A Perth real estate agent has lost more than AUS $50,000 in a fake Greek wedding accomodation spam that drew the attention of the Western Australian Consumer Protection group that is now warning all tourism operators to be wary. The scammers, believed to be operating from Nigeria, used stolen credit cards in a complex story about arranging a Greek wedding to obtain money.

Specifically, the scammer paid a big desposit for accommodation using several stolen American credit cards. The scammers then asked the agency to forward funds to a Greek interpreter who could not accept credit card payments. After thousands of dollars were paid to the third parties, the agency discovered – a little too late – that the credit payments they had taken had been from stolen cards, hence disallowed.

The Perth agency, which deals with short-term and long-term holiday rentals fell prey to the “overpayment” tactic and was defrauded of $50,000.

David Hillyard, acting commissioner of Consumer Protection WA, told the ABC: “It’s one of these things where we find these scammers preying on people who are trying to provide good customer service.”

The agency could have avoided its predicament had it done a simple internet search.