Booking a hotel room in Da Lat, customer was scammed out of tens of millions of dong

(NLDO) – Wanting to book a hotel room in Da Lat for a group of friends to go on a trip at the end of the year, a customer was scammed out of tens of millions of dong because of a fake fanpage.

Reflecting to Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper , Ms. Ngoc Bich (residing in Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City) said that she had just gone to the police station where she resided to report being scammed of nearly 40 million VND in deposit for a hotel in Da Lat.

Specifically, recently she and her group of friends needed to book a hotel room for the weekend in Da Lat. She found the Tui Ba Gang Hotel (Ward 1, Da Lat, Lam Dong) on ​​a travel fanpage.

After discussing the room requirements, check-in date and having a "Reservation Receipt" with full information, address, check-in date, payment amount, Ms. Bich was asked to transfer 3.5 million VND as a deposit. However, when she had just transferred the money, the other side informed her that she had transferred the wrong content and would return the deposit to her.

"The impostor said I transferred the wrong account number and content, and needed to wait for the account to be reactivated to get the deposit refunded. The scammer also called me on video to instruct me to follow the steps with the aim of refunding the deposit. However, the more I followed the steps, the more money was deducted from my account. When I lost nearly 40 million VND, I was shocked to realize that I had been scammed ," said Ms. Bich.

Initially, she transferred a deposit of 3.5 million VND, but Ms. Bich was scammed out of a total of nearly 40 million VND by impersonating a hotel fanpage in Da Lat.

Contacting the Tui Ba Gang Hotel, the reporter learned that not only Ms. Bich but many other people were also scammed out of deposits ranging from several million to several tens of millions of dong with similar tricks.

The hotel staff said they had received complaints from guests, so they had temporarily stopped advertising on social media, stopped accepting reservations via Facebook, and reported the impersonation to the police in Da Lat. The hotel also posted a warning on its official fanpage about the impersonation.

According to the reporter, the situation of impersonating 3-4 star hotels in tourist cities such as Da Lat, Nha Trang, Vung Tau... at the end of the year is not uncommon. The newspaper Nguoi Lao Dong also recently reported the proliferation of online hotel booking scams.

A common trick is that customers who book a room are asked to transfer a deposit to confirm, after receiving the deposit, the scammers will continue to use tricks to entice customers to click on fake links with the promise of additional discounts for online bookings and payments...

However, when clicking on these links, many customers had extra money deducted from their accounts without receiving any incentives.

Many 3-4 star hotels in tourist cities such as Da Lat, Nha Trang, Vung Tau have been impersonated by scammers by creating fake fanpages to scam. In the photo: Tui Ba Gang Hotel in Da Lat was impersonated, many people lost money because they transferred deposits to scammers.

According to tourism management agencies, impersonating accommodation establishments, especially 3-4 star hotels in tourist cities to scam money from booking rooms is not a new trick, often appearing during peak tourist seasons. The common point of this trick is that the room price is cheaper than the listed price announced by the owner to attract tourists' attention.

Lam Dong recently requested the police to investigate and strictly handle fraudsters who impersonate hotels to commit fraud. The Ba Ria - Vung Tau Tourism Management Agency also sent a dispatch to authorities at all levels requesting support in handling and promptly preventing bad actors who impersonate accommodation establishments to commit fraud.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/dat-phong-khach-san-o-da-lat-khach-bi-lua-hang-chuc-trieu-dong-196241223101635132.htm