There’s been a surge in fake villa rental websites setting up since January, with fraudsters targeting properties listed on the popular Villa Plus and Airbnb websites, according to this week’s Sunday Times.
The scam sites use stolen images of real villas listed on legitimate rental websites and list them under bogus names to entice holidaymakers to part with their cash by bank transfer – often thousands of pounds.
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David Butterfield
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Villa Plus told the newspaper that at least 10,000 of its images had been stolen by scammers and pointed to paradisevillaholidays.com as one alleged fraudulent website. The site, which was still accessible when Spectator Money looked at it, features a property named Villa Jimenez on Menorca with availability in August for £2,740 a week, which holidaymakers can book by paying a £1,620 deposit through ‘wire transfer’. The website is pretty sleek and sophisticated and includes three reviews of the accommodation, each giving a five out of five rating.
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