Scamming Holidays

Online scams are on the increase, and this could affect your holiday if you have booked a villa o a website. The police are responding to increasingly more common reports that innocent holiday makers are being made victim to what they see as a bargain, but is actually a scam. The scams are showing mainly on sites such as Gumtree and Craiglist, but well known and popular sites such as holidaylettings.co.uk are also falling prey to the scammers, despite their rigorous check son landlords and advertisers.

The police are recommending that when booking online, you do the following:

Take your time and double check the details. See if the place is listed on any other site, and make sure that the prices are similar. If the prices are rock bottom then consider why this is.

Be vigilant and check the retailer's track record. Don't reply to emails if you don't recognise the sender.

Check for approval – make sure that they are approved members of the ABTA, the travel association.

Research well – make sure that you get the telephone number of the property so you can check it out. Get references from others that have visited the property and see if you can contact them directly for verification.

Ensure that the site is secure, this is often marked with a little padlock in the bottom corner. Only pay on pages starting https://. Pay online with credit card wherever possible so that if it is a scam you can charge it back.

It's a shame that in these times we cannot rely on trust when renting a property, but as long as you are extra vigilant scammers shouldn't ruin your holiday. Make sure that you have valid Travel Insurance before you travel.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-tips-articles/scamming-holidays-3518120.html