Scam website: HSBC issues urgent travel scam warning to UK holidaymakers as websites 'cloned' - how to avoid and UK cities most at risk

A travel scam warning has been issued to UK holidaymakers after ‘clone’ websites have emerged. HSBC issued the warning to its customers, advising them to be on the lookout for clones of travel expert websites and fraudulent emails. 

A substantial £12.3 million was lost last year in the UK to holiday fraud and new data collated by expert PayFasto has unveiled the UK cities that are deemed most likely to be at risk of a holiday scam. It analysed a list of Google searches made by every UK city (scaled to per 100k of the population), to determine where is currently seeking a holiday deal the most and is deemed most at risk of holiday scams. Among the keywords considered were ‘travel packages’, ‘holiday deals’, ‘cheap last-minute holidays’, and ‘cheap airline tickets’.  

Durham was found to be most likely at risk of a scam with 14,754 average Google searches for holiday deals per month. This is more than double the searches made by the runner-up city.  

The second city most at risk and searching for a bargain is Bolton, with an average of 6,885 holiday deal-related Google searches per month. The third city most on the lookout for a getaway deal is Warwick, with 6,306 related Google searches, and the fourth is Croydon, with an average of 5,597 deal-related searches per month. 

As well as revealing which cities are searching for a travel deal and are most at risk, the study also analyses Trustpilot reviews of travel providers to identify which have received the highest percentage of scam-related comments among users. Top of the list is Airbnb with 8.5% of reviews referencing scam keywords. Second on the list is Trivago with 7.5% and third Hotels.com with 6.5% of reviews customers had mentioned keywords relating to scams. 

Dennis Pedersen, CEO of PayFasto says, “The figures from last year’s holiday fraud reports are shocking. One of the other common ways scammers will try their luck is with payment processing. No reputable travel site should ever ask you to transfer money directly to a bank account - all payments should be handled online securely.  

“One way to safely pay online when booking a trip away is to use a credit card. Most major credit card providers protect online purchases and will refund fraudulent transactions in certain circumstances (always check with the card provider).  

“Using a credit card also means that if your payment details are stolen, your main current account won’t be affected directly. Other ways to protect your account details online are using Google and Apple Pay and services such as PayPal, as the business then won’t see your details directly.” 

The UK cities most at risk of a travel scam

Listed below are the UK cities that are searching for a holiday bargain the most and therefore are most at risk of travel scams, according to PayFasto.

1. Durham

2. Bolton

3. Warwick

4. Croydon

5. Newcastle upon Tyne

6. Manchester

7. Birmingham

8. Plymouth

9. Wakefield

10. Stockport

How to avoid travel scams

Listed below are essential points to investigate before parting with your cash.

Price – Is the price more or less in line with other holiday companies? Do your research. Sometimes, if a deal looks way too good to be true, it often is. 

ATOL Protected—The ATOL scheme (Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing) protects you when you book a package trip that includes a flight. This is separate from your insurance. The majority of travel booking websites clearly have an ATOL-protected sticker on them. You should also get an ATOL certificate once you book. The official ATOL website does have a search page where you can also confirm legitimacy. 

Customer service numbers—A reputable travel site should have a customer service team to contact if you have any questions. Make sure you do research on the site and make sure they have legitimate ways to contact them if you were in the position where you needed to. If the site has no contact options, then this is certainly a red flag.