Mum warns of holiday scam after forced to cancel family trip hours before flight

A mother-of-three who had to cancel a family holiday just hours before they were due to fly to Majorca after learning they had been scammed out of more than £4,000, with one of her children so devastated they “didn’t speak for a day”, is urging others to be vigilant as “it can happen to anyone”.

Emma Last, 48, a mental health and wellbeing strategist from Chorley, Lancashire, and her husband Zak, a 51-year-old artist, were due to fly out to a villa in Majorca for an eight-night family holiday in August 2023 – having seemingly booked a villa large enough to accommodate Emma’s parents and three children: Scarlette and Henri, both 17, and Xander, 14.

She first found the property on Airbnb but was then directed from there to WhatsApp, where she was provided with a link from “Travel Villas”, along with what claimed to be a Booking.com “portal” to process the payment later on.

Emma’s mother, Julia, 74, paid £4,120 for the villa via this link and Emma paid £1,722.98 for the flights directly with Ryanair – but just hours before they were due to leave for the airport on August 7, they realised they had been scammed.

The family learned the “Travel Villas” listing had been “cloned” from another website called Oliver’s Travels, and after calling the company, who confirmed the villa was fully booked, Emma realised the mistake she had made.

“We started telling the children that we weren’t going, which was awful because they had their suitcases packed and they were all excited,” Emma told PA Real Life.

“Devastated children is the word – one didn’t speak for a day.”

Emma, the founder of corporate mental health company Progressive Minds, then battled for months trying to get their money back for the villa – and although they were eventually successful, the money for the flights has not been recovered as Ryanair was not at fault.

Emma’s family had saved for months for the much-needed trip, and while she initially felt “embarrassed” about the scam, she now wants to help others with advice from cyber safety brand Norton to prevent them from falling victim to fraudsters.

“There isn’t much support, and I think because you feel really silly because you’ve been caught out, it’s not something that you want to talk about – but it can happen to anyone,” Emma said.

“I have booked my own travel for years and never had a problem – you do your due diligence – but I suppose it’s just understanding that we are human, and perhaps we need to use more technology to protect us.

“But also, from the financial wellbeing perspective, I think there’s a massive piece around financial education missing, and I think we, personally, need to perhaps not be as embarrassed about it.”

Emma started looking at holiday options on Airbnb in July 2023, specifically family villas in Ibiza or Majorca to accommodate her parents and her three children.

Having “saved up” since their previous trip to Spain the year before, the family were looking forward to another summer holiday together, and they came across three suitable properties in Majorca on Airbnb.

Emma and her family did their “due diligence”, checking the villas existed using Google Earth, and they reviewed all the information provided, including the part which said she could supposedly book the property as a Genius customer via Booking.com.

When they clicked on the Airbnb listings, there was a note that said they needed to check via WhatsApp whether their chosen dates were available – and Emma proceeded to do this, sending a message to the number provided.

Emma then received a response from “Lyda from Travel Villas”, along with a link, confirming the property was available for the requested dates – August 7 to August 15 2023 – at a discounted rental cost of 600 Euros (£511) per night.

The message, seen by PA Real Life, continued: “Please send us your email so we can send you the PDF Brochure of the villa with all the details regarding the photos, services, location and terms of the booking.”

After some back and forth, Emma was then advised that she was “pre-approved to book” and her reservation “will be confirmed instantly once a payment is made”.

The message on WhatsApp continued: “Free cancellation policy within 24 hours prior (to) check in. Full refund back.”

A link then took her to what appeared to be a Booking.com “portal”, and she was offered a 10% discount due to the Genius loyalty programme she was already signed up to, which “reassured” her the booking for the villa was legitimate.

Emma’s mother, Julia, then made the £4,120 payment on July 30, and Emma paid for the flights with Ryanair, which cost £1,722.98 in total for the seven guests.

She subsequently received a booking confirmation email from “Puerto Soller Villa”, along with a message on WhatsApp, which said: “Now everything is in order with the payment.”

The message continued: “The check (in) is flexible 10am to 19pm. After 19pm, you can do it by yourself with a key pass code. If you have any special requests, such (as) renting a car, boat, catering, we can help you without any problem.

“Thank you and we look forward to hosting you.”

Emma sent follow-up…