PROTECT YOURSELF FROM HOLIDAY SCAMS

Issued by Cyprus Police:

If it's too good to be true ... it's probably not ...

Summer vacation is probably the most favorite time of year for everyone. It is the period that everyone wishes to spend 

as well as possible, pleasantly and carefree, escaping for a while from the routine of everyday life.

We are always looking for the ideal holiday package. What will include the dream destination, at the lowest price and 

with the greatest possible and best services and services. Nevertheless, by "closing" our online holidays, we must know

that we are in danger of falling victim to fraud. 

What is Holiday Fraud? Holiday scam is usually made during the online payment of the travel service we want to buy. For example, when paying

a travel agent or office, for tickets, accommodation, car hire, or a travel package that includes the above.

How can they deceive us? Often, fraudsters are targeting our money. So get our own money without making the 

necessary purchases or bookings. However, in many cases, our own deception is just a bit of a bigger scam where 

crooks use credit card robbery to buy legitimate travel services and then sell them to us at lower prices.

If you have made online purchases or bookings for your vacation and then discover that your reservation does not 

exist or has been canceled due to being paid with someone else's stolen credit card then you may have been the 

victim of fraud holidays. In this case, keep all the information you have about your specific online purchases and 

report the case to the Police.

What are the clues to be observed? In order not to be a victim of such fraudsters, it is good to be careful about where and how we will make our 

reservations. At the same time, we need to be aware of how we can recognize the signs that can betray such traps. 

The first thing to be careful about is the way a travel agent or organization can approach us to present us with his offers.

We should be very careful if he contacts us, such an agent or organization with whom we have never had contact, to 

offer us holidays at very low prices.

The ways that fraudsters can use to communicate with us vary. They can use fake, online ads or even more personally 

with phone calls, phone messages and emails, offering us too cheap holiday deals. If your offer looks very good to be 

true then it is probably not.

Fraudsters can even maintain websites to promote their "products". Therefore, if a site does not provide enough 

details or photos, for the proposed hotel accommodation or other services and / or there are not enough other users' 

comments then this site should be considered suspicious.

Signs on whether a bid should be considered suspicious can also give us the way of payment that can be requested. 

Such a sign may also be the pressure for immediate payment of the amount. 

Many times, fraudsters can warn that the number of these "cheap" packages is small and quickly depleted, pushing 

us for a direct purchase of their "product".

Survivors are also more likely to ask to be paid in cash, through money transfer companies or even with virtual 

currencies. Such money transfers are difficult to detect and detect and in most cases your money is not refunded.    

How to Protect Thepurpose of fraudsters is to take advantage of trust, ignorance and sometimes our naivety. But there are ways to protect 

them.

We do not respond to unwanted emails, phone calls, or calls and messages to social media with holiday deals. Links 

and attachments to emails may lead to malicious websites or infect your device.

We make the necessary bookings for our holiday, directly with the airline and / or the hotel or through a reliable travel 

agent.

To make sure a company is legal, we can do a relevant search on the internet. 
•  We are looking for the IATA logo on the company's website. 
•  We check that a secure payment system and secure https protocol are used on the company's website for the 

booking process. 
•  We review reviews. Other people may have published their experience by warning others. 
•  We pay special attention to the name and address of the site. Small changes to the name or address can lead us

to a completely different business. 
• We verify that the site offers full contact information. A fixed telephone number, postal address and any other

information that would make it easier for you to contact them. 
•  We verify that the site offers Terms and Conditions, a refund policy and privacy policy.

It is advisable to be careful when buying flight tickets from sites selling other services such as cars and country houses. 

We check whether the flight is through the search provided by the airline website.

After purchase: 
•  We check that we have received the necessary electronic tickets or booking documents. 
•  We review our personal data, dates, hotel details, flight numbers and times. 
•  We try to confirm our bookings by contacting directly with the airline, car rental agency or hotel.

Source: www.europol.europa.eu