Beware of scams during the busiest tourist season of the year.

The peak summer tourist season is always a lucrative time for services, but it's also when sophisticated scams targeting tourists flourish.

Tricks used to pickpocket tourists.

Taking advantage of the increased demand for travel during the summer and the fact that many customers book hotel rooms through social media, scammers often create numerous fake fan pages impersonating famous hotels and resorts, operating professionally to mislead people.

Accordingly, these fan pages often post vibrant travel images, and some even have a blue verification badge from Facebook, leading people to completely trust them.

Then, exploiting tourists' fear of missing out, these individuals frequently post attractive promotions and offers. When contacted, they always use the tactic of advertising "only 1-2 rooms left at a discounted price." They then request a deposit to reserve a room. After receiving the deposit, customers can no longer contact these fake fan pages.

Even more dangerously, many scammers steal people's money by claiming it's a mistaken transfer and repeatedly requesting them to retransfer the funds.

In fact, there have been many cases where victims have lost billions of dong after falling victim to these scams.

People need to be wary of a range of travel scams on social media. (Illustrative image)

The tactic of selling cheap airline tickets is also commonly used by scammers, taking advantage of the fact that airfares usually increase during peak seasons.

Similarly, a common tactic used by these scammers is to impersonate the fan pages or websites of reputable airlines or official ticket agents. The scammers then typically request a quick bank transfer to "reserve a seat" and eventually cut off communication or report an error. Sometimes, customers receive fake booking/reservation codes and only discover the transaction doesn't exist upon arrival at the airport.

Why are tourists so easily tricked?

Recalling the case of Ms. VTT, who lost billions of VND in early February when booking hotel rooms on a verified Facebook fan page of a famous resort in Ninh Binh , lawyer Tran Tuan Anh - Director of Minh Bach Law Firm - said that besides the sophistication of the scammers, the complacency of the victims cannot be ignored.

" Scammers can easily carry out their activities because they know how to exploit the trust of victims, manipulate their psychology, and use sophisticated tactics. Meanwhile, tourists are also careless and lack practical knowledge," said lawyer Tuan Anh.

Online travel scams are often very sophisticated. (Illustrative image)

Mr. Tuan Anh emphasized that people need to know that the Facebook blue checkmark is not the most reliable way to verify credibility because it can be easily faked due to the lax requirements for obtaining a blue checkmark. Currently, many websites even provide detailed instructions on how to easily create fake blue checkmarks or take them from old, inactive accounts, rename them, and transform them into accounts with full blue checkmarks.

According to the victim's account, the scammer initially offered enthusiastic and thoughtful advice, causing the victim to lower their guard. During the process of luring the victim, the scammer used various tactics to exert psychological pressure, such as constantly calling to urge them to get their money back, informing them that rooms were almost fully booked, or repeatedly reporting transaction errors, causing the victim to panic and follow instructions in the hope of recovering their money.

In addition, they impersonate professionals by making video calls and creating fake audio like that of a customer service representative to increase credibility. To avoid suspicion, the scammers do not directly ask victims to transfer money but instruct them to enter a code into the banking app, which is actually a money transfer order with unclear and misleading instructions.

“ Another factor that makes it easy for them to carry out their scams is the exploitation of loopholes in personal security. Many users do not have the habit of carefully checking information before transactions, while social media platforms do not strictly control fake fan pages. After successfully scamming, they even shut down the victim's Facebook account to prevent them from warning others.”

"All of the above factors indicate that these individuals have sophisticated and well-planned strategies and excellent psychological manipulation skills, causing victims to become confused and easily fall into their trap," Mr. Tuan Anh said.

According to lawyer Tran Tuan Anh, nowadays, with the development of society, payment via bank accounts has become common. This inadvertently creates conditions for online fraud to become more complex than ever, especially the form of impersonating businesses and official fan pages to trick people into transferring money.

Therefore, people need to be more vigilant and absolutely refrain from transferring money to unknown personal or organizational accounts online.

Before making any transactions, carefully check the recipient's information, verify it through official channels such as websites, call centers, or reliable contact addresses, and always question whether the process is legitimate.

For travel and vacations, when booking hotels, tickets, or making online purchases, prioritize reputable platforms or large e-commerce websites. Furthermore, absolutely do not provide your OTP code, bank account password, or personal information to anyone online.

Virtue

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/can-trong-sap-bay-lua-dao-trong-mua-du-lich-nong-nhat-nam-ar940073.html