Be careful with cheap tours during peak season

Summer is the peak season for tourism and also the time when many tourist scams appear. These extremely sophisticated tricks have defrauded and appropriated the property of many people and tourists...

Recently, many tourism service providers in the province have reported that customers have been scammed by booking hotel rooms via social networks. Among them, cheap travel and resort combos continue to be used by many scammers to exploit tourists' eagerness to travel and bargains.

The subjects set up fake fanpages of famous hotels and resorts, posting eye-catching, professional images and content along with a series of attractive promotions, making tourists lose their guard. They can copy the website interface of reputable travel companies, only changing a few characters in the domain name and placing the server abroad, making it easy for users to get confused if they do not check carefully.

Cheap travel combos are advertised on social networking sites.

After exchanging hotel and tour reservations with tourists, the subjects often ask for a deposit of 30-50% of the total service value. As soon as the money is received, the fraudulent fanpages quickly “evaporate”, leaving the victims clueless as to how to complain.

More sophisticatedly, after the first scam, the subjects also coordinated to scam more by pretending to be hotel/resort staff calling customers, informing them of "wrong transaction information" and instructing customers to refund. However, if they click on the link as instructed, the customer will have their OTP code stolen and lose all the money in their account.

The widespread scam situation, many people have become victims, making tourists worried. Ms. Ho Quynh Mai, Gia Cam ward, Viet Tri city said: "Although I have researched very carefully about Laos tours and called the agent to confirm, I still cannot feel secure about transferring the deposit. In the end, I chose to go to the travel agency to directly complete the registration procedure. Although it takes time, this is the safest solution to avoid being scammed."

A customer was scammed after booking a travel service on a social networking site.

According to representatives of some tourism service businesses in the province, in the current context, most reputable companies participate in the tourism chain, from accommodation, transportation to food and beverage services, sightseeing... Therefore, the tour prices between units cannot have too big a difference, especially during holidays and summer, when room occupancy rates at famous tourist destinations can reach 80 - 90%.

Mr. Pham Quang Huy - Director of Time Travel Company Limited affirmed: "Cheap tours or promotional air tickets are real, but most of them only apply to the low season. During the high season, especially holidays, weekends or summer, service prices often increase according to the law of supply and demand. Therefore, if there is a unit advertising surprisingly cheap prices, deeply discounted 30 - 50% for a package tour including air tickets, 3 - 5 star hotels, "hot" destinations... then customers need to be especially vigilant, because there is a high possibility that it is a trick to scam or the service quality is not as committed".

There are types of scams that do not take all the money but make customers "laugh and cry" because the service is not as advertised. Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Lan - Director of Dat Viet Xanh Investment and Tourism Joint Stock Company, Chairman of Phu Tho Province Tourism Association warned: "Currently, there are two common forms of scams. One is, the buyer transfers money but does not receive any service. Two is, there is still service but the quality is extremely poor: Hotels, villas, and yachts are advertised as 5 stars but in reality are only 2-3 stars; tours have all paid attractions cut off; meals are simple, and customers are even "forced" to go to shopping places to buy poor quality goods."

Faced with the above worrying situation, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has repeatedly advised people to be vigilant when choosing tourism products, especially promotional tours with surprisingly low prices. Consumers should ask companies to provide full tour information: Time, means of transportation, list of destinations, hotel standards, food and beverage levels, insurance, tour guides, etc. At the same time, prioritize choosing services from reputable, long-standing companies and agents so that they can respond and complain when necessary.

Many companies organize sharing and direct consultation with customers about combos and travel services.

Not only tourism agencies, the Ministry of Public Security also continuously issues warnings about common scams such as: Advertising tours, airline tickets, cheap hotel rooms with "seemingly attractive" amenities; requesting a deposit of 30 - 50% to appropriate; faking websites/fanpages of reputable companies; using fake receipts and payment invoices to deceive buyers...

To avoid falling into the scam trap, the Ministry of Public Security recommends that people should: Carefully check the information of the service provider, request to present the business license, tax code, practice certificate; prioritize using fanpages, websites with blue ticks or verified by major social networking platforms; avoid transferring money through intermediaries, personal accounts, especially when the reliability has not been verified, confirm directly with the accommodation or airline after booking the service; when there are signs of suspicion, promptly contact the local police agency for instructions.

In the context of the tourism industry recovering and developing strongly, especially during peak seasons, the need to find cheap tours is completely legitimate. However, consumers need to be alert and careful to avoid becoming "prey" of increasingly sophisticated scams. A perfect vacation comes not only from attractive destinations, but also from the wise and knowledgeable choices of each tourist.

Nhu Quynh

Source: https://baophutho.vn/can-trong-voi-tour-du-lich-gia-re-mua-cao-diem-233384.htm