out more about this protection in our guide The benefits of using a credit card.

Check reviews

Before you set off, or even before you’ve picked your accommodation or travel, read the reviews. If there is anything dodgy about the company it’s likely to have been written about by a fellow traveller so check websites such as TripAdvisor for clues.

If you’ve had a bad experience – with a hotel you’ve paid for but then doesn’t exist, for example, - make sure you report it and alert to ActionFraud so other travellers are aware and the company can be investigated.

More on fraud:

One Direction ticket scam: how to spot a fake ticket site

The five most common types of fraud

Large-scale fraud increasing

New Atol certificate to explain protection for package holidays

Watch out for these HMRC tax refund scams

'Unsophisticated' card fraud increases