Verifying information about a tourist being scammed out of more than 1 billion VND when depositing to rent a room

Speaking to the press on February 5, a representative of the Ninh Binh Province Department of Tourism said that the department had received information that a tourist had booked a room on a fake fanpage of an accommodation facility in the province and was scammed out of more than VND1 billion. The department is coordinating with relevant agencies to verify and clarify the matter.

Mr. Bui Van Manh, Director of Ninh Binh Province Department of Tourism, said that after receiving the above information, the department assigned the functional department to work with the resort to guide the handling and inform tourists.

Previously, according to information received by the Ninh Binh Provincial Department of Tourism, a guest booked a room online for 2 adults and 2 children from January 31 to February 3 at the Minawa Kenh Ga resort in Ninh Binh.

After messaging the resort's fanpage, guests were advised by staff that weekend room rates start at 2.9 million VND, and holidays and Tet start at 3.6 million VND for Twin Room.

During the discussion, the guest confirmed the room and transferred a deposit of 6.5 million VND to the resort for 2 rooms. However, the resort reported that the guest had sent the wrong transfer and asked the guest to copy the code provided by the resort into the transfer content for the accounting department to confirm.

After many consecutive times the customer transferred money and was reported with incorrect information, the customer transferred a total of more than 1 billion VND and could not contact the resort representative, only then did he realize he had been scammed.

Also according to Mr. Bui Van Manh, before the Lunar New Year 2025, this resort was impersonated by bad guys with a website, Facebook fanpage... with an interface similar to the unit's main page to carry out fraud.

The Department of Tourism regularly issues warnings to tourist areas, attractions, hotels, resorts, and homestays in the area to warn tourists so they are not taken advantage of by bad guys and lose money.

When units detect fake websites, fanpages, etc., they need to immediately report to the authorities to promptly prevent and handle them, avoiding impacts and damages to tourists as well as the image of Ninh Binh tourism.