By
Daily Mail Reporter
18:12 EST, 31 August 2013
|
18:12 EST, 31 August 2013
Police have warned holidaymakers about internet fraudsters after a family were cheated out of £4,000 when they booked a Spanish villa online.
Peter McConnell, a 59-year-old accountant from Hastings, thought he had paid for a week’s stay in a property in Mojacar, Southern Spain, that he found on the Owners Direct website.
But when he came to confirm his arrival time with the owner, he discovered the payment had not been received.
Bliss? Peter McConnell booked a stay in Mojacar, but his email contacts were not what they seemed
He said: ‘We had received confirmation of the booking so it came as a complete shock when the villa owner said he had never heard of us.’
Investigators from the website determined that the villa owner’s email had been hacked after a so-called ‘phishing’ attack
The money was sent to the identity thieves instead. An Owners Direct spokesman said: ‘We are very sorry that Peter McConnell has been the victim of a security breach of an advertiser’s email account.
‘We are working with him to resolve this issue.
‘It is important to stress that did not occur on the Owners Direct website.’
The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau says that 1,000 cases of holiday fraud, worth £1.5?million were reported last year – but this is thought to be just the tip of the iceberg.
Mark Tanzer, of the Association of British Travel Agents, said: ‘Travel arrangements booked online can attract criminals because of the large sums of money involved and because they can hide behind a fake website or email.’
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The internet is not as secure as you would life it to be!
The system is basically flawed and is evident by the amount of fraud that goes on!
The real top of the iceberg is how much the banks don’t tell how much is lost through Internet from fraud!
MichaelWW
,
Frimley Green,
01/9/2013 10:47
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If you can afford to book though a Travel Agent!!!!!! Who pays £4000 per week for a villa on the Costa plenty anyway, without extensive correspondence directly with the owner? Perhaps it is a case of more money than sense? One of the advantages of booking direct is that you CAN talk it through directly with the owner and not some gormless person in a travel agents shop who has no idea of what they are talking about.
gordonrm
,
duras, France,
01/9/2013 10:46
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£4000? I trust he was planning to stay for a couple of months at least!
Retired, independent and living in Spain
,
Valencia, Spain,
01/9/2013 10:45
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As an internet advertiser I have had no problems with the above site but this does not mean that crooks will not be `phishing for business` just like anywhere else that electronic money changes hands.Sounds like someone needs to be more computer savvy or get a better security set up.
rollie
,
Ormskirk,
01/9/2013 10:41
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@ Isla s
We have booked properties via the internet sites (after careful research) and have had no issues.
One swallow does not make a summer but a travel agent might tell you otherwise.
Jeffrey55
,
Sheffield, United Kingdom,
01/9/2013 10:25
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How hard can it be to trace digital payments?!! Do Interpol or Spanish police not have anyone working for them that know how to find who has opened a bank account, where they live, what their IP address is? I know some teenage geeks who could probably trace them if you treated them to a Maccie D for doing it!
sparky20006
,
Manchester, United Kingdom,
01/9/2013 10:23
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£4,000. He could have bought one in Spain for that money.
pauly
,
london, United Kingdom,
01/9/2013 10:21
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His credit card company will refund him so all is not lost.
GMummy
,
Glasgow,
01/9/2013 10:19
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They won’t catch me,I will never visit that toilet.
MG Worcester.
,
Worcester, United Kingdom,
01/9/2013 10:13
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should have just paid a deposit……..im glad he aint my accountant…
toxic101
,
london, Bulgaria,
01/9/2013 10:06
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