The director of a luxury ski chalet company has revealed how scammers running fake websites are duping unwary winter sports enthusiasts out of thousands of pounds.
Ceri Tinley, Managing Director of Consensio, which operates opulent chalets and self-catered apartments in the French and Swiss Alps, revealed that one customer was conned out of £135,000 ($164,000) after being fooled by a bogus website. Instead of sending the money to Consensio for one of its Val-d’Isere properties, they sent the eye-watering amount to criminals.
Tinley also revealed how one family arrived at a Consensio chalet in Val-d’Isere, thinking they’d booked it for a Christmas getaway. But they too had been duped.
Tinley said: ‘A lady literally knocked on the door and said, “My husband is just parking the car.” But the real guests had already arrived.’
The director of a luxury ski chalet company has revealed how scammers running fake websites are duping unwary winter sports enthusiasts out of thousands of pounds
Luckily, with Consensio’s help, they found alternative accommodation in the village.
So exactly how are travellers being caught out?
Firstly, because the scam sites are very professional looking – and use pictures of real luxury chalets, often with descriptions and terms and conditions ripped from bona fide websites.
Scammers love bank transfers. The money goes straight from your account to theirs and then they take it straight out and disappear
And the correspondence they send in reply…
