While police plan to blanket streets and malls with rookies in blue - its your Facebook account and holiday bookings that might get you conned out of hard-earned cash.

The SA Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) has warned against holiday home scams, and criminals using your phone and social media profiles to help commit credit card fraud.

Private investigator Mike Bolhuis, who is currently investigating cases of holiday accommodation fraud, has told Sowetan of how sophisticated small syndicates fleece prospective holiday-makers out of money by pretending to be property owners.

Sabric chief executive Kalyani Pillay said a common type of fraud at this time of the year involved fraudsters advertising holiday accommodation at discounted or attractive prices to lure their victims into booking.

"Once they receive the money from the victim, they will not be contactable and the victim loses their money. The accommodation or booking is also non-existent," Pillay said.

Eighty-six-year old Heslie Klugman knows this trick all too well - he fell victim to such a syndicate last year after responding to an advertisement which offered accommodation at Sun City.

"It seemed very reasonable. I asked the person listed as the contact for specifics. We arranged a price of R12000. He was very convincing," Klugman said.

"I asked him about guest certificates and other information, but he became very elusive. He stopped taking my calls. Apparently this guy conned about 30 people for the same holiday accommodation," he said.

Klugman approached Bolhuis to assist with the case, with the police now investigating the matter as well.

"These guys hijack available and existing information and photos and then forge their own advertisements. They use pre-paid and cloned phones and phones that have not been RICA'd [registered] and set up fake email addresses to communicate with you," Bolhuis said.

Bolhuis advised holiday-makers to contact the place where the advert had been placed, to ask the potential seller for previous references and to do as much research as possible before paying money to avoid a situation like Klugman's.

While you might be happy to post your upcoming holiday snaps, Sabric also warned about what you put Online or say over the phone. Fraudsters used voice soliciting, or Vishing, to manipulate people into disclosing confidential information by calling them and posing as a bank official or service provider.

Meanwhile police intend upping their beat-cop numbers over the festive season after seeing positive results to increased visibility last year. A daily average of 20940 officers were dispatched to shopping centres across the country.