Holidaymakers have been warned to be vigilant when booking their trips as scammers deploy clever new methods to con people out of their cash.
The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) said that fraudsters are duping travellers into paying for non-existent holidays and services, using increasingly convincing and sophisticated methods to do so. Recent scams spotted by the CTSI included fake ads on social media, featuring stunning pictures of hotels and holiday cottages alongside "too good to be true" prices.
The scammers often insisted that their victims pay by cash, via bank transfer or through third-party international money transfer companies such as Western Union, deliberately making payments difficult to trace and non-refundable. By the time the holidaymakers realised that the travel deal was fake, it was too late - the fraudsters had already disappeared with their money, the CTSI warned.
