(QBĐT) - Recently, in the province, there have been cases of hotels and tourist establishments being impersonated by bad guys to scam. With the common method of stealing images, information and building fanpages that look exactly like the "owner", the scammers have made some people "fall into the trap", causing economic losses and confusion for tourists, affecting tourism business activities in the area.

Sophisticated tricks

Mr. Le The Duy Hoang, CEO of Poseido Hotel Quang Binh, Truong Phap Street, Dong Hoi City, said that recently, the hotel received phone calls from a number of customers who said that after transferring money to book a room through the fanpage named Poseido Hotel Quang Binh, it was blocked and could not be contacted. After investigating and verifying the customer's transaction information, it was discovered that the hotel's fanpage was impersonated and due to subjectivity and not thoroughly researching the information, the customers transferred money to scammers.

“Along with stealing images and information of the hotel and creating a fanpage identical to the “owner”, these subjects lure tourists to book rooms with promotional policies and unusually cheap services. This makes it easy for some customers to fall into the scam trap. After customers transfer the deposit, these subjects will block contact and disappear. As soon as we discovered the above impersonation, we promptly posted information advising customers to be vigilant and carefully check information before transferring money to book a room. We also collected related information and reported to the police about the subjects' fraudulent behavior, and reported the fake Facebook page to Facebook for timely handling,” added Mr. Le The Duy Hoang.

Similarly, Len Chua Ecostay tourist area in Xuan Trach commune (Bo Trach) was also impersonated by criminals. Mr. Nguyen Truong Thinh, manager of Len Chua Ecostay said: With the same trick of stealing images, information and creating fanpages, the subjects consulted customers in a very professional manner, so if not careful and vigilant, tourists will easily fall into the trap.

In order to collect full information and evidence of the scammer to report to the police, I carefully reviewed and directly contacted the fake fanpage. After discussing and agreeing to book a room, I intentionally asked for the phone number to add Zalo as a friend, but the subject requested to contact only via the fanpage. In this situation, we promptly updated information about the scammer and used many channels to warn customers, especially during the peak tourist season.

Some other hotels and resorts, such as Melia Vinpearl, Bang Onsen, Sam… also faced similar situations, greatly affecting tourists and the operations of tourism businesses. With sophisticated tricks, the subjects chose newly opened hotels and accommodation establishments, with information, images, likes and interactions on fanpages that were not large enough for customers to identify.

What to do to prevent?

In order to prevent and limit damage to tourists and protect the reputation of businesses, hotels, resorts, and tourism businesses have been proactively grasping and updating information, promptly detecting fake fanpages to warn customers and report to the police.

“We will try to share our information on all social media platforms, connect and advise customers regularly; at the same time, we hope that customers will be more vigilant and equipped with the necessary skills when making online transactions to avoid falling into the trap of scammers,” said Mr. Le The Duy Hoang.

Discussing this issue, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Dang Dong Ha said: “After grasping information about the subjects and tricks of impersonating hotels and tourist establishments to commit fraud, the department has conducted inspections and verified the information to promptly take preventive measures. In the coming time, the department's professional departments will strengthen their grasp of the situation and tricks of the fraudsters, closely coordinate with the police, mass media, accommodation establishments... to regularly update, propagate and warn to prevent damage to tourists, and build a safe and friendly tourism environment in Quang Binh”.

On the side of the police agency, Colonel Nguyen Thanh Liem, member of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee, Director of the Provincial Police Department affirmed: This is a fairly common form of fraud in cyberspace and as soon as it appeared in the area in early April, the Provincial Police Department grasped and warned. At the same time, when detecting impersonators to scam, hotels and tourist establishments need to proactively notify the police agency so that the professional departments can monitor, handle, prevent and warn to ensure the safety of tourists during the new tourist season. For people, in order to avoid being trapped by scammers, it is necessary to equip themselves with the necessary skills when transacting in cyberspace, carefully checking information and verifying directly over the phone, especially when making money transfers.

The Provincial Police Director also warned that, along with the current popular scam of impersonating hotel and accommodation fan pages, depending on the time, scammers will study and grasp the trends of activities and people's psychology to build appropriate "scenarios". Therefore, it is very necessary for each citizen to always be vigilant, update and equip themselves with the necessary knowledge and skills when participating in transactions on the Internet and must always pay attention to ensuring their own safety and preventing and neutralizing the scams of these subjects. When being scammed by these subjects, people need to proactively and actively cooperate with the police to investigate and strictly handle violations according to the law, joining hands to build a safe and healthy cyberspace.

Ngoc Mai