Rising problem of online fraud

Summary:


Holiday Scams


Thousands of British citizens are victims of online fraud that costs millions of pounds every year, which include flights, hotels and other holiday arrangements.
The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) has identified 1,000 separate holiday scams in the UK last year that cost consumers more than £1.5m. One-in-three of the travel fraud victims identified by the NFIB was cheated when paying for accommodation. Scams saw an incredible rise last year during the London Olympics.The standard fraud was to advertise rooms at well below market rates. Enquirers were told that they must pay immediately, direct into a bank account rather than by credit or debit card.

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Personal opinion:

I feel this is one of those things that gets overlooked by most people, but can you imagine spending so much of your salary that you probably spent months saving up,only to come to the conclusion that you've been scammed? The money and holiday just disappears into thin air. I suppose insurance can cover some of it, but it doesn't fix the underlying problem: how will we ever know for sure that we aren't being scammed? I think the only action to take is to find out where the scamming holiday agencies are located (or at least the people who run them) and take them down. But where do we start?


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Source: Simon Calder (18 April 2013) The Independent Holiday scams leave British travellers £1.5m out of pocket. Retrieved from: http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/holiday-scams-leave-british-travellers-15m-out-of-pocket-8579177.html