£12m lost to holiday-home scams
Holidaymakers heading off to a sunny poolside villa are being urged to check that the property exists as UK travel companies are accused of not doing enough to prevent online holiday-home fraud.
Despite companies knowing about the problem for years, people are still losing precious breaks and millions of pounds after falling victim to scammers.
The listing sites HomeAway and Owners Direct (which were last year bought by Expedia for $3.9 billion to help it to take on the rival lettings site Airbnb) charge hefty fees to advertise villas or holiday homes. Users have accused them of not properly vetting….