During Channel 5’s Holiday Scams: Don’t Get Caught Out, viewers saw the Kennedy family become a victim of a ‘fake villa’ scam.

Presenter Alexis Conran exposed the “tricks and pitfalls” of holiday scammers, talking to people who have lost thousands of pounds while experts explained the scammer's “secrets.”

The show focused on topics such as holidaymakers booking flights and villas abroad that haven’t really been confirmed or don’t exist.

The Kennedy family booked a villa in Mallorca for €2,000 – €3,000, but when they hopped off the plane and arranged travel arrangements, it turned out they were given a fake address.

When Angus Kennedy showed the picture of the villa to locals, a taxi driver recognised the house and offered to take him along with his wife and five children.

As Mr Kennedy and his family arrived at the suspicious villa, he went on to say the one he thought he had booked was in fact owned by a German man who had never advertised the home.

However, due to the owner’s kind nature, he put the family up for the night and provided them with dinner and a glass of wine.

How to avoid becoming a victim of a ‘fake villa’ scam and how to get your money back

On Holiday Scams: Don’t Get Caught Out, an expert said how only a small amount of information is needed to be convinced that someone owns a property abroad.

They said it goes far beyond just checking for an address, but to do this, people should look for additional information.

This includes looking for an address associated with the holiday advert, like the head office of the company. It’s also advised to look on Google Street View to see if the location is real.

Alexis added: “A lot of the problems boil down to being able to verify rentals.”

Herald Series: If you do become a victim of a scam when booking a holiday, you may be able to get your money backIf you do become a victim of a scam when booking a holiday, you may be able to get your money back (Image: Getty)

One company that does this is I-PRAC, which was set up around seven years ago as “a global verification and accreditation platform that certifies professional short-term rental agencies and property owners.”

Neely Khan from the firm, said: “So, once you book a property that’s I-PRAC approved you are fully protected against holiday rental fraud and all of your payments are protected as well.

“That means if something does go wrong, then you are 100% compensated by I-PRAC."

Alexis said Mr Kennedy’s scam was "very much" on I-PRAC radar.

Neely continued: “You can see the image, the image obviously looks fantastic, it looks incredibly attractive but it is an unprotected stolen image from another legitimate website.

“We estimated through our own in-house research that the makeshift company had scammed people out of £600,000 collectively.”

Alexis said scammers usually get you to pay by bank transfer, not by credit card, but if you do pay by credit card you’re protected by law under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

He explained: “This applies to any payment between £100 and £30,000 but if you have been scammed and did pay by bank transfer, it’s not the end of the road and you haven’t lost your money.”

Lisa Webb, a lawyer for consumer champion Which?, said: “Many banks have signed up to the Contingent Reimbursement Model Code or CRM – they volunteer to reimburse you if it wasn’t your fault.

“Banks might sometimes try and argue that it could be your fault, they might do a bit of victim blaming to get out that reimbursement.

“Sometimes they’ll say things like ‘you should have known that it was a scam, it was so obviously a scam you shouldn’t have fallen for it’.”

She added: “I would argue never accept that because some of these scams are so sophisticated that anyone can fall for them.

“If your bank refuses to reimburse you because they are claiming it’s your fault that you’re a victim, take your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

“They will act as a mediator so they will step in between you and your bank and what they can do is overturn a banks decision and very often they will uphold on the behalf of a consumer instead of a bank, so challenge any decisions by your bank to not reimburse you.”