Tourists warned of scratch card scam

Holidaymakers jetting off from Manchester Airport will be handed fake scratch cards offering advice about a scam costing tourists millions of pounds every year.

The cards, given out by officers from Manchester City Council's Trading Standards department and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), are designed to look like those given out by touts working for bogus holiday clubs and ask: "Have you won a free holiday?"

Cards handed out by touts on the Canary Islands and Spanish costas are all 'winners', but any tourists following up these offers will find themselves taken to lengthy sales presentations.

They will then be pressured into parting with £1,000s to join holiday clubs offering huge discounts, but will discover all they have bought is access to an internet booking service offering deals they could get at travel agents for free.

The OFT says November is a peak time for these touts to operate, as they target holidaymakers aged 35-64 looking for winter sun, and the average loss is more than £3,000.

City Council officers, who will be talking to tourists leaving from terminal two on Wednesday, November 12, will tell anyone approached by a tout to ask:

• Do you have the time to sit through a lengthy sales pitch?
• Will the promises made by the salesman be in the contract?
• Can you take away the contract to consider at your leisure?
• Do you know exactly what you are getting for your money?

If the answer to any of these is 'no', tourists should walk away.

Councillor Richard Cowell, Manchester City Council's Executive Member for the Environment, said: "When you're approached by these touts, always remember the old saying that you don't get something for nothing.

"Taking any of these conmen up on their offers will not only ruin your holiday, it will see you out of pocket for months or even years to come, at a time when nobody can afford to be in that position."

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Conrad Astley, Press Office, tel 0161 234 4027