Last week we reported in Rye News the cruel scam which left many couples and families without accommodation when they arrived in Winchelsea only to find that there was no holiday let.
ITV Meridian took up the story and interviewed the home-owners, who had had nothing to do with the scam, and two ladies who had been scammed.
Samantha was one of the people interviewed, but her holiday is not until February during the half-term weekend. Yes, the house in Winchelsea has been targeted again by the same scammers so the owners, Stephanie and her family, are unable to go away as planned because they do not know how many people will turn up at their house expecting to stay there.
This is Samantha’s story:
“I first saw the advert for the rental house on a Beckenham mums’ group on Facebook. I sent it to my husband and he said it looked lovely.
“We were looking for a weekend getaway, just the two of us. It was going to be our first long weekend away since we had our son four years ago. We have done the occasional overnight away but nothing longer.
“The pictures were so nice and it was exactly what we were looking for. We own a caravan and occasionally rent it out as an extra income so we expected that this would be the same.
“I messaged the lady- ‘Winnie’ her name was – and she sent back all the information about the place and explained that her husband, Matthew Barry, would email me booking details. Matthewbarry002@gmail.com is a normal ‘everyday’ e-mail address. He sent us an invoice and more information and pictures of the house, along with bank details or the option to pay via PayPal. Once we paid we got a booking confirmation along with all the details for check-in and the key code for the keysafe.
“A few weeks went by and I was unable to get the time off work for the Friday so we planned to head down after work and arrive around 8pm, so I went onto Facebook to message and check this wasn’t going to be an issue. It was then I noticed that I had been blocked. First red flag. I then emailed Barry at the email address I had previous communications with and this bounced back. That was our second red flag. We then tried to call the number on the booking confirmation and the phone had been switched off.
“I then went onto Facebook and tried to find the post but it wasn’t there, but I did find another post saying that someone else thought they had been scammed and couldn’t contact the people. I read through a few comments and there was a screenshot from a Winchelsea page from the owners saying it was their house and it was indeed a scam. I then messaged the real house-owner on Facebook to ask for information from the police so that I could report my involvement as well and to let them know that we had been due to come down in February.
“We contacted the bank and luckily got our money back. We both work full-time and were hoping to have some quality time together before undergoing IVF at the end of February. We have been married for nearly seven years and have a four-year old son and we have been left sad and disheartened by this scam.”
Please be wary of booking accommodation on Facebook or any other social media platform unless you know the people involved. Too many people have been let down and the owners of the house are hoping that this is the last time their house is targeted.
Image Credits: Kt bruce , Anderson family photos .
I have limited sympathy. I really do not understand why anyone would be booking a rental via Facebook. This is the type of scam that happened long before the likes of AirBnB had even been created and people had few other options to find a rental. But now that there are established websites for booking rental properties which offer protection, I really don’t know why people would take the risk and not use them.
Whilst I find it surprising that someone should book a holiday via a Facebook ad, it does seem that this is the way things are often done these days. Although this couple are financially unscathed by their experience, many are not so lucky, often suffering very sad consequences of their poor choice. What I don’t like is victim blaming, as if it is their fault that a greedy crook has taken advantage of their gullibility. They have been scammed by these crooks, full stop.
I am also a bit surprised by the apparent lack of interest or concern in this story, judging by the limited response. Perhaps it reflects a “serves them right, they should have been more careful” attitude that is not unusual in some townsfolk.