BBCs radio drama got caught in an awkward mix-up during its scam-awareness programming when they forgot to buy a web-domain that was key to the shows plot-line
In a story about fake holiday rentals James Cooper a web-designer from Somerset noticed the oversight and spent £10 to register borsetshirebreaks.com (which was mentioned in the show) within 30 mins after hearing the episode
The shows fictional village Ambridge had several plot-points about fake vacation rentals: two families got tricked into booking non-existent stays at different locations. One group paid £360 for a 4-night stay that didnt exist; the other showed up at Jakob Hakanssons cottage after falling for the made-up listing
Im a nice person and Im not going to use it for anything nasty But I could redirect the domain to anything I want including ʼnaughtyʼ sites or scams
The domain got more than 2‚000 visits since Nov-25; Cooper reached out to BBC offering to transfer the domain. Jonathan Frost from Vox Veritas Vita called it a missed chance to direct people to scam-awareness info
BBCs response was simple: they reminded listeners that Borsetshire isnt real and the website should be avoided - just as the shows characters have been warning during BBC Scam Safe week