Family's warning to tourists after fake TripAdvisor booking

A mum who was scammed out of nearly £3,192 by a fake TripAdvisor website has warned holidaymakers to beware of similar crimes.

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Just a week before she was due to board a flight, Shuk Potter, 48, was devastated to learn the dream holiday she was looking forward to with husband Andy, 51, and their three children was a con.

She was duped by fake webpages and domain names which looked just like the TripAdvisor ones she had used many times before - and the booking company insists the "rare" con was "wholly unconnected" to the genuine site.

After booking the villa in Portugal and transferring the money to what she thought was a TripAdvisor holiday account, Shuk received confirmation of her booking but her emails to the owner were not answered.

It was only when she contacted TripAdvisor and they found no record of her booking that she learned that her family had been scammed.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, she said: "Part of me feels stupid, but at the time we checked it out and it looked genuine.

"There were reviews on the page, we even checked out the CEO."

The family booked another holiday but said their bank could not help with the money they lost.

A TripAdvisor spokesman told The Sun: "We were very concerned to learn of Shuk's experience, and our Trust & Safety team has completed a thorough investigation.

"We don't know how or where this scam originated, but we do know that the 'TripAdvisor' pages and email address she communicated with were not authentic.

"Unfortunately, scammers are hard at work across the internet. This form of scam is thankfully rare."