A holidaymaker was left outraged after looking for a hotel room with a sea view only to realize she had fallen for a brazen scam.
Influencer Clarisa Murgia paid top dollar for the room because of the spectacular views it offered in the advert, as part of a holiday of a lifetime across Europe.
But when she arrived at the hotel and was taken to her room, she quickly discovered that the breathtaking view from the balcony of the blue sea, a sailboat and a mountain range were not what they seemed.
Instead, there was a giant poster of a seaside town plastered to the wall of the building outside her window, and the whole sea view was one big bummer.
While filming the scene, Clarisa showed how the poster looked exactly like the real thing from one angle.
At first glance, Clarisa Murgia’s balcony seemed to offer a beautiful sea view
But as she turns to the side, the footage shows it’s just a huge photo on the other side of a dirty alley.
The real view is a crumbling white wall and rows of white barred windows.
She then shared a video of the massive scam on TikTok on May 18 in a clip titled “Expectation vs Reality.”
Argentinian national Calrisa added: ‘Someone rented a B&B with a sea view. I feel ripped off, guys.
“No one has ever cheated on me like that, hahaha.”
The video quickly racked up more than 2.5 million views and left viewers in hysterics over her unfortunate situation.
One TikTok user said: ‘That’s why I always look at the location, so I don’t fail.’
Another commented: ‘Even my ex didn’t lie that much.’
And a third added: ‘My happiness in life is summed up in this video.’
But on closer inspection, the ‘view’ comes from a giant poster hanging on the side of a building opposite the holidaymaker’s hotel room.
The giant image of the coast is plastered on a crumbling wall, next to a barred window
The brazen scam comes after holidaymakers blasted Booking.com last month, accusing the platform of failing to crack down on ‘terrible’ scammers who have duped customers through the official app.
The scammers pose as hotels with whom they have booked rooms and trick travelers into handing over their banking details by claiming they must pay immediately or risk losing their booking.
One family had to cancel their dream holiday to Thailand after being scammed out of £465 by fraudsters and unable to get a refund from Booking.com, the hotel or their bank.
Another victim had almost £1,200 stolen from her account by scammers after they tricked her into thinking she was in contact with a hotel where she had made a booking.
Booking.com told MailOnline that its systems ‘have not been hacked’, but that some of their accommodation partners have been targeted by ‘very convincing and sophisticated phishing tactics’.