On June 19, Noi Bai International Airport (NIA) received an email from a Taiwanese (Chinese) passenger about an unwanted experience when traveling to Vietnam for the first time.
According to information from NIA, the incident occurred at noon on June 7 at column 10 of International Terminal T2. The tourist said that a subject offered to take a technology taxi to the center of Hanoi.
This tourist said that the estimated taxi cost is about 400,000 VND. However, when arriving at the hotel on Hang Bong Street, the taxi driver showed tourists a fee display screen through a fake application.
The driver announced that the total cost of the vehicle was 900,000 VND, including the fee of 700,000 VND and the additional fee of 200,000 VND for parking in the airport.
"I was scammed," the tourist wrote in the email and said he had negotiated but the driver did not agree.
"I don't want money to affect my trip," he wrote. Finally, the customer paid, then took a photo of the license plate to complain to the authorities.
In fact, the actual fee for the journey from Noi Bai airport to Hanoi's Old Quarter is only about 350,000 VND, combined with 17,000 VND for the fee through the station, a total of 367,000 VND. The amount of money appropriated was 533,000 VND.
On June 22, Noi Bai International Airport Police Station completed the verification. The police identified the two subjects who illegally invited guests to ride and appropriate money as a couple including N.V.H. (male, born in 1984) and P.T.T. (female, born in 1988); all residing in Soc Son district, Hanoi.
According to the latest information from the airport, the subjects have been handled according to the law. The police are contacting the tourists to return the money.
This tourist said via email that he had ended his great trip in Vietnam. During the trip, visitors strolled around Hanoi's Old Quarter, stayed overnight in Ha Long Bay, took a boat to explore Trang An and visited Bai Dinh Pagoda in Ninh Binh.
The authorities recommend absolutely not using unofficial transportation services, not accepting invitations from strangers in the airport area.
Passengers should use official taxi services organized to pick up passengers in the designated areas within the airport, and proactively book their vehicles through reputable applications.
