Scammers target travellers as holiday spending returns

Scams linked to Holiday invitations Have risen by a third over the past year, with scammers taking advantage of the recovery in the travel industry.

An analysis of Lloyds Bank found a wide difference in the average value of thefts by fraudsters, depending on the type of order.

“Now that most of the restrictions on the plague have come to an end, many of us will be looking forward to a more traditional summer vacation this year,” said Liz Ziegler, executive director at Lloyds Bank. “But with demand soaring and prices rising rapidly, future vacationers can not afford to let their guard down when looking for the best deals.”

Fraud trailer orders showed the largest increase in fraud, which rose more than 100 percent during the year. In contrast, flight-related fraud increased by only 13%, but was lost by a much higher average amount – close to £ 2,955 compared to £ 374.

The prevalence of false package holidays has risen by 17% and hotels by 18%, with an average cost to consumers of £ 2,342 and £ 1,231 respectively.

Lloyds said many of the scams took the form of fake advertisements on search engines or social media sites impersonating real companies.

In some cases, scammers used real accommodation registration sites as a means of finding victims, then persuaded them to transfer money directly to them and not through official platforms.

Travel is hardly the only industry affected by scams, as an epidemic-rash while staying on online platforms has increased the number of potential ways for scammers.

A study conducted in April by the Institute of Legal Linguistics of the Visa and Aston University on the language of fraud found that a quarter of people aged 18 to 34 in the UK Was relying on scam messagesAnd the same proportion will not check spelling and grammar errors.

The latest data on fraud released by the Ministry of National Statistics found 5.1 million offenses in the year ended September 2021, an increase of 36 percent compared to the year ended September 2019.

The UK’s online safety bill, passed in second reading in the House of Commons last week, will do just that to enforce A duty of care on social media platforms and search engines to protect their users from various types of scams created by users and for a fee, including romance and investment scams.