Impersonating Facebook to scam hotel reservations is happening again in a sophisticated way

Long vacations are an opportunity for Facebook to fake room sales scams. In the photo: Tourists visit the Dinh Co-Long Hai area.

Old trick, new victim

Ms. D.TPD (Ho Chi Minh City) was a victim of online booking scams. On the recent Hung Kings' Commemoration Day, she planned to travel to Ho Tram, Xuyen Moc. Surfing the web, a series of 4-5 star resorts appeared with beautiful views, sparkling pictures and clips. After choosing, she decided to book a room at Emerald Ho Tram Resort because she saw that Facebook had a blue tick (main page) and a large number of followers with 16 thousand people. Even more noteworthy, the room price was reduced by 20%, with free dinner buffet and breakfast buffet.

“A 2-day, 1-night vacation for a family of 3 on a holiday at a luxury resort for only 5.4 million VND, with 2 buffet breakfasts and dinners and many other incentives, was such a bargain that I immediately transferred a 50% deposit to reserve a room. Close to the departure date, I contacted the resort to check the booking and was shocked to find out I had been scammed. I texted and called the phone number we had previously made the transaction with, but it was all off,” Ms. D.TPD said.

Similarly, Ms. TTH (Phu My City) was tricked into booking a room with a different trick. Wanting to go to Da Lat for the holiday on April 30, she surfed Facebook and accidentally saw an attractive homestay advertisement from a fanpage, so she decided to transfer a deposit of 1 million VND. As soon as the money was transferred, she received a call claiming to be from the homestay staff, asking to transfer the money back due to a "system error".

This employee explained that there was a mistake between the letter “o” and the number “0” in the deposit code, so he asked her to do it again. She did not agree because the money had been deducted from her account. Immediately, another call claiming to be a bank employee offered to help her get back the money she had mistakenly transferred. “This person called on video and asked me to share my screen to guide me through the steps to access my bank account. Realizing that this was a group of scammers, I hung up,” Ms. TTH recounted.

Fake Emerald Ho Tram Resort booking form.

Raise awareness

There is no denying that the trend of shifting from direct shopping to online channels is driven by the digitization of the tourism industry, technological developments and changing consumer behavior as customers increasingly seek faster, more transparent and flexible ways to book services. However, taking advantage of the psychology of liking to read reviews, surf TikTok, Facebook... the trick of taking advantage of cyberspace to create websites, Facebook fanpages with interfaces identical to the original, selling cheap vacations... is also flourishing.

Many resorts share that even the resort's fanpage administrators cannot easily detect that it is a fake Facebook because whatever the real Facebook posts, the fake Facebook immediately copies it. The fake Facebook also runs ads, with a sparkling interface to attract viewers. Even to promptly update room prices, the fake Facebook interacts with the real Facebook, calls the resort hotline to ask for the price list and asks for actual service images.

However, all fraudulent booking channels have one thing in common, the room price is often cheaper than the price announced on the website or official fanpage, taking advantage of consumers' desire for cheap prices.

A representative of Emerald Ho Tram Resort said: “Most resorts and hotels, when discovering that customers have been scammed, provide support in many forms, including discounts, support in reporting to authorities…”.

How to check and compare information when booking a room

Resorts instruct visitors to search Google for the name of the resort/hotel they want to stay at before booking. The information and phone number of the resort/hotel will appear on the right corner of the screen. This is Google's location feature. Phone numbers that have been verified by Google will be displayed, fake sites cannot do this.

Tourism nationwide is preparing for the long holiday of April 30 and summer. On digital platforms (Zalo, Facebook, TikTok, website) of a series of large hotels and resorts in Ho Tram, Phuoc Hai and Vung Tau areas, warnings have been issued about the recurrence of fake Facebook scams to buy cheap rooms. The resorts have pointed out the "free beer and peanuts" trick of fake Facebook such as 20-50% discount on room rates, 3 free meals, spa, vouchers... At the same time, they affirmed that reputable and branded accommodation establishments would never have such cheap prices with so many incentives. This is a trick to appeal to consumers' greed.

Mr. Hoang Ngoc Linh, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial Tourism Association, said that online room booking scams are becoming more and more sophisticated, causing outrage among tourists and negatively affecting the image of local tourism. During the recent Hung Kings Commemoration Day holiday, some resorts were targeted by 5-6 fake Facebooks, but some resorts were targeted by up to 15 fake Facebooks selling cheap rooms.

The Tourism Association has compiled a list of resorts and hotels with fake Facebook accounts and sent it to the police and Facebook representatives in Vietnam. The Vietnam Tourism Association has requested the above agencies to jointly review and prevent fake websites and fanpages, strictly handle fraudulent subjects, and raise awareness when booking services and making payment transactions.

Article and photos: DANG KHOA

Source: https://baobariavungtau.com.vn/du-lich/202504/mao-danh-facebook-lua-dat-phong-tai-dien-tinh-vi-1039480/