Beware of social media scammers in Antalya! They could trap you as wel
In Antalya, particularly in August, with the peak in demand for villa tourism reservations, scammers have emerged. It has been determined that citizens have been deceived through rental schemes using fake social media accounts of TÜRSAB-certified companies.
In the villa tourism sector, which is intensive in Antalya’s Kaş, Kalkan, and Muğla’s Fethiye regions, fraudulent activities have also surfaced. Scammers have been found using photos of villas that belong to others and TÜRSAB documents from other travel agencies on Instagram to commit fraud. Villa tourism operators, who have seen a significant increase in reservation requests since August, have reported a high demand for the first week of September and warned consumers about these scammers.
A DIFFICULT AND UNFAMILIAR SEASON
Erdal Okurgan, President of the Villa Tourism Enterprises Association (TURVİB), noted that the occupancy rate of villas was quite low from May to June 15 compared to previous years. "With the start of Kurban Bayram, demand began to rise. Interest in renting villas increased around mid-July. We can say that we have overcome the issues from three months ago based on the current bookings. However, there is a decrease in the number of nights stayed, which is related to budgets. Those who previously stayed for 7 nights are now reducing to 5 nights, and those who stayed for 5 nights are now reducing to 3 nights. It has been a challenging and unfamiliar season for us," he said.
BEWARE OF SOCIAL MEDIA SCAMMERS!
Okurgan highlighted that one of the most significant issues this year is scammers. "Since August, scammers have proliferated. There are many scammers using different Instagram accounts. For example, we identified two such scammers in Antalya and Bursa. They use documents from other travel agencies and deceive guests by pretending these documents are their own. Guests believe them and proceed with the rental. We advise our guests not to make reservations through such social media accounts. The documents shown should always be verified through the verification sections on the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and TÜRSAB websites. If the bank account does not match the company account, it should be avoided. This is one of the easiest detection methods. We do not want our guests to be victimized by scammers. Complaints are also filed against the scammers we identify. Our prices, for instance, start at 4500 TL per night for 2+1 sea-view villas in Kalkan, and 6000-7000 TL for 8-person villas."
