Twenty Spanish and Romanian people have been imprisoned in Spain for their involvement in mis-selling fraudulent Spanish accommodation scams.
The Spanish accommodation scams managed to extract £650,000 from British holidaymakers, who subsequently raised complaints about having been defrauded.
This recent case is the tip of the iceberg for unwitting holidaymakers scammed out of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of pounds in Spanish accommodation scams.
Spanish Accommodation Scams Not The Only Fraud Around
Travel fraud is rife at the moment, and not just timeshare fraud either.
One family lost £3,722 on a two-week holiday to Tenerife recently, after booking with a professional-looking, but ultimately fraudulent, holiday website.
Other cases have come up in which holidaymakers have excitedly arrived at their destination only to find that the transfer vehicle arranged to take them to their accommodation was non-existent. On finally getting to their accommodation, they find people already staying there. Worse still, they try to find the accommodation they’ve booked, only to discover that it simply does not exist.
This, of course, puts the victims in a very difficult position. They are forced to either fork out more money for accommodation that does exist or turn around and go back home again, their holiday excitement in ruins. There’s no guarantee of being able to find last minute accommodation in these situations, so they can sometimes find themselves completely stranded.
What’s worse is that the fraudulent website and its criminal owners disappear into thin air, leaving the distraught holidaymakers with no way to get their money back or claim compensation.
The lucky ones are those that find out they’ve been scammed before they leave. On trying to contact the company they’ve booked with, they find them to have disappeared without a trace. At least they didn’t make the journey only to find themselves stranded.
Timeshare Advice Keep You Informed
Even though this is not a timeshare scam, we feel it is vitally important to let you know that fraudsters are operating across the travel industry. We do not want to see anybody faced with such a horrifying experience when it comes to holidays, timeshare or no timeshare.
That’s why we send you this warning: be very careful who you book with, and research thoroughly before committing your money to any company whatsoever. Spanish accommodation scams can be absolutely devastating, and there are cases coming up all the time. It’s not often that the culprits are caught, as the tactics they use are so sophisticated that it is easy for them to cover their tracks.
If you are concerned that the holiday you are looking at is a scam, get advice from friends, loved ones, or from travel experts to ensure you don’t find yourself in this terrible position yourself.