The apartment did not exist. The sea view and the holidays not either. There was only one bank account, a transfer of 780 euros and silence.
“I wanted to go back to Santander with my grandchildren, show them the beach of Sardinero, repeat what we were doing when my children were small,” recalls Carmen, who would supposedly be in Santander on this summer vacation. It was fooled.
The call “Holiday rental mafia”which operates in Spain all summers.
Interested stakeholders look at an ad, it seems reliable – but it was a blow. The “salespeople” are cordial, transmit trust, suggest closing the reserve by direct transfer to “avoid fees”, they claim urgency And that there are a lot of people trying to reserve that apartment. All at a distance, written contact.
But then comes the silence. First, the answers become few, then there is no longer answers. The tourist calls the real estate: no one knows the alleged owner; There is no reservation on your behalf.
O Money has already followed to the side there. It is difficult to recover the money after the scam. The person paid free will.
There are hundreds of such cases in Spain, year after year, summer after summer – summer is a high time… for the burns.
Os ads they are false, Real images obtained from other sites through techniques such as inverse research, there is urgency to close the business and payments outside the platform.
Os Burlões do not like the internet. They prefer payments outside the online world, so as not to leave a trace. They want notes ahead.
And are organized networks. They are not usually individual acts: one person publishes the announcement, another receives the money, another manage the fake bank accounts, another receives the final payments at ATM boxes across the country.
These organizations moved Hundreds of thousands of euros With this scheme, so far.
And it is a scheme that has risen from level, “professionalism”: The ads with spelling errors and absurdly low prices almost disappeared. Now the pages are professional, often exact copies of real websites like Airbnb or Booking. Stolen images, carefully selected descriptions and prices that do not raise suspicions.
All to look real.
There is a first contact on the platform; Burlão initiative, which then suggests a conversation by WhatsApp or email. Ahead, payment, or in cash, or in cryptocurrencies.
On the tourist side, a central attitude to be taken is Never leave the official platform. Sites have anti-fuade measurements and safe payment methods.
You should also conduct inverse images of images, confirm the home’s home in Google Maps, order real videos and check if the owner is officially registered. And be wary of the “seller” haste.
