Crime does not take a holiday: Avoid being scammed this festive season

As the festive season fast approaches, the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) is drawing attention to some of the scams popularly used by criminals parting holiday makers from their money. These scams prey on people’s desire for a holiday and get-away travel by duping them into paying for flights, accommodation, and other activities which never materialise. These schemes often peak ahead of or during the festive season and school holidays. The FIC has published a report exploring the various categories of holiday scams and highlights some indicators of possible criminality that the public should be aware of. The report follows the analysis of reports it has received over time. As South Africa’s financial intelligence unit, the FIC receives regulatory reports from accountable institutions. Flowing from its analysis, the FIC identified the methods, trends, and patterns of suspicious transactions, and red flags or indicators associated with holiday scams. These scams relate to holiday rentals, accommodation, vouchers, travel agencies, holiday clubs, fraudulent timeshares, and online ticket sales. Members of the public are advised to apply extreme caution when approached directly, via social media or by any other means regarding holiday deals that may seem too good to be true. This is especially suspect where deposits or payments need to be made upfront to facilitate the transfer of funds. Scammers often use pressure tactics and urgency to commit to taking up deals or offers. Those who have fallen victim to a holiday scam should, among the various steps to be taken, file a complaint with their local branch of the South African Police Service. To entice and extract money from their targets, fraudsters are known to impersonate legitimate brands, travel agencies, airlines, and trusted accommodation booking websites and create fake social media pages. They offer fake holiday packages, accommodation, and transport tickets for air, bus, and rail travel. Read the FIC’s holiday scams report for more information on how to avoid falling victim. Making South Africa’s financial system intolerant to abuse Sign up to receive the latest updates and information from the FIC. I consent to receiving emails from the FIC * SUBSCRIBE Close GDPR Cookie Settings Privacy Overview Strictly Necessary Cookies Powered by GDPR Cookie Compliance Privacy Overview This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.