A leading Western Australia property business has lost over $50,000 in a wedding accommodation scam.
The Perth agency, which books short- and long-term holiday rentals, received a call in November from a man using the name ‘Colonel Michael Warner’.
The man, who claimed to be from England, booked one week’s accommodation for eight people and prepaid for the wedding party using what is believed to be several stolen American credit cards.
‘Colonel Michael Warner’ then cancelled his booking, requesting the agency forward the funds to the group’s Greek interpreter, who could not accept credit card payments.
The Perth agency completed the transfer before realising that the funds from the credit card transaction had not yet been deposited into their trust account.
Αccording to Consumer Protection, this type of fraudulent transaction, known as ‘overpayment’, is often used by Nigerian-based scammers, and that there was no Greek interpreter behind the story.
Consumer Protection Acting Commissioner David Hillyard warned agencies to be “extremely cautious” if a person making a booking pays more than the actual amount, and requests the refund to be sent to a third party.
“It has become a common scam for accommodation bookings to be made either by phone or email using false or stolen credit card details and a payment greater than the amount payable is then supposedly made,” Mr Hillyard said.
“The scammers then request the excess amount to be refunded immediately, but usually by wire transfer or to a different account,” he said.
If agencies decide to go ahead with such a transaction without conducting an internet investigation they should refund money only into the credit card or bank account used to make the booking or purchase and not before said funds have cleared and are confirmed to be in the agency’s account.
Source: Perth Now, ABC
