A mum has issued a warning to anyone booking holidays in Blackpool after losing a £100 deposit in a scam that promised a four-night cottage getaway.
Emma Reynolds booked a cottage stay in Blackpool after stumbling across an advertisement for a cottage and hot tub stay on Facebook. She hoped for a "weekend family break" with her partner Dorota and 10-year-old son Kyle as well as her cousin and her partner.
Ms Reynolds thought they had a "good deal" after spotting a cottage in Blackpool shared by a Facebook account. The supposed owner, who is currently advertising holiday rents under the name Amy Lucia, took a £100 deposit and gave Ms Reynolds the choice of paying the full amount - an extra £250 - at the same time or on the day of arrival.
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The 37-year-old from Walsall was given the choice make payment either directly to their business account or through a payment link powered by SumUp. LancsLive, who first reported on the scam, found a clear method of payment to Amy's Cottages via a SumUp link.
But the real owners of the cottage confirmed they don't operate under the name Amy Lucia and do not advertise via Facebook.
Ms Reynolds said she had regular contact with Amy Lucia and even asked for a mobile number she could contact if anything went wrong during their stay. She said: "I also asked for a mobile number which I was given and when I called a female answered as I wanted to check she had given me the correct number just in case something was to go wrong at the cottage during our stay."
Ms Reynolds and her family left to stay at the cottage on March 25 and sent a message to Amy as they departed. It was then she noticed a 'red exclamation mark' appear next to her message.
Ms Reynolds said: "I tried to send the messages again but the same thing happened. I then sent a WhatsApp message to the number but it didn’t send either which is when I tried calling the number which was off and went to voicemail.
"I searched for Amy on Facebook but couldn’t find her, so I asked my partner to see if she could find her and straight away there she was so I messaged off her account and as soon as she knew it was me she blocked me again. That’s when we knew we had been scammed."
Ms Reynolds said her 10-year-old son was sat in the back of their car with a ball on his lap waiting to leave. She added: "I went outside and burst into tears because I knew he would be heart broken."
She decided to go onto Booking.com and book a BnB elsewhere "just so he could go for the weekend".
The real owners of the cottage have attempted to inform the police but were directed to report it to Action Fraud. They claim because they had not lost money themselves, there is nothing that can be done to stop the false seller advertising their cottage.
The owners of the cottage have also confirmed the photographs used on the advertisement are genuine photographs of their cottage, as well as the line of address. As well as this, they confirmed there is only one mode of booking when it comes for their cottage, and it is not through SumUp nor direct transfer.
Ms Reynolds said: "People like this need to be stopped. I hear she is now using Amy’s cottages as a new business name and is still taking booking for this cottage so more people will fall victim to their scam.
"I hope that people don’t fall victim to anymore of these type of scams. Always book through a trusted website or make sure this person is approved and is a proper business. It’s so easy to fall victim and it’s a shame because genuine business owners will suffer because people don’t trust them."
