If a travel deal seems too good to be true...it probably is.

Holiday scams aren’t new but the sophistication applied behind them has made it harder for a layperson to gauge the scams from authentic offers. That is why one has to scrutinize that holiday getaway deal before booking.

The internet was recently abuzz with James McAvoy’s story of how he nearly fell for a $10,000 Tenerife holiday scam. He went online to tell the world about his horrifying experience when a fake hotel website duped him.

He was trying to book a holiday but didn't realize that it was a phony hotel website. It wasn’t any regular hotel, either; the actor was trying to book The Ritz-Carlton, Abama hotel for a family holiday.

He was about to transfer the cash for it when something about the conversation with the online booking agent rang warning bells in his head. He stepped back to double-check the offer with a travel agent and realized that he almost got scammed to the tune of thousands. The British actor alerted the real Ritz-Carlton hotel about the scam and then went on to warn others from making the same mistake.

In the U.K. alone, holidaymakers lost $8.7 million through such scams last year. On average, each tourist lost about $2,000 after being targeted by fraudsters.

The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) has also warned that online hotel booking scams are on the rise this side of the Atlantic. In 2017, U.S. travelers made 55 million bookings through a fake booking website.

This number is triple that of the number of fraudulent reservations reported in 2015. The damage to consumers by rogue third-party operators cost them nearly $4 billion in misleading bookings.

So, what exactly are these fake websites?

The fake hotel booking sites are aptly called "mirror site" deception. The misleading webpages are purporting to be a company they're not by "mirroring" all original information.

They use a famous hotel/resort’s name in the link, buy ad words, set up fake phone numbers, and cover the webpage with real photos of the hotel and its logo. According to the AHLA, these rogue sites are tricky to spot and are by far the most common travel scams running now.

Scammers are out to control credit card information and commit identity theft. They are not always lying in wait for you to go to the fake websites via their ads but also reach out via email and phones. They make too-good-to-be-true offers to lure victims to release sensitive information. These high-end, high-cost travel scams are harming consumers and overall hotel business.

The AHLA has partnered with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to help consumers avoid such scams. So, here’s how you detect travel fraud:

  • The quality of the website, which may look as good as the original, will be subpar. These sites often have fuzzy logos, clumsy typos, and bad content.
  • The cost is a big red flag. Fraudulent sites often charge ten times less than the original resort price, which seems like a good deal but in reality, is a no deal.
  • Avoid the "Ad" tabs that these con merchants use to lure travelers. Check to see if the web address is the same as the official site below it, in which case it’s an "ad" by the resort itself.
  • Learn to treat bargain offers with caution and always cross-reference searches with other travel offers on the web.
  • Look for meaningful reviews of establishments before paying and booking your holiday.
  • Do thorough research before booking.
  • If it’s possible, book directly with the hotel instead of a third-party source. Ask specific amenities and local questions to ensure it's a legitimate site.
  • While using third-party sources, make sure you use reputable and secure third-party booking sites and travel agencies.
  • You can check for security by looking for a lock symbol in the web address and a URL starting with "https"
  • You can also check with third-party authority sites like BBB.org, which allows consumers to check whether the website or agency has a good reputation with previous customers.
  • Use a credit card to book; it offers more protection than all other payment methods. If anything goes amiss, you can immediately call them and freeze your account.