Fraudulent "matrix" of criminals from appropriating hotel deposits

(Dan Tri) - A representative of an accommodation business in Nha Trang city said that the scammers not only stole several million dong in hotel room deposits but also lured their "prey" into a new form of fraud.

On the afternoon of November 11, in Nha Trang city, Khanh Hoa Provincial Department of Tourism held a dialogue conference to receive information from tourism businesses in 2024.

Through the conference, many businesses requested the authorities of Khanh Hoa province to promptly and thoroughly handle the situation of creating fake hotel pages (fanpages) to defraud and appropriate guests' room deposits.

Khanh Hoa Provincial Department of Tourism held a dialogue conference to receive information from tourism businesses in 2024 (Photo: Trung Thi).

A representative of a large hotel in Nha Trang city said that according to statistics, up to now in the city area, there have been 15 large accommodation establishments with fake fanpages set up by bad guys.

"My hotel alone has 5 fake pages, through which 5 guests were scammed out of 2-5 million VND/person. The scammers' methods are very sophisticated. What's more dangerous is that these people also lure customers from one scam to another," said the representative of the above hotel.

The fake pages are advertised heavily on social media platforms by bad guys, allowing many victims who want to travel to Nha Trang to access them.

According to statistics from the Khanh Hoa Provincial Department of Tourism, up to now, 15 hotels and resorts in the province have had their fanpages impersonated (Photo: Trung Thi).

When someone contacts them, the scammer will offer better deals than the real hotel and ask for a deposit. The deposit is about 50-70% of the room rate offered by the scammer.

Not stopping there, after the victim transferred money, the scammer announced that the hotel system was suspended, forcing the customer to transfer money a second time.

"After receiving the money for the second time, the scammer sent the victim a link. Through it, the victim was asked to click on the link to meet the hotel's accountant to get a refund. If the customer is not alert and follows the instructions, they may lose the security information in their bank account and lose all their money," said a representative of a hotel in Nha Trang city.

Due to the seriousness of the incident, hotel owners in Nha Trang city requested the authorities of Khanh Hoa province to promptly resolve this issue. The aim is to prevent scammers from affecting the image of tourism in Nha Trang city.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Le Thanh, Director of Khanh Hoa Province Department of Tourism, said that regarding the hotel deposit fraud, the department has transferred the case to Khanh Hoa Province Police for handling and investigation according to their authority.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Le Thanh said that the case of impersonating a fanpage to scam tourists has been transferred to the police for investigation (Photo: Trung Thi).

According to Ms. Thanh, the Department has recently stepped up communications to warn of this new form of fraud. Through that, it hopes that tourists will always be alert to avoid falling into the traps of scammers.

For hotel businesses, Ms. Thanh suggested that they should proactively warn customers. In addition, when detecting any fake pages, they should immediately report to the provincial Department of Information and Communications for handling and resolution according to their authority.

According to the Khanh Hoa Provincial Department of Tourism, as of October, the total number of visitors served by tourist accommodation establishments is estimated at 9.5 million, an increase of more than 55% over the same period in 2023. Of which, international visitors are estimated at more than 3.8 million, domestic visitors are estimated at 5.6 million; total revenue from tourists is estimated at more than 47,000 billion VND.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/du-lich/ma-tran-lua-dao-cua-ke-gian-tu-viec-chiem-doat-tien-dat-coc-khach-san-20241111200234062.htm