Buyer beware.

That's the message from the Yukon government and policing authorities in regards to a suspicious website offering reservations to dozens of Yukon hotels, lodges and tours.

Last week, the Star obtained a letter sent from the Department of Tourism to several Yukon business owners, alerting them to a site called yukonvacation.com.

The web page lists a host of Yukon-based tourism operators, none of whom gave their permission to be listed on the site or are in any way affiliated with it.

Prompted by questions from business owners and media about what more was being done to protect both visitors and locals from sites posing as reservations agents, Yukon government officials contacted the RCMP late last week.

"We've had some complaints here from Tourism Yukon and also from Consumer Affairs," Cpl. Randy Reed of the Yukon's commercial crimes division said today.

"... Specifically over several sites using photos and posting information on this site that belongs to businesses without their permission."Initial investigations have revealed that several suspicious sites, including yukonvacation.com, have a common service provider in Houston, Tex., Reed said.

He added there is no evidence that the Texan provider is guilty of any wrongdoing, and likely doesn't know about possible problems with one of its clients.

"Basically, what we've seen is that this isn't an acceptable use according to the provider's policy," Reed said. "... We're encouraging (businesses) to contact the Internet provider in the United States."

Pointing out bad business practices to the service provider may get the sites off-line faster than a police investigation, but as Reed points out, "this individual can simply go to another provider."

Reed, along with Fiona Charbonneau, the Yukon's director of consumer services, suggested consumers and business owners go to the Yukon's Consumer Handbook for tips on how to protect themselves from fraud.

The handbook warns people against giving their money to any business that does not provide a physical address and phone number - something yukonvacation.com does not have.

Using a registered travel agent or going through a government tourism website are also ways to avoid being scammed, Reed said.

Yukonvacation.com - along with two other similar sites, skicanada.us and motorhomereservations.com - is copyrighted by a company called Internet Travel Solutions Ltd.

All three sites post the same terms of use agreement, privacy policy and website policy and state they are governed by Nevada state law.

Of the three, only one lists a physical mailing address.

None lists a contact name or phone number and none has responded to requests for comment from the Star, except to say, "We are not interested at all to respond, print what you like you'll do it anyways."