Tourists scammed out of over 1 billion VND when booking rooms online

(NLDO) - Ninh Binh Province Department of Tourism has coordinated to verify information about a tourist being scammed out of more than 1 billion VND when booking a room online.

On February 6, Mr. Bui Van Manh, Director of the Ninh Binh Province Department of Tourism, said that he had received information that a tourist booked a room on a fake fanpage of an accommodation facility in the province and was scammed out of more than 1 billion VND and the department was coordinating to handle the matter.

Minawa Kenh Ga Resort in Ninh Binh, where bad guys are constantly impersonating Facebook fanpages to commit fraud. Photo: Minawa Kenh Ga

According to Mr. Manh, after receiving information that guests were scammed when booking rooms online, the Department of Tourism assigned the relevant department to work with the resort to provide instructions on how to handle the situation and inform tourists. "Before the Lunar New Year 2025, this resort was impersonated by bad guys with a website, Facebook fanpage... with an interface similar to the main page of the unit to commit fraud," Mr. Manh informed.

According to the Director of Ninh Binh Department of Tourism, the unit regularly issues warnings to tourist areas, attractions, hotels, resorts, and homestays in the area to warn tourists not to be taken advantage of by bad guys and lose money.

Right before the Lunar New Year 2025, the Department of Tourism also sent a document to all units and accommodation establishments to strengthen security and safety at tourist sites. The Department requested that when units discover fake websites, fanpages, etc., they should immediately report to the authorities for timely prevention and handling, to avoid affecting and damaging tourists as well as the image of Ninh Binh tourism.

Official and fake Facebook fanpages of Minawa Kenh Ga Resort. Photo: Ninh Binh Police

Previously, the Ninh Binh Provincial Department of Tourism received information that a guest booked a room online for two adults and two children from January 31 to February 3 at the Minawa Kenh Ga resort in Ninh Binh.

After messaging the resort's fanpage, guests were advised by staff that weekend room rates start at 2.9 million VND, and holidays and Tet start at 3.6 million VND for a Twin Room. After discussion, guests finalized the room and transferred a deposit of 6.5 million VND to the resort for 2 rooms.

However, the resort reported that the customer had sent the wrong transfer and asked the customer to copy the code provided by the resort into the transfer content for the accounting department to confirm. After many consecutive transfers were reported as having the wrong content, the customer had transferred a total of more than 1 billion VND and could not contact the resort representative, only then did he realize that he had been scammed.

Inside the Minawa Kenh Ga Resort. Photo: Minh Duong

Regarding the impersonation of reputable accommodation establishments to defraud and appropriate property, in November 2024, Ninh Binh Provincial Police also issued a warning.

According to Ninh Binh Provincial Police, in the context of strong development of information technology, booking rooms at accommodation service establishments such as hotels, motels, homestays... online is becoming more and more popular because of its convenience and speed for tourists...

Taking advantage of this, some people have used tricks to defraud and appropriate property of tourists who need to stay by creating fake social networking sites of hotels, resorts, and homestays in order to appropriate property of tourists...

To avoid being scammed in the above form, Ninh Binh Provincial Police recommends that before choosing to book a hotel, resort, homestay... tourists need to carefully research information, choose a travel service provider or book available travel rooms on applications, and be extremely wary of invitations to book rooms at very cheap prices, 20%-50% lower than market prices.

After checking the contact information, you need to carefully study the booking and cancellation policy; ask the hotel to send you the booking confirmation information; you can also ask the service provider to show you the business licenses for the service in the area...

Source: https://nld.com.vn/khach-du-lich-bi-lua-hon-1-ti-dong-khi-dat-phong-tren-mang-196250206085328286.htm