Tourists 'feel like they are being psychologically manipulated' when transferring 1 billion VND to book a room

On the afternoon of February 6, a representative of the Cyber ​​Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention Department of Hai Phong City Police said that they had received a report of being scammed for booking a room online from Ms. Tan, who lives in Hai Phong.

According to Ms. Tan, she booked 2 rooms at Minawa Kenh Ga resort in Ninh Binh on the 26th of Tet (January 25) through a blue-tick fanpage (verified by the owner) named Minawa Kenh Ga Resort & Spa Ninh Binh. The consultant kept urging her to transfer the deposit because of high demand and the rooms were sold out very quickly.

Initially, the two parties agreed to deposit 6.5 million VND for two rooms, but the "consultant" informed the customer that the transfer had been made in the wrong content, resulting in the booking not being confirmed. Ms. Tan was asked to copy the code provided by the "resort" into the transfer content for the accounting department to confirm, and at the same time return the initial deposit.

The scammers sent a tourist in Hai Phong an instructional clip, but it was of low quality and difficult to understand, so she asked them to provide direct support.

From there, the scammers lured her into the bank's money transfer section, entered the code they provided in the amount box, and wrote "activate VNpay" in the transfer content box. The codes provided by the scammers were the numbers 9.5 million VND; 125.6 million VND; 379.6 million VND and 485.6 million VND. The total deposit and transactions according to the above codes were more than 1 billion VND.

"I was sure that was the code needed to get the money back, so I continued to transfer," said Ms. Tan, adding that she often made money transfers, but this time "it was like being psychologically manipulated." The account number to receive the money belonged to a company, so Ms. Tan still thought she was being supported by the staff. When she became suspicious and asked for the resort manager's number for support, the scammers immediately cut off contact and disappeared.

Ms. Vu Hang, Manager of Minawa Kenh Ga Resort, said she had heard about the incident on social media but had not received any requests for support or feedback from customers. She confirmed that the blue tick fanpage was fake and that the resort had previously been exploited by some bad guys to scam customers using similar tricks, with each customer losing about 20 million VND. Currently, Minawa Kenh Ga does not use a fanpage and only transacts directly or books rooms through OTA channels (online agents).

Director of Ninh Binh Department of Tourism Bui Van Manh said he was aware of the incident and was working with the resort to instruct tourists on how to avoid being scammed. Since November 2024, the department has warned about impersonating fanpages to scam and appropriate tourists' property.

"We will step up propaganda on digital platforms to advise tourists to be vigilant," said Mr. Manh.

* The name of the guest booking in the article has been changed.