A DIGITAL expert has warned residents to be extra vigilant when booking accommodation over the bank holiday weekend, after a surge in scams last summer.

Marc Porcar, CEO of QR Code Generator, noted that last year, 6,640 reports of holiday fraud were made to Action Fraud, and data showed the reports peaked during the summer months, with 804 in July and 781 in August.

The CEO believes that these numbers will grow this year with more bookings reported on holiday sites, as Foresters look for a summer bank holiday getaway. 

He said: “As interest in holiday accommodation from sites like Airbnb and Booking.com is much higher than it was last year, many will be looking to capitalise on this rise in demand – including scammers. 

“The reality is that many of us assume holiday let listings are authentic when they appear on sites that we’re familiar with, and then place a booking without doing our due diligence and checking for warning signs. This is especially true if the property is listed as having limited availability or if there’s a short-term discount.” 

Mr Porcar said the data represents a 28.3% jump compared to the same time last year, following a recent report which found that in the first quarter of this year, travellers spent 123.7 million nights staying in accommodation booked through Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia Group, and TripAdvisor. 

He added: “It is likely that scammers will increase their activity to capitalise on this rise in demand. The public need to be particularly cautious if booking accommodation for a European getaway this month, as the report also found August saw the highest number of bookings in 2023 - making it a prime month for scams this year.  

“Some destinations attracted more accommodation bookings than others last year, so holiday makers visiting the most popular countries [France, Italy and Spain] should be extra vigilant when booking their accommodation, due to the increased scam risk.”

The most common form of scams of this nature are fake listings, fake reviews, payment fraud through insecure portals, phishing scams through email, and the “bait and switch” method. This is where a scammer will use photographs of better accommodation but provide the customer with something inferior.

Mr Porcar gave some safety tips to avoid these tactics.. He said: “To avoid being scammed via fake listings, make sure you verify the accommodation you’re looking at by checking reviews and ratings. Even go so far as to look the property up on Google Maps, as we’ve seen instances of the listed property not existing at all. Remember if things seem too good to be true, they likely are. 

“To protect yourself from phishing scams, hover over links to check the actual URL before clicking. Be cautious of URLs that are misspelt or closely mimic legitimate sites. Secondly, avoid clicking on suspicious links or downloading attachments from unknown or unexpected sources. Instead, go directly to websites by typing the URL into your browser.  

“Lastly, be sceptical of unsolicited emails. Treat unexpected messages, especially those asking for personal or financial information, with caution, and always verify the sender's legitimacy before taking any action.”

More details about how to remain cyber safe can be found on the Action Fraud website.