Scammers stole £600 from my bank account after I clicked on fake holiday site
Thieves stole cash from Alex Roberts' bank account after she entered in her details on a fake booking website - but shut it down before confirming the holiday
A HOLIDAYMAKER from Cambridge had £600 stolen from her bank account by scammers after entering her details on a fake booking website - even though she never confirmed the payment.
In January last year, Alex Roberts, 28, from Cambridge, spotted a cheap packaged deal for a once in a lifetime trip to the Maldives for her and her boyfriend in for £700 including flights.
Eager to snap up the bargain she began filling in her personal details but became suspicious of the too good to be true deal before confirming her payment.
Instead of going ahead with the booking, Alex closed the browser tab feeling thankful that she’d dodged a bullet, but four days later she noticed a rogue payment for £600 on her bank statement.
"I panicked when I saw that the money had gone," Alex, who works in communications told The Sun. "It was from our joint account and the rent was due and we didn’t have enough in our account.
"I just thought oh my God we’re going to end up being charged for going in our overdraft.
"I called my boyfriend straight away to see if he’d transferred the £600 but he had no idea about it either.
"I called NatWest, who I bank with, and explained the situation and because the payment had been made from a device that neither of us had used before, they could see that it wasn’t us and refunded us the money.
"The scariest thing about it is that I didn’t even go through with buying the holiday, so the scammers must have stored my details as soon as I’d entered them and then used them later to transfer the money."
Last year, British holiday makers had £6.7million stolen by fraudsters through booking scams, like fake airline tickets and accommodation.
New research from Barclays found that 55 per cent of Brits would go ahead with a booking even if it seemed too good to be true.
How to spot a fake holiday booking site
BEFORE booking your holiday you should do some research to make sure that the site is genuine or else face losing hundreds of pounds to scammers. Here are some tips from Barclays on how to spot a fake:
Is the offer too good to be true? - If a villa is advertised at half the going rate and has great availability in peak season when everywhere else is full, this should tell you something. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.
Do an internet search on the location - If the villa in question appears to be advertised by other companies under another name, this may also be a warning sign. Be sure to do thorough research before making any booking.
Are they asking you to pay by transfer? - Scammers love bank transfers. The money goes straight from your account to theirs and then they take it straight out and it disappears. By the time you realise that something is wrong, they are long gone
Look for companies that have a real location and real phone numbers - Be suspicious of businesses that will only communicate via email and mobile phones. It’s worth checking the address or even looking at the location through an online street map. Make sure you check that the travel agent and website is certified, and that your payment is going to the right people
Before you commit to anything, stop and take time to think - If it is a legitimate company, five minutes isn’t going to make any difference – and it could save you thousands of pounds and untold heartache.
After spotting the deal, Alex had immediately began filling in her personal details including her full name, address, date of birth, phone number and fullname.
She was then taken onto another webpage to enter in her bank details including the sort code and CVV - the security code on the back of your credit or debit card.
"I should have been suspicious to start with to be honest because I’d never heard of the website before and didn’t bother checking any reviews," added Alex.
"The payment page was basic and didn’t have any branding on it. There wasn’t a green padlock next to the URL either so I realised that the site wasn’t secure.
Latest in frauds and scams
"It really spooked me but now I always do a bit of research about the holiday firm before booking."
Earlier this year, we revealed six new holiday scams fraudsters use to con Brits out of their hard earned cash - and how to avoid them.
If you think you've been a victim of fraud, you should report it to Action Fraud. We spent a day working at the fraud-fighting call centre to find out what really happens after you report a crime.
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