I'm afraid to book rooms through fan pages because of widespread scams.

The booking confirmation form from the fraudulent fan page has illegible bank transfer details, tricking customers into filling in incomplete information to request additional payments.

Vu Khanh Ly, a resident of Thanh Hoa , is still upset about being scammed out of two million dong when booking a room at MiAmi Mountain Retreat homestay in Ta Xua through their fanpage at the end of January. Having been scammed online once before, Ly carefully checked the fanpage before agreeing to transfer a 70% deposit, approximately two million dong. Later, the fanpage administrator messaged her saying the booking failed because she had entered the wrong information in the transfer details, preventing the system from verifying her name and customer code.

If Ly wanted to book the room, she had to return the deposit and provide the correct transaction details, but she disagreed and requested a refund. She received instructions for a refund through the " VNPay receives refunds from businesses" feature. The verification code consisted of 7 digits, "8996933," which she had to enter in the money transfer field – equivalent to over 8.9 million VND – along with a refund request in the transaction details.

"When I got there, I knew I'd been scammed," she said, adding that before blocking contact, the scammers even sent her taunting messages. After this experience, Ly admitted she was afraid to book through fan pages and would choose safer methods such as through OTA channels if she needed to find accommodation.

Also at the beginning of the year, Chu Thanh Ha, a resident of Hanoi , was scammed out of a one million dong deposit using a similar tactic when booking a room through the Seashells Phu Quoc Hotel & Spa fanpage. The scammer also tricked her into transferring the deposit back with instructions for system confirmation, but the female tourist realized the deception and called the hotel directly to verify.

According to Ha, the scammers often run advertisements with attractive posts that entice viewers to inquire about bookings. The script for interacting with customers, from the initial offer to the refund process and rebooking, is professional, leading many to fall into the trap. Furthermore, the bank accounts used by the scammers are company accounts, creating a sense of credibility; in Ha's case, the hotline number even ended with four 9s, further increasing her trust.

"I heard a lot about scams and took precautions, but I still got scammed," she said, adding that she should have cross-checked the information on sites like Google before making a transaction. The amount of money scammed wasn't huge, but it still made Ha afraid to book rooms through fan pages because the scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated.

In early February, a tourist named Tan from Hai Phong reported being scammed out of one billion VND when booking a resort in Ninh Binh using a similar tactic. In most cases of fraud through booking via fanpages, when customers want a refund, the perpetrators usually instruct them to receive the refund through the VNPay feature.

However, a representative from VNPay affirmed that they do not provide any booking services on social media platforms and do not have a refund feature as the fraudsters have exploited to commit the scam.

"The impersonation by fraudsters causes financial losses to customers and seriously damages our reputation," a representative of the company stated.

Fake fanpage with six times the number of likes and followers of a real fanpage.

Similar scams are occurring at many tourist destinations nationwide, especially during peak season. Since the end of last year, Serena Resort Kim Boi has twice detected cases of fake fanpages used to scam people out of money via bank transfers, with some customers losing over 20 million VND. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Binh, Deputy General Manager of the resort, advised tourists to contact the accommodation directly, check the hotline and website that have been registered with the Ministry of Industry and Trade before conducting any transactions.

Ha Giang also recorded a number of scams in 2024, and representatives from the Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark said that the fraudulent fanpages are often operated by individuals outside the area. Tourists fall into the trap because they are careless and do not contact through official sources posted by the local authorities, such as the website, fanpage of the management board, or the tourism promotion center.

"Some of our pages also have thousands of followers, but fraudulent pages have too many tricks to attract tourists' attention," a representative said, encouraging tourists to carefully check the list provided by the competent authorities.

In Vung Tau, since the end of 2023, the Department of Tourism of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province has received six documents from tourism businesses regarding scams perpetrated by individuals creating fake fan pages impersonating hotels to trick tourists into booking rooms. Through monitoring and feedback from these fan pages and groups, the department has learned that hundreds of tourists have been scammed using sophisticated methods, originating from servers located abroad, making it difficult to handle the cases.

Besides increasing reminders and communication efforts, the Department of Tourism is developing a provincial tourism application, in addition to its existing website and fanpage. Once completed, the department will strengthen communication and introduce tourists to this official and reliable information channel, providing a reliable source for comparison with fake fanpages.

According to Facebook security expert Vu Ngoc Anh, obtaining a blue verification badge (certifying ownership of a fanpage) from Facebook is not easy, but the black market has many sources for buying and selling verified fanpages for around 80 million VND. Many scam groups may buy these verified fanpages for malicious purposes.

However, they often choose to use a normal fanpage, register it with a verified badge, and then change the name to match the target page. The scam group will then "report" the copyright of the legitimate fanpage to easily operate online. Mr. Ngoc Anh said that a fanpage being flagged for copyright infringement can stem from many uncontrollable reasons, such as using copyrighted music or images. In some cases, high-tech scammers can directly hack (take over) the official fanpage.

In the case of a fanpage that has changed its name, travelers can check the page's information section. However, if the fanpage has been hacked, Mr. Ngoc Anh said it is very difficult to distinguish between the real and fake. This expert advises booking through OTA channels or calling directly, and checking multiple sources to verify.

TH (according to VnExpress)

Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/so-dat-phong-qua-fanpage-vi-lua-dao-tran-lan-404908.html