"Disillusioned" with cheap tours
Nowadays, on social networks, it is not difficult to find communities selling vouchers and cheap travel combos such as: cheap travel; Hot deals vouchers & nationwide tour combos; hunting for cheap 5-star tours; cheap travel combos...
To attract buyers, many fanpages also launch promotional packages such as free breakfast and airport shuttle support. However, besides the tourism stimulus programs offered by reputable travel agencies, many people have been "disillusioned" when encountering fraudulent cheap travel packages.
Recently, Mr. Pham Ngoc Linh (lane 85 Nguyen Luong Bang - Dong Da) shared information on social networks about being scammed when buying a voucher for a 5-star Ha Long cruise. When he saw the advertisement "Promotional program for 5-star Ha Long Ambassador cruise, 3 days 2 nights for only 1.999 million VND/person", while the regular tour price on this cruise is 7.9 million VND/person.
Seeing that the tour price was too cheap, he booked it for 9 members, for a total of 18 million VND. To keep the voucher for the trip in May 2024, the consultant asked Mr. Linh to transfer 50% as a deposit. After transferring the money, Mr. Linh discovered that his account had been blocked by the fanpage. Suspecting that he had been scammed, he immediately contacted a similar service provider and was told that no other provider sold vouchers at the above price. The email that had verified the payment also had no response. At this time, Mr. Linh realized that he had bought a "fake" voucher.
Cases like Mr. Linh's are not isolated. Information from the Criminal Police Department (Ministry of Public Security) shows that the unit has just successfully dismantled a ring run by Tran Ha Mi (27 years old, residing in Quang Ninh province) who fraudulently purchased tours and booked hotel rooms at many VIP tourist areas at cheap prices to appropriate billions of VND from many customers.
With the rapid development of social networking platforms, many consumers still search for information, search for tours, cheap airline tickets or "hunt" for discount vouchers online. Taking advantage of this, many individuals and organizations have used sophisticated tricks, posting information about "super discounts" of 30 - 50% compared to the original price to defraud customers of their money.
Pham Dinh Ha, Director of Vietnam Unique Tours, 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 they can still use them because the subject registered to buy the air tickets in installments.
After using the service, customers will be asked to pay money from installment travel applications. “To avoid the authorities after committing fraud, the subjects often lock social network accounts, block or cancel contact information,” Mr. Ha informed.
Beware of cheap tours
Explaining the reason why some travel companies and hotels launch cheap combos, Chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association Vu The Binh shared that cheap travel combos are a combination of two or more travel services, the most common being transportation (air tickets) and accommodation (hotels, resorts). The price of the combo is also lower than the tour because the services are limited. "However, customers can easily be "trapped" by sellers with ambiguous information, so customers need to be alert and consider carefully before choosing," Mr. Binh advised.
Director of Vietsense Travel Company Nguyen Van Tai advises that if customers see a service combo with an unusually low price compared to the general level, they should carefully check it and not rush to buy it. In addition, it is necessary to understand that a combo is just a group of services, not all the full services for a trip like a tour. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully research what services the combo includes, the level of quality, the quantity/time of using the combo service (how many days and nights to stay, one-way or round-trip tickets)...
According to the Department of Information Security (Ministry of Information and Communications), to avoid losing money when buying cheap combos, people need to carefully research information when choosing travel packages, and should choose tour booking, room booking, and airline ticket booking services from reputable companies or through travel applications. At the same time, they need to be vigilant when receiving invitations to buy tour packages at prices that are too cheap compared to the general market price. In addition, they should be especially careful when the travel agency asks for a deposit to hold a seat, but should make direct payment transactions to clearly understand the address of the partner selling the combo.
In particular, for social networking sites (Fanpage) that sell and promote travel packages and cheap airline tickets, tourists should choose a reputable account to register and know the seller's information. After making a purchase, you should confirm the information about your room reservation and airline ticket reservation to promptly detect signs of fraud.
From the perspective of the management agency, Director of the Tourism Information Center (Vietnam National Tourism Administration) Hoang Quoc Hoa said that to avoid falling into the scam trap through the form of "Cheap travel combo", customers need to ask the place selling the travel package to provide information about the address and phone number of the hotel at the destination.
From there, check with the hotel about the promotional program with the tour sales partner or not. At the same time, check that the tour sales unit must have a clear identification, including the office address and specific transaction location. "The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism always updates and publicizes all official and legitimate databases on digital platforms. Tourists can look up to verify and check whether the information provided by the subjects is correct or not" - Mr. Hoa informed.
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