British tourists are being conned out of more than £1bn every year in bogus holiday club scams in Spain, according to The Office of Fair Trading.

A whopping 400,000 consumers are thought to succumb to 'scratchcard touts' in resorts on Tenerife and Gran Canaria and on the Costa del Sol.

Have you had experience of this type of scam? What are the pitfalls to beware? Are there any other types of holiday scams you've come across?

Comments

[M. Altamira Apr 25, 2008 3:17:48 PM]

Crooks exist because idiots are ready to give them their money! Take the idiots away and the crooks disappear!
About the Spanish complaining about the “brits” criminals, why don’t they ask themselves and their authorities (politics – police) why the situation is worse in Spain than elsewhere?
I’m not British and I live in Tenerife since 20 years.

[Bel Scotland Nov 3, 2007 6:02:45 PM]

I appreciate Alex Blanco's comments. Try this approach - it works! A few years ago, we were in Tenerife. Two touts approached but we didn't respond at first. They tried English, then German we just looked at them blankly when they said "are you Enlgish?" "Are you German "- in German of course and so on. They gave up. As they were walking away, talking about us - "I wonder what nationality they are" we tried our best to not call out "Scottish" "And we know the name of the game." The more you ignore these people, the more upset they become. They can't cope with blank expressions. That's not in their book of tricks. No-one just ignores them - that can't happen!

[Lawson Spain Oct 26, 2007 2:47:17 PM]

As someone previously said, this is all nothing new. I appeared on a Kilroy show by invitation some 15 years ago.
But, I thought the scam issue from timeshare, sorry, holiday club touts a little general knocking. As bad as these cocaine fuelled people are, most are just using the scratch card to get couples to tour a site to try and sell to.
The scam issue in Spain etc, is much bigger for the British and other nationalities, from the telephone to the UK scammers.

[Sam El-seaud Bournemouth Oct 25, 2007 12:39:17 PM]

Can I just say that these touts they do not permenantly live in spain they go there as a result of a (work in the sun) adds which you find in most uk papers...surely our police with the spanish police can do something to stop it .

[Robert Midlands Oct 24, 2007 12:27:01 PM]

Oh please!: "We were promised free this...free that....free everything else"
Get a dose of reality people!
Are you seriously telling us that even after years...decades of this kind of activity, activity that is HUGELY publicised in every "What not to do" type programme/magazine etc that you STILL fall for this?
As someone has already said, this is symptomatic of the "something for nothing" crowd who then bleat when - surprise surprise - things don't quite work out as they thought (by the way, quite often there is enough in the smallprint to suggest that flight taxes are payable etc etc etc)
Go on, get yourselves on 'Watchdog' i need a laugh.

[Irene Scotland Oct 21, 2007 7:04:49 PM]

My husband and I had the misfortune of meeting two ticket touts who persuaded us to get in a taxi with tales of play parks for our children and a swimming pool. They even told us prizes were sponsored by major credit card companies and they were part of Cosmos. Reality was three colouring sheets stapled together and a plastic cup with five pens and no prizes. After an hour and a half when I asked two questions which obviously upset the salesman because his attitude towards us got aggressive. The questions were "How much do you want a year from us? How many years are we tied in for?" Luckily we gave them no indication that we did have credit cards with us! We then went back down to speak to the two kind touts. One tout was jumping into a taxi with a young couple and yes we did manage to warn them. The other tout hid for a while but we did manage to speak to him and every time he saw us from then on he hid. It was hilarious! I think the Spanish authorities should be doing everything they can to get these people off their streets as they damage the reputation of these resorts.

[Sue London Oct 15, 2007 11:13:55 AM]

They say a fool and his money are soon parted and sadly it is still true. Despite being told these things are scams some people are so keen to get something for nothing they will go ahead. One of my friends recieved notification she had won a holiday, despite not entering a competition to do so, she ignored our warning and went ahead to claim her prize, when it turned out to be a con and she was out of pocket she blamed everyone but herself. Wake up and smell the coffee, if it sounds too good to be true it is.

[Alan Stewart, Scotland Oct 15, 2007 9:20:48 AM]

Tell them you've been made redundant, so you'll be unemployed when you go home. You won't see the touts for dust.

For additional fun - if you happen to walk by as some other tourist is being given the scratchcard patter, just call out " it's just a big con!". My, how the touts laugh when you do that......

[su plymouth Oct 15, 2007 12:18:11 AM]

My Husband and I had a holiday in tenerife and were subjected to a 4hour gruelling of sales after a promise of a winning scratch card . When we made it clear several times we were not prepared to sign on the dotted line they became very rude, insulted my husband and myself calling us stupid. Thank god we stuck to our guns and walked away.
I do not know how the touts on the street sleep at night, dragging innocent brits into a scam.

[Leanna of South Wales U.K. Oct 14, 2007 10:14:53 PM]

Concerning the Scratch card scams for holiday clubs. I just want to add this is run by Brits with British staff and there lies the rub.

[Leanna of South Wales U.K. Oct 14, 2007 10:10:20 PM]

The Sky News feature on Holiday Club Scams involving scratchcards came six days too late for me and my family. These nasty people are operating in Mallorca also. They are called Vacaciones Wide Plus - Huntingdon Holiday Services. They not only conned us, they ruined our holiday.

[K Cornelius, Hungary Oct 14, 2007 4:32:45 PM]

Oh, dear, it's all this 'something for nothing' syndrome that seems to pervade everyday life, I'm afraid. They see the suckers coming and pounce. Nothing in this life is free and if you imagine it is, then you are soft in the head. Ignore them and any others 'offers' that seem to be too good to be true.

[Mike Oct 14, 2007 10:38:04 AM]

As a expat living in Tenerife, even I am pestered by scratchcard touts.
Most touts are young kids who think they are streetwise, all they are looking for is beer money.
Try going to any Market in the south, you will see ticket touts everywhere, no point being rude to them, as they do not give a damn, so the easiest way to get rid of them, is to say you live on the Island, they do not want residents wasting their time, or when you see them spilt up, they want couples, one person is no good.
Sorry for anyone who has been conned (and you will be) but they will always find a way of scamming people.
Tenerife is a great place to holiday and live, you can enjoy yourselves, just be a bit more streetwise than the scratchcard folk.

[Lee Lee Scotland Oct 13, 2007 4:53:28 PM]

Always do ur research on the hotel and resort that u r going to through Trip advisor u cannot go wrong that way.

[Andrew Parkhill Oct 12, 2007 1:29:23 PM]

I am a member of a very good holiday club based in the UK called Seasons Holidays. They do NOT advertise but work solely on word of mouth. Holiday clubs in their true form are a very good idea. People should understand that if a company has to tout on the street it cannot be what it says it is.

[Paul, London Oct 12, 2007 1:10:37 PM]

We recently "won" a free holiday courtesy of "Club La Costa" and "Sun Breaks". We attended a presentation at an office in London - all a big sales pitch for holiday villas. We decided to go ahead with the "free" Holiday only to find it wasn't "free" at all !
If anyone on this board gets a letter telling them they've won a free holiday DON'T DO IT. We paid £ 120 for "airport taxes" only to receive another demand for £ 160 payment within 7 days. The tone of the letters was very demanding and when we called "Sun Breaks" the people were very rude when we tried to clarify a few points concerning what this additional money was for. We decided not to go ahead with the holiday. The £ 120 is lost as it isn't refundable (in the small print) and if we had gone ahead from our choice of 4 dates they offered us February in Tenerife (a resort we'd not asked for). It was all very ambigious and is a big con. This is not to mention the fact they ask for another £ 150 deposit that is held until they have confirmation from the resort that you've attended a further presentation while on your "free" holiday.

I am currently in the process of reporting them both to BBC Watchdog and Trading Standards.

[Becks, West Midlands Oct 12, 2007 12:56:49 PM]

I used to work for a holiday club in a UK call centre. I did not realise until my first day what they were about. I felt so gutted I ended up working for a company like this. I feel for the holiday makers but do we all really need to loose our common sense just because we are abroad?

[Alex Blanco Oct 12, 2007 11:50:55 AM]

On many occassions we were aproached and had a scrtach card vertually placed under our noses, when we replied we were Spanish we suffered a barrage of insults, whats worse is that we are trying to relax in our own country and life is made impossible by these unscrupelus British criminals because that is what they are. The Spanish authorities are dealing with this problem but I fear that there are too many of them and too well organised. I feel sorry for all those British tourists who fall victims to these scams. The police try to do thir best and close down a lot of these offices from which they operate from but as they close one down two more open up.

[Alex Blanco Oct 12, 2007 11:40:30 AM]

Spanish tourists from the mainland visiting our Islands also suffer at the hands of these individuals who are British not Spanish, they linger along the walkways along the beach in Tenerife like sharks insulting toaunting molesting Spanish Germans British alike. These people are giving Spain a bad name as well as Britain.

[Alex Blanco Oct 12, 2007 11:22:05 AM]

These people are organised British Gangs who live in Spain and give Spain a bad name, I am a Spanish buisiness man and spend the winter in Tenerife with my wife and are mosted every single day by these touts. Once they learn that we are Spanish they insult us and taunt us. I feel sorry for all the British tourist who visit my country, but this has nothing to do with the Spanish. These individuals give Spain and Britain a bad name, because they also target other European tourist such as germans Russians and Swedes.

[Alex Blanco Oct 12, 2007 11:15:34 AM]

I am a Spanish buisiness man from northen Spain and spend my winter breaks with my wife in Tenerife, we suffer the constant daily menace from these scratch card touts who are all British pariots living in Tenerife. Our holidays are allways marred by these individuals who have nothing to do with Spain or the Spanish people. These are organised gangs from Britain targeting not just British tourists, but also German Russian Swede tourists as well. They are giving Spain a bad name as well as Britain. These are British criminals targetting the British and European tourists I want to make it clear that this has nothing to do with the Spanish