Tripadvisor is being urged to increase warnings about fraud following several consumer complaints surrounding fraudulent holiday bookings made via their website.
Bookings were found to Be fake and monies had been stolen.
The below podcast hosted by the You and Yours show on BBC Radio4 hears from 2 couples who have contacted the show to warn others to take extra care when booking villas in Italy and Spain through Tripadvisor.
Other couples booked through a company called Lettings.co.uk. One couple contacted the Manager of the company “Maria” via email. She responded with a contract to which the couple signed and returned, parting with their personal details and money. What Maria and the unsuspecting Consumers didn’t know at that point was that Marias email address had been hacked by an organised crime group who were posing as the managers and stealing from the Consumers.
The identical scenario happened again with a couple who booked a villa in Spain through Ownersdirect.com and after investigation, it seems very possible that they were both victims of 1 organised crime gang.
Figures from the Police show that 6,500.00 people have fallen victim to fraudulent holiday bookings in the last 24months.
The advice from Tripadvisor is to check each listing for a green stamp – this is a Payment Protection certification that states when clicked that “in the event you are unable to utilise the property on arrival, you will be refunded the monies paid”. Page 2 also mentions “Fraud”.
Owners Direct have provided the couple who booked the Italian villa a part refund however, Tripadvisor have not offered any refunds if booked through them.
Although Tripadvisor have no connections with the companies listed they are being urged to improve their security to stop fraudulent bookings from happening.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05y11vn
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