Fake hotel fanpages are rampant to scam people, even with the seal of the Department of Tourism.

Recently, many tourists have been tricked into paying deposits for rooms by people who set up fanpages for homestays and hotels in Dak Lak province.

A series of resorts, hotels, and homestays in the former Phu Yen province (now Dak Lak) had their fanpages impersonated - Photo: MINH CHIEN

Recently, many articles have appeared on social networks reporting that tourists were scammed when booking rooms through fanpages at resorts, hotels, and homestays in Dak Lak province (new).

Fake fanpage with high number of followers, issuing booking vouchers with stamps

A booking form with a QR code and even the stamp of the Department of Tourism was sent to tourists by a fake fanpage - Photo: MINH CHIEN

Ms. Pham Thi Huyen Thoai (resident of Binh Kien ward, Dak Lak) said that on July 3, her whole family planned to go to Cu Lao Mai Nha (O Loan commune, Dak Lak) for a vacation. When searching on Facebook, she found the Nang House fanpage and contacted to book a room. After being consulted, she deposited a room for nearly 1.4 million VND.

"I transferred money via the QR code on the payment slip, and saw that the receipt had a stamp, and the recipient was a company. After I finished transferring, they told me that I had to write the correct booking code because they couldn't check it. Then they asked me to transfer money again with the amount of 1,350,000 VND with the syntax they prepared. I saw many unusual things so I didn't follow it and asked for a refund of the deposit, but they hung up on me," said Ms. Thoai.

Similarly, Ms. Le Hoai Trang (a tourist from Ho Chi Minh City) said that in April this year, she booked a room at SM Beach Resort (Binh Kien ward, old Phu Yen) through a fanpage.

Luckily, at that time, she saw that the admin of this fanpage responded very curtly to customers and continuously urged them to transfer money into their accounts. Suspicious, she stopped the transaction. Later, when she called the hotline number on the resort's website, she realized she had been scammed.

"Tourists really feel like they are lost in a maze, not knowing what is real and what is fake. When searching, they found that the fake fanpage has more followers than the real fanpage," said Ms. Trang.

Posing as a tourist contacting the fake fanpage of Nắng House, Tuoi Tre Online was also sent a similar booking form.

Notably, the booking form also has a fake seal of the Deputy Director of the Department of Tourism and a QR code to transfer money to the account of INFINITE VN Company Limited.

Seeing the reporter hesitate, the fanpage kept urging, then said they would cancel the booking because there were many inquiries.

We asked for direct consultation, but when we called the hotline, no one answered.

Tourists need to be alert and should book rooms directly.

The fake fanpage (left) has more followers than the real fanpage, fooling many customers - Photo: screenshot

A representative of Nắng House said that they have received many cases of customers reporting that they have booked rooms but booked through fake fanpages. The unit also continuously posted warnings, as well as regularly reported fake fanpages but could not handle them thoroughly, so they created a separate website for customers to book rooms.

Mr. Ho Van Tien, Chairman of Phu Yen Tourism Association, said that currently on Facebook, nearly 70% are fake fanpages of accommodation establishments... Many places have reported to the authorities and posted warnings, but this situation still continues.

"To avoid risks, tourists need to be alert and can book rooms through reputable applications and websites such as booking.com, Agoda, Traveloka... or go directly to the facility to book rooms. Many units have websites that tourists can access to get hotline numbers or contact local tourism promotion information centers for support," said Mr. Tien.

Mr. Nguyen Le Vu - Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Dak Lak, said that he will compile information on fraud cases and send it to relevant units to prevent and handle them according to the law.

"In the near future, the department will require tourism businesses to provide information on official fanpages, post widely on mass media, and especially compile hotline numbers for tourists to know and contact," said Mr. Vu.

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MINH CHIEN

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/ro-tinh-trang-gia-mao-fanpage-khach-san-de-lua-dao-co-ca-con-dau-cua-so-du-lich-20250706145626741.htm