Families looking for festive fun have been warned of a 'Winter Wonderland' scam after someone in Ayrshire was defrauded.
Police in the area told people to beware of the fraudulent advert on Facebook for a ‘Winter Wonderland Stirling’ drive-thru event.
The page has been made to look like an exact replica of the genuine event organiser’s website or social media page.
Someone from Ayrshire reported the scam after falling victim to it.
Reindeer Lodge, a legitimate business in Wales, posted a warning for the Winter Wonderland tickets that appear to be prentending to be them.
‘Winter Wonderland Stirling’ seems to have copied Reindeer Lodge's description word for word.
An Ayrshire safer communities officer said: "It is important that when booking online we take a few extra seconds to ask the following questions:
- Are you sending our money to the correct place?
- Have you checked that the website or page is genuine?
- Is there a padlock on the address bar showing a secure site?
- Does it say HTTPS? (The ‘S’ showing the site is secure)
- Can you pay using a middleperson service like PayPal / Sage Pay etc.?
- Can you use your credit card rather than debit card (This offers more enhanced consumer protection).
“If an offer seems too good to be true often this is the case.”
For more crime prevention advice please the ‘Keep Safe’ pages of their website.
If you have been a victim of this type of fraud please report it to your local policing team by calling 101 (always dial 999 in an emergency).
Information on crime can also be passed va the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 where anonymity can be maintained.
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