Many guests were scammed out of their room reservations in Nha Trang.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Le Thanh, Director of Khanh Hoa Province Department of Tourism, said that the department has sent a document to local tourism agencies requesting them to be more vigilant against the situation of many 4-5 star hotels in Nha Trang City having fake fanpages set up to defraud guests of their room deposits.

According to the Department of Tourism, most of the scammers' tricks are to pose as hotel consultants and other services. During the process of approaching customers, they enthusiastically advise and urge customers to transfer money. After the customers transfer money, these people do not provide the service as agreed, only when the customers check that their name is not in the system do they realize they have been scammed. The scammers then do not answer the phone or block communication.

The provincial Department of Tourism said this was a sophisticated and systematic scheme that had been repeated many times with many customers. "If tourists discover similar behavior, they should report it to the authorities for timely handling," said Ms. Thanh.

Ms. Nguyen Mong Tuong Ny, representative of Havana Nha Trang Hotel, said that recently the unit has also discovered many bad guys impersonating, creating fake pages on social networks and running advertisements. The hotel's content was copied exactly and "extremely sophisticatedly".

According to her, some fake pages often use hotel posts and change the phone number at the end; ask customers to book rooms through fanpages or only ask for a 50% deposit to create credibility.

"We tried to act as customers, contacting the fake sites to learn how they operate, and at the same time providing warnings and instructions to customers on the official website," said Ms. Ny, adding that we have sent a report to the Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa Tourism Association for a solution.

Most of the bad guys impersonate famous 4-5 star hotels and resorts in Khanh Hoa, located in prime locations, near Tran Phu coastal road, Nha Trang city such as Vinpearl Resort, Comodo, Melissa, Senia, Havana. The hotels have posted warnings about scams, but many fake pages are running advertisements, causing customers to be confused and defrauded of room reservations worth tens of millions of VND.

In mid-August, a female tourist in Nam Tu Liem district, Hanoi, along with 11 friends, was tricked by a social media account named "Thảo Cherry" into booking a room in Nha Trang. This account often has posts on the front pages of groups and provides enthusiastic advice, so the female tourist decided to transfer 5 million VND to hold the room.

After that, "Thảo Cherry" said that if the full amount was not paid, the hotel would not issue the room code and asked for an additional transfer of more than 8 million VND. After the transfer, the female tourist could not contact "Thảo Cherry". Currently, Ninh Hoa Town Police recorded nearly 100 tourists accusing a person named "Thảo Cherry" of fraud and appropriation of money using the above method.

According to the police, Thao Cherry’s real name is Nguyen Thi Thu Thao, 30 years old, residing in Ninh Xuan commune, Ninh Hoa town. Initial verification shows that this person is not present in the locality, temporarily residing in Tan Binh district, Ho Chi Minh City.

Because the incidents occurred online, Thao was in Ho Chi Minh City at the time of the fraud, so the investigation agency instructed the victim to file a complaint with the Ho Chi Minh City police.