Welcome to my first (ever) blog!
Fraud is rife in society and never more so than now, as we are starting to come out of the global pandemic. Over the last year my travel agency has been subjected to several fraud attempts. Luckily, so far, each one has been detected and stopped. This has been achieved through a vast knowledge of the travel industry and, also, a bit of luck.
It’s important to know how you can protect yourself when booking travel and when abroad. In this series of blogs, I would like to discuss ways you can do that and also build up a picture of what is currently going on.
Let’s face it, we are never going to stamp fraud out completely. But collectively we might make a difference - even if it is to just one person. Importantly, this is where I need your help! Please email any relevant information to neil@avocettm.co.uk and let’s together make people aware of the scams that are out there.
Being honest about having been scammed and sharing your experience of it does not make you sound weak or stupid. Actually, it is the complete opposite. It is incredibly easy to be taken in by fraudsters and the stupid thing is to believe ‘It’ll never happen to me.’ Being honest about having been caught out can help stop someone else being snared by these ever-more sophisticated con tricks.
So here goes with my first few pointers:
Booking your holiday.
It is exciting booking your holiday, but don’t get carried away. Always ensure you know who you are booking with. I would recommend booking through an accredited travel agent.
In the UK the accrediting body is the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA). To become an ABTA agent, a company has to prove its financial stability, its ethos on bookings and satisfy many more criteria. All ABTA approved agents then have to follow a code of conduct. This is all to protect our clients.
If you are travelling abroad, make sure you holiday is protected by ATOL, the government-run Air Travel Organisers’ License. Any holiday with a flight plus one or more other elements should be ATOL-protected. It more likely that the tour operator (rather than your travel agent) will have this, but always make sure you check it out.
Over the coming weeks I will continue looking at the booking process and move on to discussing fraud whilst on holiday. Watch this space!
