Holiday scam used legitimate firms’ details

A NUMBER of quantity surveyor firms have been unwittingly drawn into an elaborate holiday rental scam in which customers pay up front to stay in a luxury apartment which they cannot subsequently access.

The apartment, advertised as part of the five-star Malibu Beach complex in Puerto Banus, Spain, is offered at a knockdown price of €500 per week by a man using the name of Michael Haden. A recently engaged Cork couple, who booked the apartment but did not receive the keys from Mr Haden, were due to fly out today.

As part of the hoax, Mr Haden tells customers he is a quantity surveyor and refers them to his website to check his credentials. Yesterday, the Irish Examiner discovered that the website, mhandcoltd.com, is in fact a bogus site and the staff he lists are in fact employees of another firm of chartered surveyors, Tralee-based Richard Walsh Associates.