Common Travel Scams

Fraudsters stole £6.7 million from 4,700 unsuspecting holidaymakers and other travellers in one year according to ABTA.

The effects are often much more than simply stolen money with almost half (2,245) of victims saying that it also had had a significant impact on their health or financial well-being.

The most common types of travel fraud relate to the sale of airline tickets (47%) and accommodation booking (38%).

These are only the reported figures of course as many people do not report that they’ve been scammed.

The numbers of people reporting travel fraud to the police jumps in the summer and in December. This is a clear indication that fraudsters are targeting the peak holiday periods and the people heading home to visit friends and family.

The visiting friends and family market is particularly attractive to fraudsters offering fake flight tickets and package arrangements. Where destinations were reported by victims, 54% said they had been intending to travel to Africa and 24% to Asia.

The Most Common Travel Booking Frauds

  1. Holiday accommodation – holiday accommodation fraudsters set up fake websites, hack into legitimate accounts and post fake adverts on websites and social media.
  2. Airline tickets – where a customer believes they are booking a flight but receive a fake ticket or they pays for a ticket that never turns up. In 2017, flights to Africa and the Indian sub-continent were particularly targeted.
  3. Sports and religious trips– a popular target for fraud due to limited availability of tickets and consequently higher prices.
  4. Caravanning – Action fraud reported a number of consumers reporting being the victim of fraud relating to mobile home holidays.

Top tips to avoid becoming a travel fraud victim

  • Stay safe online: Check the web address is legitimate and has not been altered by slight changes to a domain name – such as going from .co.uk to .org
  • Do your research: Do a thorough online search to check the company’s credentials. If a company is defrauding people there is a good chance that consumers will post details of their experiences, and warnings about the company.
  • Look for the logo: Check whether the company is a member of a recognised trade body such as ABTA. If you have any doubts, you can verify membership of ABTA online, at www.abta.com.
  • Wherever possible, pay by credit card and be wary about paying directly into a private individual’s bank account.
  • Check documentation: You should study terms and conditions and be very wary of any companies that don’t provide any at all. When booking through a Holiday Club or Timeshare, get the contract thoroughly vetted by a solicitor before signing up.
  • Use your instincts: If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

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Why Has A Large Sum of Money Appeared in My Account?

This is a variation on the standard push payment scams, which is where a scammer phones you, pretending to be from your bank and convinces you to move your money to another account for safety reasons.

This new version is a little more complicated as scammers are finding it increasingly difficult to get people to move their money – because this scam has become well known and the banks try to ensure that any such move is not due to duress of some kind.

John explains below how a large sum of unsolicited money appeared in his account and how the scam works.

One evening I got a notification from my bank that several thousand pounds had been deposited in my account, but I wasn’t expecting any payments.

I logged-in to find that a family member, Susan, had transferred the money. Confused – but with the words ‘scam alert’ quietly running through the back of my mind – I phoned Susan.

At that very moment, she had started calling me. I answered and she said in a panicked voice something along the lines of ‘my bank’s on the phone, they said my account isn’t secure, money has been sent to you, but you need to transfer it to a different safe account – they said you have to do it right now.’

A push payment scam begins

Susan was incredibly stressed and out of breath – and obviously on the receiving end of a push payment scam, though of course she didn’t realise it yet.

I told her to hang up the phone on ‘the bank’ immediately, find her bank card and call the number on the back and explain what was going on to her actual bank.

Meanwhile I called my bank to report the payment as part of a scam and ask them to return it to the sender. By the next day, Susan’s bank had frozen her account and reassured her that the money would be returned. My account had also been frozen.

Susan and I tried to piece together what had happened. We gathered that the scammers had somehow gained access to the account (possibly using malware that can read one’s screen to steal her two-factor code), and had made the transfer to me.

It seems the scammers were not able to add a new payee to the account (as presumably this would require greater scrutiny from the bank), so they picked an already existing payee at random to send the money to.

Then kicked in the tactics of a classic ‘push payment scam’; convince the victim that their account is compromised and that they need to send the money to a ‘new’ and ‘safe’ account, which of course is under the control of the scammers.

Huge emotional pressure

The difference here is that a third-party contact of the victim is involved – making it more likely for the scam to succeed. Why? Having several thousand pounds of somebody else’s money sitting in your account applies great emotional pressure to the third party.

It was hard enough for me to say ‘no’ when Susan had instructed me to forward the money on to a different account – ‘it’s their money after all, who am I to tell them?’ – but I suspected it was a scam.

But how many people who have no idea it’s a scam will simply do as their family member asks? Luckily I did say ‘no’. The money has been returned and both of our accounts unblocked.

I suppose the old ‘if it seems too good to be true…’ rule applies. So if you get a large sum of money randomly deposited in your account, contact your bank and think twice before touching it.

I hope sharing my experience here will help warn others and raise awareness.

Well done John.

If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.

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Stupidest Scam of the Week Raspberries

Another magic way to remove all unwanted belly fat and achieve effortless weight loss without any need to diet.

This one uses raspberries.

Humans have been eating raspberries for a very long time and no-one has ever believed they cause massive almost instantaneous weight loss till this scammer “Coach Travis” came along.

“It can torch unwanted fat overnight”

“Lose 10 pounds in 10 days”

“Lose that weight no matter what your diet is”

To get this magic effect you just have to eat a quarter bowl of raspberries then do the magic ritual.

The scammer of course sells access to that magic ritual that supposedly makes all the difference.

You can just imagine a scammer sitting at her PC enjoying a bowl of raspberries thinking how can I convince people to believe my ridiculous story about raspberries then realising that she couldn’t be bothered and would send out the rubbish message as it was.

Pathetic.

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Avoid Pension Scams with FCA Advice

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) warn that scanners are targeting people’s pensions and offer advice on how to stay safe.

Scammers usually contact people out of the blue via phone, email or text, or even advertise online. Or they may be introduced to you by a friend or family member who is also unknowingly being scammed.

They may claim they are authorised by the FCA or that they don’t have to be FCA authorised because they aren’t providing the advice themselves. Some even claim to be acting on the behalf of the FCA or MoneyHelper’s Pension Wise.

The Warning Signs of Scams

  • free pension reviews
  • higher returns – guarantees they can get you better returns on your pension savings
  • help to release cash from your pension even though you’re under 55 (an offer to release funds before age 55 is highly likely to be a scam)
  • high-pressure sales tactics – the scammers may try to pressure you with ‘time-limited offers’ or even send a courier to your door to wait while you sign documents
  • unusual investments – which tend to be unregulated and high risk, and may be difficult to sell if you need access to your money
  • arrangements where there are several parties involved (some of which may be based overseas) all taking a fee, which means the total amount deducted from your pension is significant
  • long-term pension investments – which mean it could be several years before you realise something is wrong

How to protect yourself from pension scams

1. – Reject unexpected offers

If you get a cold call about your pension, the safest thing to do is to hang up – it’s illegal and probably a scam. Report pension cold calls to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

If you get unsolicited offers via email or text, you should simply ignore them.

Don’t be talked into something by someone you know, even a friend or family member. They could be getting scammed. Check everything yourself.

2. Check who you’re dealing with

Check our Financial Services Register to make sure that anyone offering you advice or other financial services is FCA authorised, and that they are permitted to provide you with those services.

If you need any help checking, call the Consumer Helpline on 0800 111 6768.

Check the FS Register

If you use an unauthorised firm, you won’t have access to the Financial Ombudsman Service or Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) so you’re unlikely to get your money back if things go wrong.

Check the directors’ names and whether the firm is registered with Companies House. Search the company name and the directors’ names online to see if others have posted any concerns.

You can also check the FCA Warning List to find out if there are any risks of a potential pension or investment opportunity. This will allow you to see if the firm is known to be operating without our authorisation.

3. Don’t be rushed or pressured

Take your time to make all the checks you need – even if this means turning down an ‘amazing deal’. Be wary of promised returns that sound too good to be true and don’t be rushed or pressured into making a decision.

4. Get impartial information or advice

You should seriously consider seeking financial guidance or advice before changing your pension arrangements.

  • MoneyHelper provides free independent and impartial information and guidance.
  • If you’re over 50 and have a defined contribution pension, MoneyHelper’s Pension Wise offers pre-booked appointments to talk through your retirement options.
  • You can also use a financial adviser to help you make the best decision for your own personal circumstances. If you do opt for an adviser, make sure they are regulated by the FCA and never take investment advice from the company that contacted you, as this may be part of the scam.

If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.

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Common Twitter Scams

The most common Twitter scams are:-

1. Home Working

Lots of people would love to be able to work from home and get well paid, enabling them to organise their work life to fit in with other commitments. But the scammers know this and offer home working jobs which don’t exist. They make money by requiring an up-front payment for registration or postage or insurance or a subscription.

2. Pay for Followers

Many people want more twitter followers for their personal or business accounts and lots of scammers offer such a service. Some just take money and give nothing but others do provide more followers. However these turn out to be poor quality or fake followers that son disappear.

Plus, you put your Twitter reputation at risk and may end up banned by Twitter for engaging in spam exercises.

3. Fake Links

There are endless tweets exhorting you to click a link to see a life changing video or solve some problem in your life or win the lottery etc. Don’t click on a link unless you know what it’s for.  Many of these fake links are simply because the poster gets paid for each click but many are malicious.

4. The Twitter Phishing Scam

There are many tricks used in phishing tweets including fake sign-on pages, fake games and quizzes that ask for information that can be used by a scammer e.g. your mother’s maiden name, pet’s name, town of birth etc. Beware giving out any such personal information.

5. Other Money-making Scams

Scammers try to make money out of you.  Any public tweets you make become information for potential scams. e.g. you tweet about wanting to go a concert then get a direct message form someone offering tickets to the concert and a story as to why they are available to you cheaply as long as you respond quickly. SCAMS.

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