Fake fanpage, real tricks
In the past 2 years, the number of tourists coming to Mang Den for sightseeing and relaxation has been increasing. Taking advantage of the increasing demand for rooms, fraudsters create fake fan pages for hotels, homestays and accommodation establishments in the area.
When customers contact them, these subjects request to transfer deposit money and then use many tricks to appropriate it.
Especially during the September 2nd holiday, there were about 10 cases of customers coming to my homestay to check in when they were shocked to learn that they had transferred money to fraudsters, not to themselves. The amount of money customers were scammed from 700,000 VND to nearly 2 million VND" - Ms. Trang - owner of Soc's House - Mang Den Homestay said.
The scammers operate quite sophisticatedly. They create fan pages with names and images similar to real accommodation establishments, then reload information and images posted by the establishment owner to make it difficult for customers to distinguish. Ms. Trang said that she regularly posts information warning customers about scams. On September 2nd holiday, although the establishment announced that rooms were out, there were still fake pages posting information that rooms were still available to approach tourists. Some customers, because they were too eager to have rooms to stay, transferred money to scammers.
According to Ms. Trang, when there is a need to book a room, tourists need to find the official fanpage of the accommodation establishment, and call directly to the hotline or video call to verify. Before transferring money, guests should find the name of the hotel or homestay on Google Maps, check the phone number and confirm the information with the accommodation establishment. Do not transfer the deposit when you are worried about running out of rooms without clear verification.
Be vigilant before transferring money
Also witnessing many times tourists being scammed when transferring room booking money at Mang Den, Mr. Bui Viet Ha, Chairman of Mang Den Tourism Association, said that this situation occurs when customers book rooms online but do not carefully check the information. According to Mr. Ha, one of the tricks often used by subjects is to offer large incentives to urge customers to transfer money.
“A few months ago, there were also customers who came to check in at my accommodation establishment and were shocked to learn that they had transferred money to fraudsters, not paid a deposit to the right hotel owner where they needed to stay,” Mr. Ha said.
Mr. Ha said that there are cases where subjects entice customers to deposit 100% of the room fee to get a 20% discount. Because they are greedy for incentives and do not verify carefully, many people have transferred money before realizing they have been scammed.
Online room booking scams not only occur in Mang Den but also appear in many provinces and cities across the country. Currently, accommodation establishments in Mang Den publicly announce hotline numbers on Google Maps. Therefore, when booking a room, tourists need to proactively call to verify with the accommodation establishment before transferring deposits.
Although businesses have warned customers in many forms of propaganda, unfortunately, during the September 2nd holiday, there are still many customers who are scammed out of deposits when booking accommodation in Mang Den" - Mr. Ha shared.
According to Mang Den Commune People's Committee, during the 5-day National Day holiday September 2, the locality attracted about 50,000 visitors to visit, relax and experience. The whole commune currently has about 170 accommodation establishments with about 1,800 rooms. Mr. Pham Van Thang - Chairman of Mang Den Commune People's Committee - confirmed that there is a situation of subjects defrauding tourists when depositing money to rent accommodation establishments in Mang Den. This adversely affects the local tourism image.
The fraudsters were identified as not from Mang Den but operating from elsewhere. Mr. Thang said that the commune has grasped the information and reported it to the police for handling. At the same time, directing functional agencies to actively propagate and advise tourists to be careful and verify carefully before transferring deposits when renting rooms.
