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00:04Scams and fraud are now the UK's most common crimes.
00:08Over the last year, they cost us £2.4 billion.
00:13And 61% of Brits say they've been targeted by a scam at least once a month.
00:20I've got a really sick feeling that I've been scammed.
00:25Tonight, scammers causing chaos when we travel.
00:28I thought, why would anybody pick on me?
00:31Robbing us blind on holiday.
00:34They tried to take between £15,000 and £20,000.
00:38And leaving us stranded overseas.
00:41Emailed them, phoned them, no replies.
00:44And did that not worry you, the fact that you...
00:46Well, it did a bit, yes.
00:48The good news is, it is possible to fight back if you know how.
00:53This is a game that you will never, ever win.
00:56So it's really dangerous to hand over a code like that.
01:00Whether you're staying close to home...
01:02That's not me.
01:03I'm in Northumberland, and I'm not setting direct debits up.
01:07...or heading abroad.
01:08I think that's really clever.
01:11I do.
01:12We'll explain the many ways holiday scammers can take off with your money.
01:17They made over £2 million from these scams.
01:20£2 million?
01:23We're going to arm you with the tips, the tricks and the techniques to spot the scammers coming
01:28and make sure that you don't get caught out.
01:40I'm hoping that most people watching this are taking basic steps to stay as safe as possible.
01:46Don't share too much on social media, never share one-time passcodes, use mobile banking,
01:51all the things that we've always talked about.
01:53But the truth is that sometimes we do let that guard drop, particularly when we travel.
01:58And that's where we're quite vulnerable.
02:01Criminals know it's easier to scam us while we're in an unfamiliar environment.
02:06That's why they love to strike when we travel.
02:09Even though I was having a wonderful holiday, somebody was prying into my life.
02:14And that gets me really angry.
02:16So if you're jetting off to the sun or relaxing on a staycation...
02:20How much had gone?
02:22£20.
02:23£20,000 in time.
02:24£20,000 was missing.
02:25We'll show you how to protect yourself on holiday.
02:28This is where scammers target tourists.
02:33Experienced globetrotter Simon from Lincolnshire thought he was wise to travel scams.
02:39It turned out he wasn't.
02:51I've been to 97 countries in the world.
02:57So I've been travelling now for sort of 40 or 50 years.
03:00But when you actually go and meet people, it brings the whole thing to life.
03:03So in March, my wife and I went on holiday.
03:07It was a three-week holiday to Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia.
03:10And we finished in Victoria Falls.
03:12And I have to say that they'd really saved the best till last.
03:15The Victoria Falls was really spectacular.
03:18You can feel the power of the water coming over those falls.
03:24As an experienced traveller, Simon knew to take precautions with his money in unfamiliar locations.
03:31I have a pouch that I take with me, which has got a metal strap on it, which stops it
03:36being cut by somebody trying to steal it.
03:39And you can see that all the cards are fanned out.
03:42So it's quite convenient for me to be able to see which card I'm using and just to pick out
03:46the one I want.
03:49I tend to use two or three of them.
03:51I don't use all ten.
03:52The others are there just in case I actually need access to the funds that are there.
03:56While he was overseas, his holiday appeared to go smoothly with all his security measures working fine.
04:03But when he got home, something strange happened to his phone.
04:08I couldn't make calls.
04:09I couldn't receive any mobile data or anything like that.
04:13And I thought, well, this is a bit odd.
04:15So I managed to get hold of the network provider.
04:19They told me that the number had been ported to another network provider.
04:23And that was the first indication I had that there was a problem.
04:27Simon's phone had been cut off thanks to a common scammer's trick called a SIM swap.
04:34The scammers contact your mobile phone provider pretending to be you,
04:38using stolen personal details to pass security checks.
04:44They then move your number to their phone.
04:47This gives them access to any security codes texted by other account providers,
04:52allowing them to take control of your email, for example, or even your bank account.
04:59And so what I also found at that time, that when I tried to use my email address,
05:04that I couldn't use the email, that I kept getting a message saying I'd put the wrong password in.
05:10And by now I started to fear that there was something quite serious taking place.
05:15And as a result of that, I started to look at my bank accounts.
05:19And one of my bank accounts told me that I'd put the wrong password in.
05:24Worse, money was now flowing out of one account that Simon used while he was in Africa.
05:31Well, they tried to move £90 to a person I'd never heard of, and I declined it, but the bank
05:37made the payment anyway.
05:39They then tried to put £20 on a corner shop in Manchester, which they were successful at.
05:47They then transferred the remaining £190 was all that was left in that particular account.
05:53And at this point, I really did, did really raise the alarm.
05:56And so I started ringing around my bank saying, I think I'm the victim of a scam.
06:01Well done, Simon.
06:03As soon as he could, he phoned every bank and every credit card provider he had an account with to
06:09tell them about the scam.
06:11The quickest way to do this is dialing 159 from any mobile phone.
06:16Then follow the voice prompts.
06:20Welcome to 159.
06:22The service you can trust to connect you with your bank.
06:25Simon set up a new phone number and told each of his banks to stop using the old one the
06:31scammers had taken over.
06:33Meanwhile, the criminals kept up their attack.
06:38I started to get strange messages from one of my banks asking me to authorise a change of password, which
06:44I kept saying no.
06:45I kept sliding the phone saying, no, it's not me. No, it's not me.
06:49They tried to take money from a number of Simon's accounts, including one attempt for £10,000.
06:57My worst nightmare, I think, at that point is that they could have taken me for probably £20,000 or
07:05£30,000.
07:07And as a pensioner, I've got no way of replacing that.
07:11So I think the first emotion is panic because you realise that for every second you're delaying in getting contact
07:19with your banks and freezing the accounts, stopping the cards.
07:24But the potential is there for the fraudsters to take your money.
07:27Nobody had contacted me and asked me for a password.
07:31Nobody had contacted me and asked me for personal information.
07:35So it's not like I'd been, I was, you see a lot of frauds where people are conned by the
07:40fraudsters into giving information out.
07:43None of that had happened.
07:44However, one of Simon's banks suggested a potential source of the scam.
07:50It seems that this, the scam might have started in Victoria Falls Airport while we were waiting for the others
07:58of the group to join us.
07:59It was a fraudulent transaction on one of Simon's accounts for less than 50 pence.
08:06This was the same account the scammers later tried to raid for £10,000.
08:12And how did they learn about Simon's other accounts?
08:15Well, he told them every time he got out his wallet.
08:21So when I was at Victoria Falls, I had all 10 cards and they're stacked sort of one above the
08:26other like this.
08:27So that, so that it was easy for me to see which card I was picking out the wallet.
08:31Easy for Simon and easy for the scammer.
08:35Unlike here in the UK, many card transactions are still done by chip and PIN.
08:41It's possible that when Simon entered his PIN to pay for something, someone was watching and taking note.
08:49On top of that, Simon was handing out private information at every hotel he stayed at.
08:55His passport, his email and his phone number.
08:59That's data a scammer could have used to hack his phone and email, where Simon kept even more sensitive data
09:06about all his accounts.
09:09So, in retrospect, even though I was having a wonderful holiday and I was sitting watching the sunset over the
09:17Zambezi River, drinking my gin and tonic, somebody was prying into my life.
09:23Somebody was looking at my financial affairs.
09:25They were reading my emails and that gets me really angry.
09:29I think like most people, I thought it happened to somebody else.
09:34And I thought, why would anybody pick on me?
09:42If an experienced traveller like Simon isn't safe when going abroad, then maybe it's safe to assume that no one
09:48is.
09:49But that's not true.
09:50We can all protect our money and our finances when we go abroad by just following three simple steps.
10:04Let's start with block.
10:06If you're worried about your credit cards being read, then there is something you can do to stop that.
10:11You can get yourself an RFID wallet.
10:14Effectively, what that does is it puts a shield around your card so no one can actually access or read
10:20those cards whilst they're in your wallet.
10:23Another thing you can do is limit.
10:26When you go travelling, do you really need to carry with you all those cards?
10:31A better idea would be to just carry one card.
10:34It's easier to protect one card than trying to protect more than that.
10:38Also, remember, lots of people can use multiple cards now on their phones and they cannot be read when they're
10:46stored on your phone.
10:48And finally, choose.
10:50If you're going to have to carry a card or a couple of cards, choose them wisely.
10:54It's very easy nowadays to set up new cards.
10:58You can set up a new account, a new card just for travelling.
11:02And what does that do?
11:03You can just keep loading it up via your phone or internet banking with some money.
11:08So if that card is compromised, stolen or read, it's not going to give the scammers access to your entire
11:15life savings.
11:16If you lose it, you're not going to lose big.
11:20Coming up, the British staycation ruined by a devastating scam.
11:25And so where did that leave you?
11:28Very short of money and desperate to get some back.
11:33But first, here's a little quiz for you.
11:36Where in the UK has the most reported incidents of frauds per person?
11:40Is it Essex?
11:42North Wales?
11:44Or Nottinghamshire?
11:46Find out after the break.
11:56Before the break, we asked you, where in the UK has the most reported incidents of frauds per person?
12:03And the answer is North Wales.
12:10Recently, one travel website reported that travel scams had risen by 900% in the last 18 months.
12:19900%.
12:20But if you think that explosion in scams only affects people who travel abroad, then I'm afraid, think again.
12:27Scammers are not just targeting people abroad.
12:30They're targeting people here in the UK as well.
12:33And that's exactly what happened to Joanne.
12:36A keen amateur photographer in Bolton, who got stung not once, but twice.
12:50Joanne is a passionate photographer, traveller, and long-running president of her local camera club.
12:56I caught up with her on the rolling hills near her house to pick up a few tips.
13:02Hi, how are you?
13:04I'm all right, how are you?
13:06Nice to meet you.
13:06I'm good, thank you, yes.
13:08I know I'm disturbing.
13:09What are we...?
13:10Well, I'm just trying to get some of the colours of the trees in the foreground.
13:15Yeah.
13:15And then the recession, obviously, of the hills in the background.
13:18What are your tips of landscape photography?
13:22I always do like to get something in the foreground so you've got that interest and then it pulls you
13:28in.
13:30I don't have one of those fancy cameras.
13:32We've got one of these.
13:34We've all got one of those.
13:35So, look, are there any sort of secrets to...
13:39Does that work?
13:41That works.
13:42In 2021, Joanne was on a photography holiday in Northumbria with her club when she received an unexpected phone call,
13:51supposedly from her bank.
13:53It was a gentleman saying he was from the fraud department.
13:59And what did he say?
14:00We think there's been some fraudulent activity on your account because somebody in Birmingham has set up a direct debit.
14:10So I said, well, that's not me.
14:12I'm in Northumberland and I'm not setting direct debits up.
14:16What did he tell you when you said, what's happening?
14:18He wanted me to go into the app.
14:22And he asked for a one-time passcode and I gave him the code.
14:29I've said it before and I'll say it again.
14:32Never, ever give away your one-time passcode.
14:35You could be handing control of your bank account to a scammer.
14:39Shortly after, I could see the total amount in the bank account.
14:46It had gone down by over £5,000.
14:49So I thought, gosh, what's happening here?
14:52I then realised that something wasn't right and I ended the call.
14:57Now that was a good decision by Joanne.
14:59And even though she was away from home, she reported the scam immediately to the real fraud department.
15:05The bank said, we will put a hold on your account.
15:09We will cancel your card and we will start up an investigation.
15:13Which left me in a bit of a pickle because I was on holiday.
15:17However, following an investigation, the bank refused to reimburse Joanne because she gave away that code.
15:25Joanne blamed herself for being foolish and tried to forget all about the scammers.
15:29But six months later, she discovered they hadn't forgotten about her.
15:34I went into the app to transfer some money over and there was only about £2,000 in the account.
15:45How much had gone?
15:47£20.
15:48So you're literally waking up in the morning, you go to transfer some money from your savings account.
15:54£20,000 in the account.
15:54£20,000 was missing.
15:56You haven't spoken on the phone, you haven't done any transactions.
16:01So I contacted the bank, I could see the transactions on my phone that had gone.
16:07And they'd gone at something like 4.30 in the morning.
16:11Yeah.
16:11That morning and the previous morning.
16:14Yeah, I mean I've got them here.
16:16You've kindly shared them with us.
16:18Let's just have a look.
16:20£1,014.90.
16:23Then £2,334, you know, all amounts.
16:27So just under 20 minutes, you've got, what, three, just over £10,000 is just gone.
16:35Yeah.
16:36And so where did that leave you?
16:38Very short of money and desperate to get some back.
16:42That must have been extremely stressful.
16:44How were you feeling at the time?
16:45Lost.
16:47Joanne had every reason to feel lost.
16:50She couldn't understand how the scammers hit her a second time, six months later, while
16:55she was fast asleep.
16:59To get to the bottom of this, I asked cybersecurity expert Jake Moore to visit Scam HQ.
17:06A lot of scams start with receiving a call.
17:12Then she gets a one-time passcode, which she gives over.
17:18Yeah.
17:18So when you receive a one-time passcode, that's to authorise you and that device that you are
17:24on to have access.
17:27In this case, it would be maybe to make a payment to a new payee.
17:31So it's really dangerous to hand over a code like that to someone on the phone, especially
17:36to someone who has called you out of the blue.
17:39So she's lost £5,000.
17:43She blamed it on herself because she thought, I've just done something stupid.
17:47However, this is where it gets worse because six months later, £20,000 leaves her account.
17:54Now, having spoken to Jan, that happened while she was asleep and her phone was on her bedside
18:01table.
18:02What's going on?
18:04Rather than just giving away access to make one payment of this £5,000, there's a chance
18:11that she may have been offering up the ability to link her account to a separate device.
18:19One-time passcodes aren't just for one-off payments.
18:22They can also be used to authorise a new phone, a computer or a tablet to access your account
18:29via the bank's app.
18:31Jake thinks the scammers used that single one-time passcode from Joanne to link their device to
18:38her account while she was on holiday.
18:41At that moment, the attackers can at any time make transactions because they've got access
18:48through their device.
18:50So beware of linked devices.
18:52One-time passcodes can be used to add an account to another device.
18:57In this case, we won't know.
19:00We're hoping that at some point we do get to find out and Joanne gets her money back.
19:08With all of us now relying so much on the internet to book our holidays and everything around travelling,
19:14no wonder scams are everywhere.
19:18So we're going to look at some of those websites and ask, is it a scam?
19:27So we're going to look at travelling, and in particular, travelling to the United States.
19:31Right now, if you're a UK citizen and you want to go to the US, you have to get what's
19:35called an
19:36ESTA.
19:36Now, it costs $21, that's roughly about £15, and you can apply for it yourself.
19:43So this is where you can go and you can create your application and do it all yourself.
19:47Pay your $21 and be on your way.
19:51This is the official US government website.
19:53So if you go on to Google and you search for ESTA, here's what happens.
20:00The first several hits are all sponsored links, adverts, really, which companies buy to put
20:06their own websites above the official one.
20:09You've got all these ones that are offering to do that service for you.
20:14So let's have a look at what they're actually offering.
20:17Let's look at this one, for example.
20:19They're basically telling you, we're going to do the application on your behalf, and they
20:24ask you a couple of questions.
20:25They've got a bit of a video here, lots of people who've loved their services.
20:29But let's see how much they charge.
20:33$89 charging you for an ESTA.
20:36That's just over four times what you would pay on the government website.
20:40Now, for that, you get your personal visa consultant, okay?
20:4324-7, limitless support anywhere.
20:46Other visa consultancy services are available, as they say, all offering a similar deal for
20:52a similar fee.
20:53Now, is this a scam?
20:55Well, actually, it's not, because they're being very upfront about what they're doing.
20:59They're saying, we are going to go onto the government website and fill in the application
21:04for you and make sure that it is all filled in correctly.
21:09Now, for a lot of people filling in forms, there are some technical questions there.
21:13Might scare them.
21:14You might think, you know what, I don't want to mess this up.
21:16I'll pay the fee, and I'll get somebody else to do it for me.
21:21As always, when you go online, beware of sponsored links, and don't assume the expensive option
21:27is the only option.
21:31Coming up, the working holiday dream that became a nightmare.
21:36At this point, I just, like, went into complete panic, and I was like, right, we need to just
21:39ring the police, because this is just not right.
21:43But first, here's a quiz for you.
21:46How much money did Brits lose to holiday fraud in 2023?
21:51Is it 12.3 million, 15.4 million, or 9.6 million?
21:58Find out after the break.
22:10Before the break, we asked you, how much money did Brits lose to holiday fraud in 2023?
22:15And the answer is 12.3 million pounds.
22:22With one in 10 Brits now living abroad, and more finding work outside the UK each week
22:28and moving away, well, as they move to past as new, guess what?
22:33Scammers are following them.
22:43Harriet's love affair with the Middle Eastern city of Abu Dhabi began when she went on holiday
22:48there in 2023 with her best friend, Laura.
22:51Just such an amazing place.
22:53The weather, it's, you know, 40 degrees in summer, it's sunshine all the time.
22:58There's so much to do there.
23:00Harriet and Laura loved Abu Dhabi so much, they decided to move there with Harriet's boyfriend.
23:06In that seven days after the holiday when we came back, it was like, right, sell all our
23:10stuff, get rid of our car, like, pay off our tenancy on our house, and just, just move out
23:15there, and we just winged it.
23:17Job number one on arrival, find a place to live.
23:20Kind of narrowed it down to, I think there was about five or six that we were kind of interested
23:24in, and then that's when we'd found the one.
23:28The ad described the apartment as premium, very spacious, and with an ocean view, just what
23:35the new flatmates wanted.
23:37Even better, the apparent landlord, named Pamela, responded immediately with a professional-looking
23:44message.
23:45So we'd messaged them online, and then we'd messaged through WhatsApp, like, everything's
23:50done through WhatsApp out there, and he said, like, we're really, really interested.
23:54Always proceed with caution if your dealings are exclusively via messaging apps.
23:59It's all too easy for people on these platforms to conceal their true identity.
24:05Arrange a video call, or better yet, an in-person meeting, and if they refuse, walk away.
24:11We went to the apartment, the key was under the mat, we let ourselves in, went and had
24:15a look, we're like, love this.
24:17In fact, they loved it so much, they messaged Pamela to pay the deposit right there and then.
24:24And then they sent us a payment link to send the deposit.
24:28So 10,000 dirhams, so 2,000 British pounds.
24:31We were really excited.
24:32I think we even went out for, like, a meal to celebrate.
24:35The celebrations didn't last long.
24:3824 hours later, Harriet messaged again to pick up the keys.
24:43But there was no reply.
24:45I think the communication, like, went a bit dead.
24:48And then I was just like, something doesn't feel right.
24:52That feeling deepened when Harriet noticed the very same property had been re-advertised.
24:59And we went back onto the ad for that apartment, and the actual person's name had changed.
25:04Then we noticed that the price had changed.
25:05Then we noticed that the picture had changed.
25:07And I was like, right, something weird is going on here.
25:09At this point, I just, like, went into complete panic.
25:11And I was like, right, we need to just ring the police, because it's, this is just not right.
25:16As you may have worked out by now, the whole thing was a scam.
25:21But the fake listing was just the start of it.
25:24We'd woken up, and there was, like, a notification from the bank saying that a substantial amount of money had
25:29tried to be taken.
25:30So it was, like, three or four times.
25:32So they tried to take between, like, 15,000 and 20,000 British pounds.
25:37And we just said to the bank, we were like, no, absolutely not, like, put a stop on that.
25:40Like, that's, we've not authorised that transaction.
25:43The apartment seemed to be an elaborate setup, all designed to get access to victims' bank accounts via that payment
25:51link.
25:53Luckily, the bank's security features stopped the scam in its tracks.
25:58Harriet turned to social media to save others from getting caught out.
26:20Perhaps unsurprisingly, the comments on her post revealed that she wasn't the first person to get scammed this way, and
26:27she probably won't be the last.
26:28One of our friends, the exact same thing happened to him.
26:32So I think I just kind of wanted to, like, put it out there, because it does happen so much.
26:37It's really, really common.
26:41If you're going to go abroad, one of the things you should always take with you is one of these.
26:46This is a European health insurance card.
26:49It's now known as the global health insurance card post-Brexit.
26:53Now, these cards are actually really handy if you do happen to have a medical emergency whilst you're outside the
27:01country.
27:01In certain countries, if you show them this card, then the NHS will pick up the bill.
27:06Now, I should say that these cards are free.
27:09You can go to a government website, a gov.uk website, fill in a form, and a few days later,
27:16this will arrive in the post.
27:18However, some scammers spotted an opportunity, and to explain exactly what they did, I'm going to go and see my
27:26friend Aksharma.
27:29The scam began with a website that looks very much like the official gov.uk page for obtaining an EHIC.
27:37But this is not the official website. It's a fake.
27:42They're almost presenting this, like, as if this is the official version of the site.
27:46On this scam site, you're asked to pay around £30 for a check-and-send service to ensure your application
27:53is speedily approved.
27:55Of course, that service doesn't exist.
27:58Typically, in scams like this, the criminals get your money and you get, well, nothing.
28:03But this scam is different.
28:06If you land on this web page, you think, oh, there is a charge, so you pay it.
28:10But what's fascinating about it is that even though you're using the fake website, you still get a genuine EHIC
28:18card at the end of the process.
28:20Ah, the reason for that, my friend, is because behind the scenes, they're actually copying your responses to the official
28:26government website.
28:27So if you entered your information here, your first name, your last name, when you click Submit right here, it's
28:34just going to say, OK, your form's been submitted, you'll get the payment instructions, etc.
28:38So they're ordering a card on your behalf through this bogus check-and-send service.
28:43So far, so cunning.
28:46But the scammers did something even more devious.
28:49They diverted people away from the official site and towards their own.
28:54If you look closely, Google started ranking their fake website higher than the actual EHIC website.
29:01So how are they making sure that the search engines that people use are spitting out their website as a
29:09top result?
29:10This could have been done through search engine optimization, which is when the website creators, they use very targeted language
29:18on their website, certain keywords that they know people will be searching for.
29:22What is interesting is there's a lot of text on the website, and very few people are going to spend
29:33time reading it, understanding it, and saying, oh, hang on a minute, I'm not in the official website.
29:40Because if you look at this website closely, these people put a disclaimer at the very bottom that this website
29:47is not affiliated with the...
29:49Let me just...
29:50This is small print.
29:51You really have to look for it.
29:52Look at that one.
29:53Yeah, I mean, there's no way.
29:55If I get onto here, I see the card.
29:59Okay, let's say most people don't even know what the card looks like, but this looks really genuine.
30:03It's convincing.
30:04Can I just say, I know we're not meant to say that, but I think that's really clever.
30:11I do.
30:12In fact, the scam was so clever that thousands fell for it, paying the fee without ever realizing they were
30:20on a bogus website.
30:22The two men behind the scam were Damien Sartipzadeh and his brother Dale.
30:27They were found guilty of fraudulent trading and sent to prison for nine and a half years and eight years,
30:33respectively.
30:34Incredibly, their parents were convicted as well for helping them launder the proceeds.
30:39So how did they get away with it for so long?
30:43I spoke to one of the men who cracked the case, Mike Andrews, from the National Trading Standards eCrime team.
30:52Mike, the four individuals that were found to be behind this website, tell us a little bit about them.
30:57The brothers were absolutely front and center of setting up and running the business.
31:02But the parents also benefited financially from the proceeds of the fraudulent business because they received money into their bank
31:09accounts.
31:09Do you have an idea how much money the website generated for the scammers?
31:15Well, our best estimate is that they made over two million pounds from these scams.
31:19Two million pounds?
31:22But the cleverness was that for many people, they paid the fee, they got their card, they thought, well, that's
31:27fine, I haven't been scammed, and yet they were.
31:30That's absolutely correct.
31:31And like all good scams, if you can call such a thing as a good scam, it's usually the simplicity
31:37of it and the effectiveness of it that means that consumers don't realize they've actually been scammed.
31:42Even if you're losing 50 pounds, less than that, five pounds, even less than that, if you're losing a pound
31:4850 on a fraudulent scheme, you should report it.
31:54We appreciate that it might seem a bit of an effort to go to when you've lost a relatively modest
32:00sum of money, but the chances are that many, many more consumers will continue to be hit with the same
32:05scam.
32:06So it is vitally important that consumers do report these issues through to citizen's advice or action fraud.
32:14Coming up, the couple whose trip to Hollywood became a real drama.
32:19How does that make you feel?
32:21Upset.
32:22Yeah, definitely upset.
32:25But first, how much money does the average victim lose to holiday scams?
32:31Is it £765, £900 or £220?
32:39Find out after the break.
32:51Before the break, we asked you, how much money does the average victim lose to holiday scams?
32:56And the answer is £765.
33:04Every year, millions of us jet overseas for our holidays.
33:08But of course, Britain is a holiday hotspot too.
33:11London alone hosts more than 20 million visits from abroad each year.
33:16More than twice the city's permanent population.
33:20Welcome to the heart of London.
33:23Now, every major city in the world has a place like this.
33:27In New York, it's Times Square.
33:29In Paris, it's around the Eiffel Tower.
33:32In London, it's right here, Westminster Bridge, yards away from the UK government.
33:38This is the centre, not of the city, but where scammers target tourists.
33:43As you can see, there is an abundance of tourists around us.
33:47And scammers are, after one thing, their cash.
33:50How do they do that?
33:51They present them with a game.
33:53It looks like a really simple game.
33:55There's usually three objects, three cards, three cups or three discs.
33:58There's an odd one out.
33:59All you have to do is keep following it when the man shuffles it around.
34:03And if you guess the right one, you win money.
34:06The only thing is, this is a game that you will never, ever win.
34:13Three card Monty, as it's often known, has been used to con people across the globe for centuries.
34:19Let me show you how it works.
34:24So, all you need to do is follow the red card.
34:26See if you can play along at home.
34:29There's the red card.
34:30This is the money card, okay?
34:32All you need to do is just follow this card to win the money.
34:36There's a black card.
34:37There's a black card.
34:38There's the money card.
34:39Now, you should be able to follow it, even if I start tossing it around.
34:44Just keep your eyes on it.
34:45Remember, that's a black card.
34:48That's a black card.
34:51Nice and simple.
34:52Where's the money card?
34:54Now, if you followed along, you should be able to tell that it's right here in the middle.
34:58Now, this is called roping you in.
35:01This is giving you this idea that the game is very simple and it's very easy to win money.
35:07So, what happens when you decide to put some money down?
35:11Let's have a look.
35:14You start with a money card in the middle.
35:17There's your black card.
35:18There's your other black card.
35:20Again, it'll seem like you're seeing the same game and easy to follow.
35:26There's a black card.
35:27There's a black card, okay?
35:30Where has the queen gone now?
35:32If you say over here, you'd be wrong.
35:35If you say over here, you'd be wrong because the queen has actually moved to the middle.
35:41And that's where you'd lose your money.
35:45So, let me show you exactly what's going on here.
35:47It's really simple.
35:48We're going to get rid of one of the black cards.
35:52So, in slow motion, here's the two.
35:55Here's the queen.
35:56As I'm twisting my wrist, I am throwing this card, the two, onto the table and I'm actually keeping the
36:07queen.
36:08But because I'm doing it so quickly, there is very little chance that you're going to catch me.
36:13Trust me when I tell you, you will never win this game.
36:18They have ways of getting out paying you.
36:20And at the end of the day, even if you insist, they'll just grab the cardboard, grab the card and
36:26run off with your money.
36:29Street cons aren't the only hazard to watch out for while you're on holiday.
36:33In fact, there are some holiday scams that can hit you before you even leave home.
36:40City breaks are now a large part of the tourism industry.
36:44And hotels are being given a run for their money due to short-term leaps.
36:49They were so popular that in the UK last year, 85 million nights were spent in short-term accommodation.
36:57Now, when something like this becomes so popular, guess what else happens?
37:02People get scammed out of their accommodation.
37:11In November 2023, Sharon and her husband Bill from Doncaster booked a cruise from Los Angeles to Miami via the
37:19Panama Canal.
37:21Look at this shot.
37:23I mean, I've got to say the airline is going to be very happy with this.
37:27You've even got the Hollywood sign there.
37:29What a perfectly timed shot.
37:31Well done, you.
37:33Well, that's his aunt cruise.
37:35Yeah, lovely.
37:36And that one's, oh, these are all aunt cruise.
37:39Before boarding the ship, they wanted to spend a few days soaking up some Hollywood glamour.
37:46Beverly Hills?
37:47Yep.
37:48What's that sign?
37:50There you are, holding it in your palm.
37:53As you can see, their stay in L.A. was pretty good, except for one crucial thing.
38:00We wanted an apartment rather than an hotel.
38:03Yeah.
38:03We found one, which we thought looked really nice.
38:07It had one review on it, which said it was exceptional, so.
38:12Exceptional?
38:12Yeah.
38:12Not just really nice?
38:14This was the apartment Bill and Sharon found online, located just a stone's throw from the famous Hollywood Boulevard.
38:21It cost just under £500 for three nights, which they paid up front.
38:26Details of how to get the keys would be provided before arrival.
38:30So, must be quite a trip from Doncaster to Los Angeles.
38:34How long did that take?
38:36It took over 24 hours.
38:39All right, so you're knackered.
38:41Yeah.
38:41Right, you're dead tired.
38:43Did you get into your Uber?
38:45Yeah.
38:45And what happened next?
38:46Well, during the day, we tried to contact the accommodation.
38:50Deal with the landlord directly?
38:52Yeah, got no replies back.
38:54Emailed them, phoned them, no replies.
38:56And did that not worry you, the fact that you...
38:59Well, it did a bit, yes.
39:00It did.
39:01But what do you do?
39:02You're on the day, so we were already flying there.
39:05It's that old-time scammer's favourite.
39:07Once they have your money, there's simply no need to respond if you try and get hold of them.
39:13So we went into the apartment block, which is what we'd got the address for, and there was a security
39:19guard on.
39:21So we just asked him, what apartment would we be staying in?
39:26And he said, well, have you got a phone number to ring?
39:28You'll have to get in touch with them.
39:31So when we tried to ring them, the answering machine was full.
39:35They're not picking up, and you can't even leave a message?
39:37No.
39:38If their host at the apartment wasn't answering, perhaps the booking side could help out.
39:44So you called the website that you booked with?
39:46Yeah.
39:46You picked up the phone and said, look, we've done this, we've made this booking, landlord hasn't picked up the
39:50phone, we're stood outside, we can't get in, can you help us out?
39:54They just said to us, leave it with them, they would sort it out for us, and they would give
40:00us a call back in half an hour.
40:02So did that work out?
40:03No.
40:04Because we waited about an hour, and they still hadn't been in touch.
40:09So we rung them back, and they just said, well, we'll have to cancel it.
40:17We'll have to cancel it?
40:18Yeah.
40:19And that's what they did, they cancelled.
40:21By now, it was dark, and the couple were in effect homeless on the streets of a strange city.
40:27But there is a plot twist in this LA story.
40:30A sign on the building door which suggested the booking was a scam.
40:35No Airbnb, no short-term rentals.
40:38Any person entering the building for this purpose will be charged with trespassing.
40:41It's a bit aggressive.
40:43We took that picture when we was coming out.
40:45Yeah.
40:45But all inside, there was all notices up saying no short-term rentals, no lets, no holiday lets or anything.
40:53I mean, from what you're telling me, the fact that this was, you know, not only on the front door,
40:58but inside, it seems like it was a recurring theme.
41:02Yeah, I think it was.
41:03I think people were showing up, and it was the same thing.
41:06Now, as it happens, Sharon didn't book through Airbnb, but one of their competitors.
41:12And as far as we can tell, the apartment is no longer available for holiday bookings.
41:18When did it occur to you that, you know, you weren't going to get that apartment?
41:24When we noticed the notices, really.
41:27Where did you spend the night?
41:28Well, we booked the three nights in a hotel around the corner.
41:32And was that more expensive?
41:34Yes.
41:34Another 50% more expensive.
41:36Yeah.
41:37Because you're booking on the day rather than booking on van.
41:41Despite the terrible start, Bill and Sharon's city break had, well, a Hollywood ending.
41:47And in the end, they literally sailed into the sunset on their cruise.
41:51But later on, Sharon noticed something on the booking site, a red flag that she thinks the site should have
41:58picked up on.
42:01There's some more reviews from what we've seen.
42:04What have they been saying?
42:05They've been saying that it doesn't exist.
42:08So, just so I understand it, in between you booking and you going, there were these reviews that said,
42:16hey, Al, be careful.
42:18This is not what it seems.
42:20No.
42:20But of course, would you look at reviews after you've booked?
42:24No.
42:25No, you usually look before you book, don't you?
42:28Yeah, and after you've booked, you just don't, you wouldn't think to look, would you?
42:32No.
42:33How does that make you feel?
42:34Upset.
42:35Yeah, definitely upset.
42:37We were upset on the night.
42:39Sharon and Bill received a full refund for the apartment, but they were still left out of pocket
42:45because their last-minute hotel was much more expensive.
42:50As for the other people we featured in this episode, it's a mixed bag.
42:55After moving to Abu Dhabi, Harriet and her boyfriend were looking for a flat.
42:59They paid that £1,000 deposit and another £1,000 came out of their account.
43:05Now, they have not been reimbursed for that money, but the bank did stop a further £5,000 leaving their
43:13account.
43:13So, it could have been worse, but they are still £2,000 out of pocket.
43:19Joanne lost a total of £25,000 in two separate events six months apart.
43:28Now, the bank did reimburse the £5,000 she lost initially, but she is still waiting to be reimbursed for
43:35that £20,000.
43:36She went to the financial ombudsman, but she had no luck there.
43:41She's still looking for answers.
43:44Simon lost a total of around £223, and he did get all that money back from his bank.
43:52Furthermore, £11,000 was attempted to be taken out of his account.
43:57Thankfully, the banks put a stop to that even before the money was taken out.
44:02But Simon now carries all his cards in an RFID wallet.
44:07Have you been scammed?
44:09Do you have a tip for us?
44:11Then please go to channel5.com take part.
44:14That's channel5.com forward slash take dash part and get in touch.
44:44We'll see you next time.
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