A new report by the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) found that 5,000 British tourists lost more than £7m to travel-related scams in 2018.
Many of these were due to purchasing counterfeit airline tickets, accommodation or organised tours
On average, victims lost £1,380 as more than half (53%) of the crimes were related to the sale of airline tickets.
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A further quarter of crimes involved accommodation, such as payments to stay in upmarket villas which are either fictitious or being offered without the owner's knowledge.
Rob Stross, from currency exchange company WeSwap, has offered the following advice to travellers this summer on how to stay safe and avoid scams.
He said: "At WeSwap, we offer a number of tips for travellers about how to keep themselves and their money safe when travelling abroad."
Don't act
Mr Stross said: "First of all, if you are ever unsure, don’t act. A genuine company will never rush you to take action, so be aware of fraudsters trying to hurry you into making a purchase."
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Make sure your details are up to date
He added: "Secondly, if you are using a card, always make sure your mobile telephone number and email address registered with the card provider is up to date. At WeSwap, we will use these to contact you if we notice unusual activity on your e-money account."
Check statements
Mr Stross continued: "We would always recommend that when using a card abroad, keep your pin safe, make sure it isn't visible to others, and always check your statements.
When booking online
"If you are purchasing anything online from a company you are not familiar with, do some research to make sure that they are genuine and before entering your card details, make sure the link is secure.
"There should be a padlock symbol in the browser frame window which appears when you login or register.
"If this appears on the page rather than the browser it may indicate a fraudulent website. The web address should begin with https://, the ‘s’ stands for secure.
"And finally, always remember to log out of the website after use. Simply closing your browser is not enough to ensure your data is safe."
