A holidaymaker was scammed out of £900 after complaining online about soaking wet seats on a flight.
Sharon Morrell thought she was receiving a £400 compensation payout from Ryanair after rain poured into the cabin before takeoff.
The 48-year-old bus driver had booked a four-night package holiday flight from Bristol to Palma, Majorca, alongside her husband and two children on Saturday, October 24.
Mrs Morrell said 11 seats near the open aircraft door were left sitting in puddles following heavy downpours.
Cabin crew handed passengers paper towels from the toilet to mop up the water themselves before departure, she claimed.
Mrs Morrell said: "We were waiting on the stairs for everyone to board the plane, so we were getting soaked then as well.
"Obviously Ryanair can't help if there's downpours.
"So we got inside the plane and the seats on the left and right side were soaking wet.
"Even the seats behind were soaking too.
"There were 11 overall that were soaked.
"This was all our family's seats and the people behind us.
"They weren't just a little bit wet - there were puddles."
She said passengers were expected to sit on wet chairs for a two-hour flight, adding: "There was definitely an inch of water.
"I said to the staff 'are we expected to just sit on this? This is ridiculous.'
"They said 'we'll sort it out in a minute, just get seated so we can get everyone boarded.'"
After arriving in Majorca, the mother-of-two shared her frustration on social media.
She was shocked when an unknown caller rang her shortly afterwards claiming to represent the airline's compensation team.
The caller offered £200 each for her and her husband, and instructed her to download two mobile phone apps to transfer the money safely.
Mrs Morrell said: "He said 'no problem, and we can compensate you £200 each for me and my husband for what's happened.'
"He sounded genuine."
She followed the instructions, only to see funds flowing out of her account instead of coming in.
Mrs Morrell said: "I said 'why are there payments leaving my account when it should be the other way around?'
"He said 'it's normal process and it's actually payments we're putting into your account.'
"He was so clever."
The scammer asked for her account balance when payments were declined, prompting her to hang up as transactions totalling £900 went through to Kenya.
Mrs Morrell is now disputing the transactions with her bank and warned others against falling for similar traps.
She said: "It's so easy to be sucked in and I just can't believe how easy it is to get scammed.
"Anybody can fall for these scams. It's my own fault, I got sucked into this."
Ryanair said rainwater entered the cabin during boarding due to Storm Boelo.
A spokesperson for the airline said: "Due to adverse weather conditions (Storm Boelo) during boarding at Bristol on 24 Oct, a small number of seats near the aircraft door became damp from rainwater entering the cabin.
"Crew assisted affected passengers by wiping down the seats and this flight operated normally from Bristol to Palma de Mallorca."
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