Police warning about "5-star room for 500,000 VND/night" promotion

(NLDO) – Da Nang police instruct residents and tourists on how to check the authenticity of hotels to avoid booking scams during peak tourist seasons.

On May 5, Da Nang City Police issued a warning about the trick of impersonating Fanpages to defraud hotel deposits in the area.

Accordingly, in the digital age, booking hotels, buying airline tickets or planning travel itineraries via social networks like Facebook has become popular. This is a "fertile ground" for scammers to operate.

How to check the authenticity of Fanpages on Facebook. Photo: Da Nang Police

Recently, many fake Fanpages impersonating high-end hotels in Da Nang as well as famous destinations such as Nha Trang, Phu Quoc, Sa Pa... have appeared widely on social networks, with the aim of appropriating tourists' deposits.

The trick of the subjects is to create Fanpages with interfaces similar to the official Fanpages of famous hotels. Then, the subjects "run" advertisements with attractive offers such as "5-star rooms priced from only 300,000 - 500,000 VND/night", with invitations to "book now", "limited offers".

When users are interested, the subjects proactively text and call to persuade customers to transfer a deposit of 30% - 50% of the room value, promising to refund if the customer cancels the room. However, after receiving the deposit, the fake Fanpages quickly delete the page and cut off the connection. The contact phone numbers are often junk SIM cards, making verification difficult.

Faced with the above situation, Da Nang Police recommends that people and tourists need to be vigilant and apply the following measures:

Check the Fanpage carefully, look at the date the page was created, the number of followers and the reviews. Fake pages often have low interaction or are newly created.

Contact the hotel directly, call to confirm information via the official phone number published on the website or Google Maps.

Absolutely do not transfer money to personal accounts. Reputable hotels often require deposits through company accounts or booking platforms such as Agoda, Booking, Traveloka...

In particular, be careful with overly attractive offers. 5-star room rates reduced to 1/2 or 1/3 of market price are suspicious signs.

Also, check the transparency of your Fanpage: Go to "About" then "Page Transparency" to check the name change history, the country where the page was created, and the admin information.

When people discover suspicious behavior, they should immediately report it to the authorities for timely handling.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/canh-bao-cua-cong-an-ve-uu-dai-phong-5-sao-gia-500000-dong-dem-196250505124000792.htm