Tourists find information when experiencing Hue tourism

All kinds of scams

Recently, social networks shared information about a young man hunting for cheap tours. The male tourist said that after joining a group liquidating travel vouchers, he saw a post about a promotion program at a famous resort. When he contacted to order a voucher, the consultant asked him to transfer a 50% deposit. Not knowing that the fanpage was fake, he quickly transferred the money. However, when the departure date approached, the male tourist did not receive any information and discovered that he had been scammed when all communication channels were blocked.

Recently, fraud on social networks, including in the tourism sector, has become quite common. Taking advantage of the increasing demand for travel, especially during holidays, long vacations and the desire for cheap travel of a number of tourists, criminals have committed fraud on the internet by luring victims to book cheap hotel rooms or tours in order to appropriate property, negatively affecting the image of the tourism industry and causing public outrage.

In Hue, at the end of 2024, the fanpage of Vedana Lagoon resort & spa (Phu Loc district) also posted a warning to warn customers to be careful to avoid being taken advantage of by fake fanpages. Fraudsters created a fake Vedana Lagoon fanpage on Facebook called Vedana Lagoon Wellness resort & spa, posting information identical to the Vedana Lagoon resort & spa page, luring customers to book rooms at cheaper prices to steal their money, and many customers fell into the trap.

One of the most sophisticated tricks is that the subjects choose hotels, accommodation facilities, and tourist destinations that have just come into operation, with information, images, likes, and interactions on fanpages that are not large enough for customers to recognize. From there, the subjects advise customers in a professional manner. If not careful and vigilant, tourists will easily fall into the scam trap.

Information warning people and tourists about forms of fraud in the tourism sector

Another form of fraud is through booking car services. Taking advantage of the peak tourist season, scammers impersonate foreign tourists returning home to visit, travel, and experience, and have a need to book a full-service car service. Then, the scammers pretend to have paid a deposit in advance via international money transfer, then manipulate psychology and use high technology to appropriate property.

Mr. Nguyen Thai Hoa, Chief Inspector of the Department of Tourism, said that online tourism fraud is becoming increasingly sophisticated. Although the tourism industry and authorities regularly issue warnings and recommendations to people and tourists about the scams of these subjects, there are still many cases of people losing their vigilance and falling into traps just because of the need for cheap travel or not thoroughly researching information.

Raise awareness

Faced with the situation of fraud in the tourism sector, on February 12, 2025, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism also issued Official Dispatch No. 253/CDLQGVN-QLLT directing the strengthening of prevention, suppression, and handling of fraudulent activities appropriating assets in cyberspace. According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, in recent times, the situation of fraud and appropriation of assets in the tourism sector, especially the form of online booking fraud, has been increasing. Fraudsters have set up fake websites and fanpages of reputable tourism service businesses with many tricks of discounts, virtual promotions, and requests for deposits in advance... to appropriate people's money, negatively affecting the image of the tourism industry, causing public outrage.

To strengthen measures to prevent, stop and handle fraudulent acts, protect the legitimate rights of tourists and the reputation of the tourism industry, raise the responsibility and awareness of tourism businesses as well as people and tourists, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism recommends that local tourism management departments increase propaganda to tourism service businesses and people to understand new forms and tricks of fraud in the tourism sector; recommend that people carefully research information about tourism service providers in general and tourist accommodation establishments in particular before booking services and making payment transactions; should only book services on official websites and fanpages of tourism service businesses provided by local tourism management agencies or through reputable service booking platforms...

Guests are carefully advised when coming to reputable accommodation facilities in Hue.

According to the leader of the Department of Tourism, the Department's functional units in coordination with the interdisciplinary forces also strengthen inspection and examination work, promptly detect and handle violations according to the provisions of law; promptly receive and resolve petitions and related feedback from citizens according to their authority; coordinate with functional agencies to regularly review and prevent fake websites and fanpages, and strictly handle subjects with fraudulent behavior.

In addition, the tourism industry also provides information on registered tourism service establishments in the area so that people and tourists can know and book services; at the same time, coordinate to fully update information on local tourism service establishments to the database system of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism for public announcement nationwide.

The representative of the Department of Tourism recommends that tourists who want to travel should carefully research information when choosing travel packages, especially be wary of information related to cheap travel services; should choose tour booking services, hotel rooms, and airline tickets from reputable travel companies or applications. In suspicious cases, people and tourists can also ask the partner to show the business license, documents, practice certificates... of the travel company and be wary of travel packages, hotel rooms, and airline tickets with prices that are too cheap.

Currently, the Hue City tourism industry has announced a hotline to serve tourists, ready to advise and support tourists or contact via phone number 0234.382.8288. With incomplete information and suspicious signs, tourists can contact to learn, avoid falling into the trap of scammers.

HAPPY

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/du-lich/canh-giac-voi-cac-chieu-tro-lua-dao-trong-linh-vuc-du-lich-152964.html