To be fair to the forces of law and order, the internet has been evolving so rapidly that it must be a nightmare trying to keep up both on a legislative and enforcement level when it comes to online crime. The police do however appear to have caught up when it comes to the fraudulent selling of holidays via social media and Gumtree.
A Rhyl man has just been sentenced to 10 months in prison for fraudulently selling caravan holidays that didn’t exist on Gumtree. If you don’t know what Gumtree is, it’s a sort of ‘local’ eBay without the hassle and commissions where you can sell goods and services.
To be fair to Gumtree, they do warn people not to part with money before the goods are actually in their hands, but obviously with a holiday rental it is more difficult not to get caught out. Recommendations, from someone you actually know are perhaps the best way to filter out the good from the bad when making transactions in this manner. Having said that, the guilty man Samuel Higgins was originally selling genuine holidays before he lost his job, so in this case even a recommendation would not have worked. More.
In another case, Samuel Brazil, 22 from Crawley is due to appear in crown court for fraudulently selling caravan holidays on Facebook. He apparently conned 15 people between December 2013 and February 2014. More.
The good news is that both men have been caught. But, there will still be people out there trying to pull the same scam, and it won’t just be via Facebook or Gumtree. So, the message here is don’t get caught out. Whenever dealing with anyone other than the holiday operators themselves e.g. Park Resorts always be careful, and if you are thinking of looking for a bargain on e.g. eBay for a holiday in an e.g. Park Holidays park, always check on the operators site anyway, as they generally have last minute deals, which will save you any potential ‘scam’ grief. Happy holiday hunting folks!
