Holidaymakers are being warned about a new type of fraud aimed at those booking travel breaks.

"Ghost brokering" involves criminals targeting those who are searching on the internet for holiday or flight deals with ads.

The ads look like they are legitimate, carrying a "sponsored" tag, and when clicked they take the person searching to a sophisticated and convincing fake website.

According to AIB, the websites often insist on the user submitting a phone number and email address in order to allow searches to take place.

Messaging services, such as WhatsApp, are then used by the fraudster to contact the holidaymaker and convince them to buy a cut-price holiday or flight.

The bank said the customer then pays for the holiday and authorises it, before receiving a fake booking confirmation.

The card and security details are then used by the criminal to book other genuine holidays with legitimate operators, which are subsequently sold on to others.

"These scams are often sophisticated and even use sponsored ads to target people who may assume that the travel company is genuine," said Carol Lawton, Head of Financial Crime at AIB.

"Not only does the person lose out on the supposed holiday they booked, they are often further defrauded when the criminals use their stolen card and security details to buy genuine holidays to sell on at a later stage."

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AIB said those making travel bookings need to be aware of the fraud, because it is on the rise globally.

It recommends holidaymakers search to check a property exists and is owned by the person they are dealing with, before making a booking.

The bank also suggests that people do proper research into the individual they are dealing with to make sure they work with the company and that the company itself looks genuine.

It also suggests that the customer checks that the bank account is located in the same country as the property by checking the country code in the IBAN, such as IE in an Irish account.

A secure and genuine website should also have a padlock symbol beside the web address, the bank said.