Have you been affected? Contact us at Timesonline Travel

Dozens of British families have lost expensive summer holidays worth an average £3,000 after booking through a defunct website, www.morairaway.com.

And the number is mounting as British-based holiday lettings websites that carried adverts for morairaway.com try to get in touch with customers who booked and paid.

The final amount involved could top £500,000. Spanish police have already launched an investigation into the Malaga-based company whose website does now not work and whose telephone number is out of order.

Q&A: the morairaway.com villa 'swindle'

The fallout from the shutdown of the Spanish villa website has caused widespread questions about what happened

• Britons lose Spanish villa holidays as morairaway.com shuts down

Morairaway.com: the victims

Possibly hundreds of families have lost their summer holidays as the Spanish villa website shuts down and owners disappear

The best last minute travel deals and bargains

It's the best late deal market for decades. Catch up on the latest news and and deals as they are published

The victims include Parminder Chana, who planned to celebrate his 21st wedding anniversary in style at a luxurious villa in Spain, surrounded by his family.

He spent nearly £3,350 for a two-week stay at a five-bedroom villa with swimming pool in Javea near Alicante.

“I wanted to do something special for our anniversary and we booked this villa as it looked very nice and professional,” said Mr Chana, 46, a property developer from Essex. “Now we hope this will act as a warning to others who may not be aware of what has happened.”

When morairaway.com stopped answering emails and there was no response to calls to its telephone number, Mr Chana took the unusual step of flying to Alicante to investigate.

He established from Spanish police in the area that no villa existed at the address he had been given in Javea. Mr Chana made a complaint to police who launched the investigation.

It now appears that morairaway.com had for the past three months placed adverts on British-based letting agencies, including www.holidaylettings.co.uk.

Timesonline has learned that two English names were given as contact details to holidaylettings.co.uk - Tony Duncan-Smith and Simon Dawson - who described themselves as agent advertisers running the letting agency, morairaway.

Other sites including www.holiday-rentals.co.uk also carried adverts, along with a Spanish based site, www.spain-holiday.com.

Times recommends

• Oasis of the Seas: the Times review
• The 20 best new year party places to stay
• Green Spaces 2009: are you the winning writer?