A 'fraudbuster' has been appointed by the Association of British Travel Agents to protect holidaymakers from advertising by tour companies which are about to go bust.

ABTA's new Trading Practices Officer is monitoring travel agents selling holidays through Teletext after a record number of 'very messy failures' affected 10,000 holidaymakers last year.

Test bookings are made for deals that appear 'too good to be true', backed by checks that firms have sufficient bonding to protect clients' money and are selling responsibly.

An ABTA spokesperson said: 'When we see a week in southern Spain over Easter on offer for £69, we wonder if there is something fishy going on.'

In the 12-month period ending 30 June, 2002, 44 companies went out of business, leaving many paid up customers without a holiday and ABTA footing the £3.3 million bill.

The malpractices ABTA identified include selling holidays with insufficient cover, deliberately defrauding customers and using out-of-date ABTA bonding.

Some holidaymakers turned up at airports or hotels to find that their agent had gone bust and failed to pass their details to ABTA.

The organisation dealt with 2,500 claims involving Teletext, affecting 10,000 consumers. Teletext is effectively an advertising service, and has no involvement with firms selling holidays on its pages or website, though it does check that they are bonded with ABTA or ATOL - in which case the consumer will get either their holiday or their money back.

· If you are worried about a travel agent, contact ABTA (020 7307 1907; www.abta.com).