Kinhtedothi- Nowadays, booking tours and hotel rooms online has become popular because of its convenience and speed. Taking advantage of this, some people have impersonated travel businesses and hotels, created websites, Facebook, Zalo... to trick customers into transferring money and appropriating property.
Sophisticated tricks
Recently, public opinion was confused when a female tourist was scammed out of more than 1 billion VND when booking a resort room at Minawa Kenh Ga resort & spa Ninh Binh through a fake Facebook fanpage. This is not the first time tourists have been scammed out of money for hotel and tour bookings online.
Recently, Hotel Premier Pear Vung Tau (Ba Ria - Vung Tau province) filed a complaint with the authorities about some social networking sites impersonating the hotel to fraudulently sell rooms to tourists, including one person who transferred nearly 100 million VND.
According to information from the Criminal Police Department (Ministry of Public Security), the Investigation Police Agency of Quang Ninh Provincial Police has issued a decision to prosecute the accused Pham Trung Anh residing in Vinh Bao District, Hai Phong City for the crime of fraud and appropriation of property. From June 2022 to present, Pham Trung Anh has used many Facebook and Zalo accounts such as "Tuong Anh", "Bong Bong", "Pham Quyet", "Tran Quang Anh" to defraud and appropriate 100 million VND from many victims.
In fact, with the rapid development of social networking platforms, many consumers are still looking for tours, cheap airline tickets or "hunting" for hotel room discount vouchers. Taking advantage of this, many individuals and organizations have released information about "super discounts" of 30 - 50% to defraud customers of their deposits, causing tourists to "lose both money and health".
Director of Vietnam Unique Tours Pham Dinh Ha said that one of the tricks that scammers use to scam tourists is to offer super cheap combos with 5-star service. In addition, there is a trick to trick customers into buying tickets that are about 1 - 1.5 million VND cheaper than the market price, but can still be used because the subject registered to buy air tickets in installments. After using, customers will be asked for money from the installment travel applications. "To deceive the authorities after committing fraud, the subjects often lock social network accounts, block or cancel contact information" - Mr. Ha informed.
Know the tricks to avoid them
Regarding the tricks to scam tourists to book rooms, Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association Vu The Binh shared that to scam consumers, many groups of people choose to create fake fanpages and then use tricks to get a blue tick from Facebook. These people will run fake fanpage ads to create credibility, even buying comments praising homestays and hotels to gain trust from tourists.
From the perspective of the management agency, Deputy Director of the Ninh Binh Provincial Department of Tourism Pham Duy Phong said that recently, in Ninh Binh province, there has been a situation of scamming tourists when booking hotel and motel rooms via social networks. Fraudsters often impersonate websites and fanpages of reputable hotels and resorts or create social network accounts to post promotional and discount information to trick customers into making advance payments to appropriate money.
Analyzing the fact that consumers are easily scammed when booking hotels and buying tours, Director of Vietsense Travel Company Nguyen Van Tai stated that the main reason is that people are gullible and do not have a clear understanding of information about the website, Facebook account, and contact address of the travel company or hotel before making a transaction. When booking rooms online, customers also do not carefully research information about the number, type of rooms, and hotel address... To trick consumers, scammers often claim to be hotel owners, so they are willing to reduce prices by 50%, and at the same time, offer many gifts if customers book rooms early...
Faced with the situation of fraud and property appropriation in the tourism sector, the National Tourism Administration requests local Departments of Tourism to strengthen inspection and examination, promptly detect and handle violations. Coordinate with relevant agencies to regularly review and prevent fake websites and fanpages, and strictly handle subjects with fraudulent behavior.
To avoid "losing money and getting nothing in return", the Department of Information Security (Ministry of Information and Communications) recommends that people carefully check the website address before deciding to book a hotel or tour. Reliable websites often have a security certificate (lock icon in the upper left corner of the browser) and a clear address. Avoid websites with strange domain names or without a security certificate.
Consult with people who have stayed at the hotel you want to book through sites such as TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, or reputable booking sites that often have detailed reviews from previous travelers. Do not trust Fanpages that advertise bookings at prices that are too cheap compared to the market.
Before paying, customers also need to proactively contact the hotel or homestay directly through the contact information on the official website such as the hotline number or send a direct email to verify information about the room and service. In particular, do not follow requests to transfer money to subjects for reasons such as incorrect text message syntax, money being stuck on the system... Absolutely do not download strange applications or click on unknown links from third parties. Customers should only book rooms through reputable platforms such as: Booking.com, Agoda.
To prevent and repel customer fraud when booking tours and hotel rooms, Chairman of the Hanoi Tourism Association Nguyen Manh Than recommends that tourists protect themselves by carefully checking hotel information, looking it up on the system, and getting a phone number registered with Zalo to call for verification before transferring a deposit. Be wary of pages advertising unusual hotel room discounts during the holidays, especially those offering to buy travel packages at prices 30-50% cheaper than the general market price.
Source: https://kinhtedothi.vn/ham-tour-gia-re-can-than-tien-mat-tat-mang.html
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