Almost 17% of people who book their holidays online have been victims of scams

• This data is extracted from a survey carried out by S2 Grupo to a thousand people through its blog Hijosdigitales.es about cyber-scams and holidays. • Some of the most common crimes are not complying with the requirements or images shown on the website or, directly, these are accommodations that do not exist and are offered as bargains. • Along with this, 58.5% of users do not consider using websites that use secure protocols (https) to ensure the protection of the data entered and 9.5% think that if they access public networks from their mobile phones they cannot become victims of cybercriminals. Valencia, 22 August 2019.- It is increasingly common to organize holidays online. For this reason, S2 Grupo conducted an online survey through its blog Hijosdigitales.es to a thousand people about cyber-scams and holidays. Users' replies show that 16.6% acknowledge having been victims of cybercriminals when booking their vacations online. Some of the most common crimes are that the place does not correspond to the photos shown, does not comply with the requirements detailed on the website or, in the most serious cases, that the accommodation directly did not exist. “When booking our trips online we must be especially cautious to avoid unpleasant surprises. For example, we must distrust the pages that offer bargains, that do not offer a direct telephone number, that have many language errors or ask that the reservation payment be made through unsafe methods such as transfers”, explained José Rosell, managing partner of S2 Grupo. “Although it seems obvious, something that can help us make reservations with greater security is to search Google for that accommodation, the owner and their email. This can help us detect if there is any negative comment on the Internet that relates it to some type of scam and, if it had already happened before, it is likely that references will appear in this regard”, said Miguel A. Juan, managing-partner of S2 Grupo. On the other hand, company experts always recommend using web pages that use secure protocols, which is essential to guarantee the confidentiality of the data we enter as personal information or bank details. In relation to this, according to users in the survey, 58.5% do not pay attention to using https websites that use secure protocols. In fact, 35.3% do not know what they are. Only 41.5% acknowledge that they only access these types of websites when using public Wi-Fi. In addition, 51.4% believe that they cannot be victims of cybercriminals if they use public networks and, of these, 9.5% believe that if they access some type of website from the Smartphone they cannot have this type of problem. The team of experts at S2 Grupo has stressed that it is key to be aware of accessing only websites that use secure protocols if we are going to enter personal or relevant data and that if we use public Wi-Fi, regardless of the type of device we use, it is likely we are being monitored, controlled or invaded by cyber criminals. This does not mean that these networks are not to be used, but only with common sense and avoid using them for actions that may compromise our personal information and privacy. More information: prensa@s2grupo.es