Every summer, when the demand for sightseeing and vacation increases, scams in the form of fake travel companies and ticket offices selling cheap travel combos (a package of many products) appear.
Sadly, although this scam is not new, many people still fall for it, even those who have been in the tourism industry for many years.
People should choose travel combos from reputable companies to avoid wasting money. In the photo: Tourists visit a tourist area in Ninh Thuan province.
Tourists also fall into the trap
Having worked in the tourism industry for 7 years, Ms. Vu Huyen (Nghia Do Ward, Cau Giay District) shared that she booked tickets and tours for 4 guests to Buon Ma Thuot (Dak Lak Province) in early May with a total amount of more than 30 million VND from ABC Travel Company (phone number 0847686...). Although she had deposited 15 million VND, 3 days before the departure, they informed her that they could not arrange the tour and had to postpone the date or refund the money.
Ms. Huyen asked for a refund and was told that she would get it back after 4 days, but ironically, after 4 days her phone number was blocked. When she asked someone to find the company address provided in Ho Chi Minh City, she found out that this was a "ghost address" and that these people had scammed many people.
Similarly, Ms. Trinh Linh (Co Nhue 1 ward, Bac Tu Liem district) was extremely upset when she was the victim of Facebook account Hoang Phuong Travel (phone number 03993231...).
Ms. Linh booked a combo of a flight ticket to Da Lat (Lam Dong province) and a hotel room for 4 days and 3 nights, with a deposit of 6.9 million VND for a person named Phuong. After that, Phuong sent the electronic flight ticket code and said the hotel booking order would be sent later.
5 days later, Phuong informed the hotel that the individual guests had been canceled due to a large group and that they needed to choose another hotel, but Ms. Linh still had not received the booking order. Only when she called the two hotels directly did Ms. Linh find out that there were still many vacant rooms; when she checked the flight ticket code, she was shocked because her name was not on the booking.
Ms. Linh called to discuss, Phuong explained that due to a website system error, she would support new tickets for customers and then continuously promised. Ms. Linh reported canceling the above services, asking for a refund, posting a warning on social media, Phuong asked her to remove the post, write an IOU, and promise to pay in 1 month. When the payment was overdue, Ms. Linh went to Phuong's house in Chuong My district, but this person's parents refused to resolve the issue, and Phuong lost contact.
Facebook account Pham Van continuously warned about being scammed out of money by Facebook account Cheap Air Ticket Agent VII2 and account Nguyen Tien Dung.
Accordingly, Ms. Van booked a super cheap Phu Quoc tour combo, 4 days 3 nights including airfare and accommodation for 6 million VND/person. After finalizing, the subject reported that he had booked the airfare since the end of May 2024 and sent the ticket with the name of the group of 6 people, asking Ms. Van to transfer 50% of the total amount in advance. After receiving the airfare, Ms. Van trusted and transferred the money, but immediately after that, she was blocked from contacting. Ms. Van called the airline to check and found out that it was just a reservation code, not yet paid.
Being awake is not enough...
As a victim who has worked in tourism for many years, Ms. Vu Huyen warned that scammers are very sophisticated, such as setting up a website to advertise tours, sending complete documents such as business licenses with red stamps, signatures... When Ms. Huyen called to check with a video call, the subject answered immediately but intentionally filmed the office, staff... to create trust.
With 20 years of experience in the tourism industry, Ms. Tran Thu Ha (Kien Hung ward, Ha Dong district) said that there are 2 types of travel combos: fixed departure and flexible departure. Fixed departure combos are often reserved by reputable travel agencies with hotels and airlines for large groups. Flexible departure combos are for small customers, with no fixed departure and return dates, making it difficult to determine legal status. Customers will face great risks when encountering flexible departure combos.
Regarding this issue, Deputy Director of the Vietnam National Tourism Administration (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) Ha Van Sieu said that people who take advantage of the psychology of wanting cheap prices create fake accounts and websites of reputable companies and individuals to attract customers. Therefore, people should stay away from strangers selling travel combos online, without a reputable sales history. The Vietnam National Tourism Administration always updates official and legitimate databases on digital platforms publicly, so that people, businesses and tourists can look up to verify and check information.
The Department of Information Security (Ministry of Information and Communications) has identified the cheap travel combo scam as one of 24 forms of fraud taking place in Vietnam's cyberspace. The subjects can fake the website/fanpage of a reputable travel company; fake/appropriate social network user accounts; impersonate airline ticket agents, create their own websites, social networking pages... to gain trust with customers and then cheat them out of money.
Hanoi City Police also continuously warn people to be careful when booking cheap travel combos online to avoid losing money. When detecting fraudulent behavior, people should report it to the nearest police station for guidance on how to handle it.
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