Ticket and holiday booking scams

Sold-out gigs, big matches, festivals, cheap flights and bargain villas. When demand is high and people are excited, criminals sell things that don't exist. Report Fraud received more than 10,000 ticket fraud reports in a single year, with victims losing nearly £1,000 each on average, and holiday fraud costs UK travellers well over £11 million a year.

Ticket scams

How they work

• Social media sellers. A post in a fan group or a reply to your "anyone got spares?" message. They send a screenshot of tickets, you pay by bank transfer, they vanish or block you. Many use hacked accounts of real people, so the profile looks genuine.
• Fake ticket websites that copy the look of real sellers, appear in search adverts, and take card details for tickets that never arrive.
• "Transferred" tickets that are screenshots, already used, or cancelled by the original buyer after sale.

Stay safe

• Buy from the official seller, the venue, or the promoter's named resale partner. For resales, use platforms with buyer protection and official ticket transfer.
• Never pay a stranger by bank transfer. If they insist, that's your answer. Pay by credit card where possible.
• Be very suspicious of tickets for sold-out events at or below face value, and of sellers who message you first.
• Check the seller is a member of STAR, the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers.

Holiday and travel scams

How they work

• Fake villas and apartments advertised on social media or copycat listing sites, with photos stolen from real properties. Payment is by bank transfer to "secure the dates". The property is real; the person you're paying isn't the owner.
• Hacked hotel accounts on booking platforms. You get a message, apparently from the hotel through the platform's own messaging, asking you to "confirm your card" or pay again via a link or your booking will be cancelled. The hotel's account was taken over by criminals.
• Fake airline tickets and travel agents selling cheap flights that are never issued, or issued with stolen cards and cancelled.
• Fake travel documents. Copycat sites charge large fees for visas, ETAs and passport renewals, or take your details and deliver nothing.
• "Your booking has a problem" texts and calls during the holiday season, asking for a one-time passcode or card details.

Stay safe

• Book through well-known companies and pay on their site. Don't let anyone move you off the platform to pay by transfer "to avoid fees".
• For villas, search the photos online (reverse image search) and look the property up on a map. Phone the owner and ask questions a real owner would know.
• Check airline tickets on the airline's own website using the booking reference. Check a travel company is ABTA and, for flights, ATOL protected.
• If a "hotel" asks you to pay again or confirm card details, don't click. Contact the platform's customer service and the hotel on the number from its own website.
• Government travel documents: use gov.uk for UK services and the official government site of the country you're visiting. Ignore adverts.
• Pay by credit card for anything over £100: you get Section 75 protection. Debit cards may allow a chargeback.

If it's happened to you

Last reviewed: October 2026