Sun, sea and SCAMS!

It's that time of year again when we all want to hop on a plane, sit on a beach in the sun with a refreshing drink in hand.

- MISHAAL KHAN

It's been a long, cold and wet winter and we all deserve to relax, don't we? What none of us deserve is to be targeted by scammers when we've all worked so hard for a break. But Lloyds Bank has warned holidaymakers to watch out after it saw a 7% rise in travel scams in the last year.

Whether it be fraudsters flogging bogus flights, or selling stays at beautiful villas that just don't exist, scams are getting increasingly sophisticated and more victims than ever are being reeled in. It's a common assumption that only the elderly and vulnerable fall for these cons, but according to Lloyds, it's the 35-to-44 age group who are the most likely to and, on average, holidaymakers lose around £765 to travel scams.

Falling prey to scammers can bring up a whole host of emotions, including embarrassment that someone has managed to trick us. We might keep quiet about it and avoid publicly admitting what's happened, but it's important to warn others to be alert and not make the same mistakes.

Take the Bray family, who were looking forward to their first holiday in 11 years in July 2023. Hannah, 38, and Neil, 42, from Bexhill booked a four-bedroom villa for two weeks in Alicante for themselves and their four children costing €1,800 (£1,500). They couldn't wait for some much-needed fun in the sun. They'd found the villa on a Facebook page for Spain holiday rentals. 'The villa looked amazing - it had a swimming pool, sauna, jacuzzi and it was large,' Neil says.

Believing it to be too good a deal to miss, he put down a €180 (£150) deposit, was told to pay the rest on arrival and booked flights for his family. They were told they'd be met at Alicante airport but when they got there, everything started to unravel.

'I spoke to the guy around a week before and I was saying how much we were looking forward to going on holiday,' Neil explains.