10 Top Tips To Protect Yourself from Online Booking Scams

Owners can be unwitting prey to e-mail scammers – and it is hard to prosecute them.

The most popular one currently is the ‘overpayment’ scam, but there are others, so keep abreast of holiday rental scams via our Owners Advice section on the HolidayBank website www.holidaybank.co.uk.

Pressure from scammers for refunds and/or your bank details can be intense – but remember that any payment they’ve sent to you is probably fraudulent, and it can take banks up to 8 weeks to detect. Stay in control, don’t give in, and follow these tips for protection:

1) Beware e-mails that are really badly written (not just because English may not be the scammers mother tongue, but also because of the easy availability of free Internet translation programmes); all in CAPS; overly formal; overly enthusiastic about professions/titles; overly religious, or which include unnecessary (often heart-rending) details about personal lives.

2) Look out for bizarre e-mail addresses. If in doubt, ask for business/work e-mail addresses and check them.

3) If an e-mail sounds dodgy – it usually is! Enquiries from 1 person wanting to book for an 8-person house; bookings organized on behalf of groups or ‘celebrities’; lacking normal queries.

4) Be suspicious of those keen to send money straightaway, or talk of bankers’ drafts or certified cheques (these are very rarely used), and be cautious about last-minute bookings by direct bank transfer – check it clears before they arrive.

5) Beware incorrectly returned booking forms, insufficient names, contact details etc. Insist this information is a booking condition. Politely request a phone number – and check it out.

6) Tell potential clients you don’t confirm bookings until deposit payments clear and only accept payments by your preferred method.

7) Ask for a daytime telephone number – and phone it to check that it exists.

8) Advise clients that you cash all breakage deposit cheques before they arrive and return funds only after they’ve left (if they baulk, this often indicates a problem).

9) Never give out your bank details until you’re confident who you’re dealing with or integrate a secure online booking facility on your website using one of the many online merchant service organizations.

10) Should you come across anything suspicious, report it to your local trading standards office, tourist office or share it with other owners on online forums.

 

 

Copyright 2006. Copyright protected by HolidayBank Ltd, Sunway House, Raglan Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk. NR32 2LW.

 

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