Keys to avoid cyber-scams in summer

• The S2 Group has been pointed out that at this time of the year the action of cyber-criminals is usually focused on the scams related to online reservations of holiday accommodation.
• Experts from the cybersecurity company recommend distrusting pages that offer bargains, do not offer a direct telephone number, have many language errors or request that the reservation payment be made through unsafe methods such as transfers.

Valencia, August 3, 2018.- S2 Grupo, a company specializing in cybersecurity and cyber-intelligence, has warned that in summer it is very important to be cautious in the use of new technologies to avoid being victims of cyber-criminals. In this area, one of the most common problems at this time of year are the cyber-scams related to the rental or reservation of holiday accommodations. To avoid this, experts from S2 Grupo have pointed out that it is very important to keep in mind some keys:

1. Owner abroad: one of the most frequent scams is to indicate that the owner of the accommodation to be rented is in another country and that, to confirm the reservation, the keys and the contract will be sent in exchange for a payment that formalizes the reservation.
2. Beware of prices: when an accommodation has an "excessively" cheap price, it should give us cause to distrust. It does not mean that we are really in front of a scam, but it should put us on alert to inquire well about that place.
3. Look at the language of the website: S2 Grupo has pointed out that it is common to find scams on the Internet that come from people who operate from countries whose legislation is more lax, this is what makes many online scams occur from abroad. For this reason, if when entering a holiday rental website we detect that there are grammatical errors, which usually respond to a bad translation made directly from a translator, we should be alerted because, probably, we are dealing with a clear case of cyber-scammers.
4. Telephone number: when making a reservation it is very important that besides having a contact email, we should also have a direct telephone number of the entity or individual with whom we have booked the holiday accommodation and that we make sure it is correct and operational.
5. Google searches: before booking a hotel or an apartment, it is essential to search with the name of the accommodation, the owner and their email to detect if there are any comments on the Internet that relate it to any type of scam. If it has happened before, it is more than likely that references appear on the matter.
6. Beware of the form of payment: S2 Grupo recommends distrusting those who request payment by transfer to foreign or unknown banks or online services that allow money to be sent.
7. Searching for photos of the accommodation: another action that can help us be suspicious of facing a cyber-scam is to carry out a search of the images. When this is the case, we discover how the same image of one place relates to other ones or appears with different contact telephone numbers or, even, as belonging to different owners.

More information: prensa@s2grupo.es