Any travel purchase is an act of faith. Travellers pay a lot of money upfront and take delivery only when they turn up and (hopefully) get the holiday they booked. That makes travel a favourite target of scammers.
Abta, the travel association, says: “Each year, fraudsters target unsuspecting holidaymakers and travellers, conning them out of millions of pounds.
“Not only are people losing substantial sums of money but many holidays are being ruined, with people unable to afford a replacement.”
As household budgets shrink and the cost of travel soars, travellers are increasingly desperate to find bargains. Fraudsters know this. Conversely, more people are tempted to try to scam the system by defrauding travel agents, holiday companies and airlines.
What should you watch for? These are the key questions and answers.
Is there such a thing as a standard travel fraud?
Yes, when perpetrated against would-be travellers. A villain purports to be a legitimate travel business, finding customers – usually online – and persuading them to hand over cash or pay by bank transfer, which amounts to the same thing.
The criminal then vanishes. Often the victim does not realise until the day of travel that they have lost thousands of pounds.
An example?
A favourite hunting ground for fraudsters in search of unwitting victims is to offer ultra-cheap airline tickets. This is what happened to a reader whose identity we have protected: “I booked a flight with a travel agent who I had booked with before, so I trusted him.
“He called me out of the blue late last year, asking if I am looking for flights? I was tempted and booked a holiday to Singapore and Philippines in September this year.
“He gave us a huge discount for a premium economy seats with Singapore Airlines. It cost £2,200, and he said that he paid £100 out of his own pocket for us. I thought that was very kind of him, taking him as a friend.
“On 21 December 2022 I sent over the money by bank transfer to three different accounts as he had requested. He said he would send our e-tickets by 9pm that evening.”
All too predictably, the tickets did not arrive.
“I contacted Singapore Airlines directly. They had no records of any bookings with our names. I contacted my bank Santander, who managed to get back half of our money back. The rest was transferred to an overseas account, which…
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