Holiday scams

In 2022/23 there were 6,400 reports of holiday fraud and £15 million lost to scammers - read on for the most common holiday scams and how to protect yourself.

1. Booking scams – scammers clone well-known booking sites or advertise non existent holiday apartments or villas.

-When booking on a well known website, communicate and pay via that platform, don’t agree to leave the website to pay.

-Check website addresses carefully. Cloned sites can look very similar to real ones but the address won’t be identical.

-Don’t click on links purporting to be from holiday booking sites -  go directly to verified websites and find that deal yourself.

-Pay with credit or with debit card rather than bank transfer.

2. Customer service twitter accounts – fake customer service twitter accounts are replying to customer complaints on twitter. Never give personal info or card details on twitter.

3. Fake Facebook ads claiming network rail is giving away free railcards. Go directly to the rail network website and any offers will be advertised there.

4. Barbie phishing scams – pop ups and adverts on social media, advertising special edition barbie dolls. Don’t click on any links.

5. Skimming devices on cash machines – a skimmer is a small device that stores details from the card’s magnetic strip. Check the machine – look out for scratches, glue residue, is the card slot wider than usual? Wiggle the machine – is it attached properly? Use the machine inside the bank if possible, or even cashback at the supermarket.