JOHOR BARU: Several people excited to finally go on an island getaway had their hopes dashed after the tour agency offering cheap holiday packages turned out to be a fake.A travel agency operator, who wanted to be known only as Wee, claimed that her company’s name and logo had been abused by fraudsters on social media to mislead victims into buying the non- existent packages.
“They advertised Redang Island holiday packages at around RM700 per person. I think the price attracted the victims as they had not travelled since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
“We realised the matter about two weeks ago after several victims called our office to check on the status of their bookings only to find out they had been scammed.
“The victims said they made payments to a personal bank account number provided by the ‘travel agent’ through their exchanges on Facebook and WhatsApp.
“According to the victims, once the payment was made, they could no longer contact the person,” said the 32-year-old when interviewed.
She lodged a police report after that and advised the victims to do the same.
She clarified that her agency did not offer Redang Island tour packages and had put up notices on their website and social media accounts to warn the public not to fall for such scams.
Wee said her office was still receiving two to three calls a day about the advertisements, either from victims or individuals who wanted to make a similar purchase.
“I found it frustrating when some of the callers still chose to believe the advertisement was real despite our efforts to inform them otherwise,” said Wee, who has been in the tourism industry for about 10 years.
Malaysian Chinese Tourism Association’s Johor chairman Edwin Tay Kian Chuan said about four travel agencies nationwide, including in Langkawi, had faced similar issues where their company information was abused by unscrupulous parties to trick potential travellers.The fraudsters usually made small changes to the company name and used the same logo to mislead consumers, said Tay.
He added that the outcome was the same – the so-called travel agent would be unreachable after the payments were made.
“Legitimate travel agencies will always ask their customers to make payments to the company’s bank account and not personal ones, so the public should be more alert about this.
“Consumers should also survey the prices of their holiday destinations before making a purchase and check the validity of the company by calling or visiting the office,” he added.