Alerting consumers about fake holiday websites...

Published: 29 Aug 2006

Alerting consumers about fake holiday websites...

Alerting consumers about fake holiday websites following disclosure of an Internet scam, holidaymakers have been warned against booking trips online. About 3,000 people have been hit by the con.

A number of fake holiday websites, thought to be operated by the same individuals, have been set up and then quickly closed once people have been conned into paying for non-existent holidays, the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) said, according to Reuters. The Metropolitan Police, the Fraud Squad and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) are all investigating the scam which is thought to have netted hundreds of thousands of pounds.

“We understand there are six or seven website names that have been defrauding people,” reportedly said ABTA’s Dee Byrne. “Unfortunately many will have lost their money unless they paid by credit card, in which case they should be able to recoup their losses.”

Byrne said ABTA’s advice is to check its own website or that of other affiliated organisations like Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing to make sure their holiday firm is bona fide.

“We are saying just be careful about booking holidays over the Internet. Obviously there are a lot of good companies that are perfectly OK, but people need to check,” she reportedly said. Byrne said people should be wary of too readily accepting an offer if it looks too good to be true and should instead spend sometime making simple checks on the credentials of the holiday firm.