The majority of e-mails you receive from our site will be genuine enquiries from genuine holidaymakers and we recommend you reply to these promptly and politely giving as much helpful information as possible.
Unfortunately, there are people who use the open access offered by the Internet as a new opportunity to exploit unsuspecting individuals through a number of scams. Holiday Homes Direct has a variety of security systems in place to monitor and catch the majority of scam e-mails. However, we cannot guarantee that all of these will be stopped and therefore urge you to stay vigilant when dealing with booking enquiries.
You should be wary of the following:
- Enquiries that are very badly written.
- Enquiries that sound over formal in terms of writing style e.g. I present myself and my family kind sir and hope to have full details of your delightful accommodation.
- Enquiries that mention about paying by bankers draft or certified cheques - these are legitimate ways of paying but rarely used and it is wise to be cautious.
- Enquirers who offer to pay over the rental amount and ask that you refund money to them for any number of reasons e.g. as my agent commission / because my uncle is paying for the holiday as a whole and the extra money is to cover other holiday expenses / I transferred £300 more then the total by accident - please refund.
- Enquirers who mention unnecessary details about their life or situation in a manner that is guilt inducing e.g. mentioning family ailments/poverty/distress stories/ or faith inducing e.g. unnecessary use of religious language as a way of promoting themselves to you.
- Premium rate numbers given as a contact number. These numbers incur very high charges when you call them.
If you receive a suspicious enquiry and would like some advice on how to deal with it appropriately, you can contact us here.
