When airline tickets, hotels, and tours are sold at cheap prices and payment invoices do not have a red stamp, tourists may think of fraud.
In early April, Ms. Thu Hien (Hanoi) received an advertisement for "Combo of 5-star Ambassador cruise and hotel in Ha Long for 3 days 2 nights for 2 million VND per person". After receiving advice, she transferred 50% deposit to 4 guests (4 million VND) to reserve seats from April 15 to 17. As soon as the money was transferred successfully, the agent blocked Ms. Hien's Facebook, while still replying to others.
According to VnExpress , similar scams are quite common during the holidays or summer - the time when many people travel. These tricks are not new, but gullibility and lack of knowledge make it easy for customers to fall into the trap.
The standard price for a night's stay on the Ambassador cruise ship is about 3.8 million VND per guest. Photo: Tu Nguyen.
Mr. Bui Thanh Tu, Marketing Director of Best Price, said that scams not only target cruise ships but also many other services such as airline tickets, hotel rooms, and tours. These cases often have in common a good price to attract customers' attention to transactions. In addition, there are other signs.
In Ms. Hien's case, professionals will find the price unusual . Two million VND per person for a two-night vacation on a five-star cruise "is impossible". Currently, the cheapest price per night for a similar service ranges from 2.5 million VND to nearly 4 million VND per person. Not to mention, the advertised cruise is currently the most expensive in Ha Long.
According to a survey at the recent Vietnam International Travel Mart (VITM 2023), a one-night cruise costs about VND3.8 million per person. Some units selling day trips also cost about VND1.3 million (a discount of VND200,000). "If you take the time to research, just by looking at it, you will know if it is a scam or not," Mr. Tu emphasized.
The payment invoice without a red stamp is also something to note. In addition, the images of the vouchers sent to customers do not show whether these are real vouchers or not? Mr. Tu advises tourists who see similar posts and want to make a transaction to call the voucher provider - in this case, Ambassador Cruise - to verify.
The payment invoice is missing the red stamp. Photo: NVCC.
In some cases, scammers can even fake the websites of travel companies to increase their credibility. Ms. Dinh Thi Thu Thao, Sales Director of Mustgo Travel Company, said that tourists can distinguish fake websites by looking at the website name and domain name . Usually, fake websites will try to imitate the real website name but will add or omit some characters. In addition, domain names are often long and use strange characters.
At the bottom of the website of the standard pages, there is usually a section "Registered with the Ministry of Industry and Trade" and "Notified with the Ministry of Industry and Trade". When clicking on it, customers will be redirected to the Ministry of Industry and Trade's e-commerce management system. Basically, legitimate and reputable businesses will need to do this procedure to register copyright with the Ministry. Fraudsters can also register these documents if they are willing to invest time, but "the important thing is whether during the time of operation, you have the intention to commit fraud".
Scams come in all shapes and sizes and are sure to flourish during peak tourist season. Therefore, Ms. Thao advises tourists to constantly update and survey prices before deciding to spend money.
"The main subjects still aim at the cheap factor to attract tourists' attention. If you see a price 30-50% cheaper than the general market price, you need to raise questions instead of "paying money because you are afraid of running out of seats", Ms. Thao said.
Vnexpress.net
Source
Comment (0)