Excited holidaymakers expecting to be ‘nestled away in secluded tranquillity in the picturesque countryside of Yorkshire’ are instead left cheated and without a holiday.
What’s worse, some victims don’t discover the accommodation isn’t real until they show up at the holiday parks being impersonated in this malicious scam.
Below, we delve into how this scam operates as well as give tips on how to avoid falling victim to holiday fraud.
Fake glamping site
Tranquil Garden Pods has several websites. The scammers seem to launch a new website each time one is taken down.
Which? searched for Tranquil Garden Pods on Google and saw three sponsored search results for the scam company. That means the scammers paid Google for a more prominent listing.
When we clicked on the website, we were offered a ‘£99 a night November sale’ and ‘a few days relaxation’ in a pod with ‘your own private, elevated decking area'.
On the website, there are several images of the pod, which we traced back to a real UK farm that offers glamping and camping accommodation in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
We contacted this farm and it told us that it has encountered numerous issues involving Tranquil Garden Pods, with many people who have booked through the scam company showing up at their farm.
‘People have turned up in tears’
Tranquil Garden Pods uses the postcode for a street in North Yorkshire as its location. On this street there are several real private and holiday properties.
Which? spoke to the owner of a caravan park that offers holidays in glamping pods, cottages and lodges.
‘We are very much an indirect victim of these scams as they are using our postcode, which is also the same as five or six other properties on the same road,’ he explained.
He first heard about the company in June as Star Domes, and it switched to Tranquil Garden Pods in August.
He has since received around 20 to 30 calls a week from enquiring holidaymakers who believe they booked a holiday at his caravan park.
‘It gets busier during half terms. During October half term, 20 to 25 people turned up who booked through the scam,’ he told us. 'One person had turned down a family holiday to come here. People have showed up in tears,’ he said.
He also told us that Tranquil Garden Pods advertises on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Which? didn’t see any adverts on these platforms at the time of writing this story.
He reported the scam to the police but was told that it couldn’t be investigated as no money was taken from him and his business wasn't used.
‘I drove for 45 minutes and arrived to nothing’
People on social media have also reported losing hundreds of pounds. One victim we spoke to lost £99 to the scam, which he first encountered via Google.
‘It was a smooth booking process,’ he recalls. ‘I was sent a receipt and there was a reminder sent before the arrival date.’
‘I checked whether the hot tub would be on before arrival and got a response, but when I asked about a gate code and pod number I didn’t hear anything,’ he told Which?.
He made the 45-minute drive to where he was told the glamping pod was and ‘arrived to nothing.’ Eventually, he ended up at a legitimate caravan park and was told about the scam by the owner.
Google and scams
Although the sponsored ads that led to the Tranquil Garden Pods’ websites are still up, the websites have been taken down.
As the scam went by ‘Star Domes’ previously, it's likely that it will pop up again under a different name.
Which? informed Google of this scam when we first discovered it, but it has yet to respond and take action.
Avoiding and reporting holiday scams
If you’re ready to book a holiday but are suspicious, you should:
source https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/beware-of-social-media-and-google-ads-for-fake-glamping-sites-aGHmP9S80gef