Nearly 20 customers risk losing billions of dong after consecutive tour cancellations

Nearly 20 people reported being scammed by United Kingdom International Travel Services Joint Stock Company when buying tours to Türkiye. Not only did their tours cancel, but they also don't know when they will get their money back.

Many customers were offered tours to Turkey by Mr. Ho Ngoc Tin (32 years old, residing in Hoang Mai, Hanoi ). Mr. Tin collected money but canceled the tour on the departure date - Screenshot: THAO THUONG

Many customers were upset when buying tours to Turkey from United KingDoom International Travel Services Joint Stock Company (Tan Son Hoa Ward, Ho Chi Minh City), because the tours were canceled many times and they did not know when they would get their money back. The amount of money for nearly 20 people amounted to billions of VND.

The company is managed by Mr. Ho Ngoc Tin (32 years old, permanent resident of Hoang Mai, Hanoi).

Excitedly announced the tour, quietly canceled the tour and then... apologized

Reflecting to Tuoi Tre Online, Ms. Tran Thi Bach Phuong (65 years old, Ho Chi Minh City) said that in 2022, she bought a tour to Laos from Mr. Tin's company and kept in touch via Zalo.

In mid-July, Mr. Tin sent a message to two customers who had purchased a tour to Türkiye but had a stroke and had to postpone their flight. He invited Ms. Phuong to "take their place" at a preferential price of 28 million VND/person for a 9-day, 8-night trip, departing on August 17. If they transfer money to two people at once, the company will reduce the price by 1 million VND/person.

"I transferred 54 million VND. However, on the departure date, there was no visa, so I asked Mr. Tin to refund the money. But I had to transfer the money 3 times before I received the full amount. On August 30, Mr. Tin called again to say he had a visa, departing on September 7, and asked to transfer the money. I only transferred 28 million VND and transferred the full amount when the departure date was near. On the departure date... I could not contact Mr. Tin," Ms. Phuong recounted.

Similarly, Mr. Huynh Minh Dat (61 years old, Tan Binh ward, Ho Chi Minh City) and a group of 3 friends bought a tour from this company departing on September 7. Mr. Dat said he had transferred the full 112 million VND, with a price of 28 million VND/person.

In addition, Mr. Tin also offered to exchange USD at a preferential rate because "travel companies are favored", the amount of money many people have converted to USD is hundreds of millions of Dong.

Mr. Dat said: "On August 29, Mr. Tin sent a Zalo group message to the four of us to cancel the tour to Türkiye as per the signed contract without giving any reason. We went to the company's transaction office but could not meet or contact him. This is a sign of deceiving customers and appropriating property, so the group sent a petition to the authorities."

Previously, Mr. Dat was a regular customer of Mr. Tin with 5 tours but with names such as Cross-Vietnam Tourism, European Union Tourism Company (Eutourist) and currently United KingDoom International Travel Services Joint Stock Company.

Currently, on Facebook, there is a lot of information searching for Mr. Ho Ngoc Tin, claiming that Mr. Tin is a scammer.

On September 7, many customers sought to get their money back. Mr. Tin sent a letter of apology to customers with the reason... "life was at a standstill, the company lost liquidity and asked for a chance to fix things."

Beware of tour scams

On July 13, Ms. Nguyen Thi Khanh, Chairwoman of the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Association, acknowledged that stories of soliciting cases of customers who had accidents when buying tours, offering discounts or canceling tours multiple times, and not refunding money, etc., all show signs of fraud.

Ms. Khanh also said that representing a travel company that constantly changes its name and allows many incidents to be reported, proves that management is very lax.

"Those who reported being tricked into buying this tour should send their documents to the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Association immediately so that we can work with the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Department and the police to resolve the matter once and for all. We cannot let this situation happen again, as it will affect the tourism industry in general," Ms. Khanh emphasized.

In addition, Ms. Khanh recommends that people and businesses must carefully research information about the travel agency, its history of operations, etc. before booking a tour.

Meanwhile, according to a Ho Chi Minh City tourism expert, for domestic and international trips, before deciding to make a deposit, tourists need to research the information carefully.

This person recommends: "For older customers who are not familiar with technology, ask your children to check before making a deposit. Because nowadays, companies change their names, set up "ghost" addresses to scam and deceive authorities more and more. In particular, scams when buying tours in tourism activities are increasing, and buyers are unlikely to get their deposits refunded."

Once accused of receiving more than 1.2 billion VND from tourists and then disappearing

Previously in 2023, Mr. Ho Ngoc Tin, Director and owner of European Union Tourism Company Limited, English name Eutourist (No. 5 Cuu Long, Ward 2, Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City), was reported by the leaders of the Ho Chi Minh City Printing Association to have received more than 1.2 billion VND from customers and... disappeared.

Accordingly, 64 people transferred the entire 1.248 billion VND to Eutourist when purchasing a package tour to visit the All in Print China 2023 Exhibition Fair (a professional international exhibition on printing technology and equipment) in Shanghai, China... However, when the customers arrived at the airport, they discovered that the Eutourist leader had fled, so they had to cancel their trip.

After 2 years, Mr. Tin has continued to establish a new company named United KingDoom International Travel Services Joint Stock Company (Repulic building, 18 Cong Hoa, Tan Son Hoa ward, Ho Chi Minh City) with the position of Executive Director.

Tuoi Tre Online tried to contact Mr. Tin via phone number, but has not received a response.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bi-huy-tour-lien-tiep-gan-20-khach-nguy-co-mat-trang-tien-ti-2025091311245818.htm