Holiday let scam — getting your money back from fake rental fraud.

You found the perfect villa, apartment, or cottage. The listing had beautiful photos, positive reviews, and a calendar showing availability. You paid. When you arrived — or when you called ahead — the property did not exist, was not available, or the “host” had vanished. You have multiple legal routes to recover your money.

Can I get a refund for a fake holiday let?

It depends on how you paid. If you paid through Airbnb or Booking.com's own payment system, start with their platform refund or resolution process. If you were persuaded to pay by bank transfer (bypassing the platform), the PSR Mandatory Reimbursement Scheme (in force from 7 October 2024) covers this as APP purchase fraud up to £85,000. Credit card payments of £100–£30,000 are covered by Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974.

Airbnb says it cannot help because the host has disappeared. What next?

If you paid through Airbnb's payment system and the booking is fraudulent, Airbnb's AirCover for Guests programme should apply. Escalate to Airbnb support with evidence of the fraud. If Airbnb refuses, the Financial Ombudsman Service does not have jurisdiction over Airbnb directly, but if you paid by credit card for a booking that did not deliver, Section 75 Consumer Credit Act 1974 gives you a claim against your credit card issuer.

I paid by bank transfer to someone claiming to be the property owner. My bank says I authorised the payment.

Your authorisation was procured by fraud — you were deceived about the existence or availability of the property. This is Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud covered by the PSR Mandatory Reimbursement Scheme. The bank must reimburse you up to £85,000 unless it proves gross negligence. Paying for a holiday rental you believed was genuine is not gross negligence.

The fraudster had photos, reviews, and a calendar showing availability. How was I to know?

Scammers steal real property listings, photos, and fabricated reviews from legitimate platforms. A convincing fake listing is evidence of a sophisticated fraud, which strengthens your claim. You cannot be expected to independently verify that a property exists and is owned by the person advertising it on every holiday rental. This is precisely what platform payment protections exist for — and when scammers direct you off-platform, the PSR scheme picks up the gap.

The scammer asked me to pay off-platform for a discount. Is that always a scam?

Legitimate hosts on major platforms are prohibited by their terms of service from soliciting off-platform payments. A host who asks you to pay by bank transfer "to save fees" is either violating the platform's rules (which should be reported) or is a scammer. Either way, the offer is a reliable red flag.

I arrived at the property and it existed but was not as described. Can I still claim?

If the property was significantly not as advertised (substantially different from the listing, uninhabitable, or occupied by another guest), this may constitute misrepresentation. For credit card payments of £100–£30,000, Section 75 Consumer Credit Act 1974 covers misrepresentation. For bank transfers, PSR APP fraud may apply if the misrepresentation was material enough to be fraudulent. Report to Action Fraud regardless.

Scam Refund · Scam Types

Holiday let scam — getting your money back from fake rental fraud.

How holiday let fraud works

Holiday rental fraud is a sub-category of purchase scam — one of the highest-volume APP fraud types reported to Action Fraud. It typically operates in one of three ways.

Off-platform bank transfer fraud

A listing appears on a platform (Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, SpareRoom, or a standalone website). The “host” communicates professionally and has a plausible profile. At the point of booking, they ask you to pay by bank transfer “directly to avoid platform fees” or “because the platform payment system has a technical problem.” Once you pay, the host disappears. The property may not exist, or it exists but is owned by a real person who has no knowledge of the listing.

Cloned platform fraud

You encounter a website that closely mimics Airbnb, Booking.com, or another recognised platform — similar domain name, similar design. You make what appears to be a normal booking, entering card details. The site is fraudulent. The money goes to the scammer.

Hijacked legitimate listing

A scammer hijacks a legitimate host’s account or steals their listing content — photos, description, location details — and creates a duplicate listing, often at a lower price to attract bookings quickly. The genuine host has no knowledge of the booking. When you arrive or call, you discover the discrepancy.

High-risk booking patterns

Holiday let fraud peaks in the months before peak booking periods: late winter and spring (summer bookings), and autumn (Christmas and New Year). High-demand locations and unusual deals — a villa in Tuscany at half the market rate, a city flat available over a bank holiday weekend when genuine availability is extremely limited — are common targets. The urgency of “this will be gone by tomorrow” is a recurring manipulation tactic.

Red flags to recognise

What to do in the first 24 hours

Your legal refund options

PSR Mandatory Reimbursement Scheme (bank transfers)

Holiday let payments made by bank transfer from a UK account are purchase scam APP fraud, covered by the PSR Mandatory Reimbursement Scheme in force since 7 October 2024. Your sending bank must reimburse you up to

applies to non-vulnerable consumers. The bank has five working days to refund or write with reasons. It can only refuse on gross-negligence grounds. See our guide on

Section 75 Consumer Credit Act 1974 (credit card, £100–£30,000)

If you paid on a credit card for accommodation that cost between £100 and £30,000 and was either not provided or was significantly misrepresented, Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 makes your credit card issuer jointly liable. This applies whether you paid through a platform or directly to the host. You do not need to exhaust your claim against the scammer first.

Platform protection schemes (Airbnb AirCover, Booking.com)

Airbnb’s AirCover for Guests covers guests who paid through the Airbnb platform and experienced fraud or significant misrepresentation. Booking.com has a similar customer guarantee for bookings made through its platform. These protections only apply if you paid through the platform — off-platform payments are explicitly excluded and must be pursued via the bank claim or Section 75 routes.

Chargeback (debit card or small credit card payments)

Card scheme chargeback rules allow your bank to reverse a payment to a merchant where no goods or services were delivered as described. This works for both debit and credit card payments and has no minimum amount threshold. Most chargeback windows are 120 days from the transaction, though some networks allow longer.

How banks refuse — and how to push back

“You paid outside the platform’s secure payment system — that was your choice.”

The scammer specifically asked you to pay off-platform, often with a plausible reason. Being deceived by that request is part of the fraud, not an independent choice that defeats your claim. Banks have a Consumer Duty obligation to detect suspicious payment patterns consistent with purchase fraud.

“The listing appeared professional with reviews — you should have done more due diligence.”

A professional-looking listing with fabricated reviews is evidence of a sophisticated fraud. Victims cannot realistically be expected to independently verify every property’s existence and ownership before booking a holiday. The FOS takes account of the quality of the fraudulent presentation when assessing reasonableness.

“You had no connection to this payee and sent a significant sum without verification.”

Holiday rental is a normal reason to pay someone you have not previously dealt with. The bank’s Confirmation of Payee system checks account name matching, not the legitimacy of the underlying transaction. A bank that processed a large payment to an unfamiliar holiday rental account without any intervention may have failed its own fraud-detection obligations under Payment Services Regulations 2017 regulation 77.

. For related purchase fraud, see our

. For the full APP fraud legal framework, see

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Not legal advice. This guide is for general information only. For advice specific to your circumstances, consult a regulated legal professional or contact Citizens Advice.