Risk of fraud for holidaymakers
A Which? investigation has proved just how easy it is for con artists to put fake accommodation listings on popular holiday-letting websites. We set up fake profiles on Airbnb and TripAdvisor’s Holiday Lettings, and successfully placed eight scam listings on each. In each case, it took us just minutes to create the scam listings and we were never asked for proof of ID or any proof the accommodation actually existed.
Many holidaymakers have lost thousands of pounds through scam holiday lets just like this; booking online and then realising that the villa or apartment doesn’t exist. Given Airbnb now has more rooms to let than Hilton it’s no surprise the problem is growing.