Family falls victim to sophisticated accommodation scam in Hua Hin

[webfact]

 

A family eagerly anticipating their holiday in Hua Hin were tricked into booking a non-existent luxury rental through Facebook.

 

The incident, which has caught the attention of Thai news outlets including Ejan, highlights a worrying trend of fraudulent schemes that prey on unsuspecting tourists.

 

The family, led by a person identified only as Kukkai, were about to begin their annual vacation, searching for a pet-friendly accommodation that could host 8 to 10 people.

 

A property, under the name of ‘Siam Sea View Pool Villa’ was found on Facebook, promising a lavish stay at a reasonable price. Drawn by the luxurious appearance and the ability to accommodate their needs, the family proceeded to book three rooms for two nights at a total cost of 19,000 baht, which included a 4,000 baht security deposit.

 

Top: File photo

 

Full story: HUA HIN TODAY 2024-04-11

 

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[Korat Kiwi]

Yep,  that would put a dent in your holiday. 

 

Partially why I stick to Agoda or Booking.com.  Haven't been scammed yet! 

[sammieuk1]

If this is the same story as a 2 day old F/B one, they turned up to an empty field with a picture of a house superimposed on it 🤔

[Geoffggi]

The solution is easy - Ban Facebook ................LOL 😱😱😱

[bob smith]

49 minutes ago, Geoffggi said:

The solution is easy - Ban Facebook ................LOL 😱😱😱

This aint china brudda 

 

Hang on, wait a minute...

 

bob.

[Tropicalevo]

Fakebook - hub of scams.

[marin]

Nothing sophisticated at all. Just silly people booking on Facebook after months of warnings of this same scam. Same kind of people book there as opt for 10% per month interest scams. 

[brianthainess]

I'm still trying to sell a bridge, 50% discount only 10m baht.  PM me. 

[NativeBob]

they must be really, really dumb )))

#ROFL

[Carlotta]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

 

A family eagerly anticipating their holiday in Hua Hin were tricked into booking a non-existent luxury rental through Facebook.

 

The incident, which has caught the attention of Thai news outlets including Ejan, highlights a worrying trend of fraudulent schemes that prey on unsuspecting tourists.

 

The family, led by a person identified only as Kukkai, were about to begin their annual vacation, searching for a pet-friendly accommodation that could host 8 to 10 people.

 

A property, under the name of ‘Siam Sea View Pool Villa’ was found on Facebook, promising a lavish stay at a reasonable price. Drawn by the luxurious appearance and the ability to accommodate their needs, the family proceeded to book three rooms for two nights at a total cost of 19,000 baht, which included a 4,000 baht security deposit.

 

Top: File photo

 

Full story: HUA HIN TODAY 2024-04-11

 

Get our Daily Newsletter - Click HERE to subscribe
 

19.000 Baht experience. It's just ok to learn your lesson. 😄🙏

[spidermike007]

I have bought and sold things on Facebook but always in person, never online. I found the item or the service online and then met in person to conclude the sale. Why would anybody send money to a complete stranger on Facebook rather than through one of the booking apps, and did they research the property using Google, Agoda, or Booking.com, prior to sending the money?

 

These days there's so many scams that one has to be ultra diligent in order to avoid being on the tail end of one of these scammers. Let us make life difficult for these creeps, do not make life easy for them. 

[rwill]

It should be fairly easy for the police to find whos account the money went to.  oh well....

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, Geoffggi said:

The solution is easy - Ban Facebook ................LOL 😱😱😱

I outed FB years ago.. 

[Grusa]

2 hours ago, brianthainess said:

I'm still trying to sell a bridge, 50% discount only 10m baht.  PM me. 

This is a scam. A super-freighter knocked it down last week. But I'll offer you 1000baht for the scrap, delivered to my yard.

[CanadaSam]

A modicum of intelligence would make the buyer at the least search for competing prices on other sites, possibly proving to him that the place doesn't exist.  But TIT.

[jvs]

8 hours ago, Geoffggi said:

The solution is easy - Ban Facebook ................LOL 😱😱😱

That will not help a bit.

 

[jvs]

2 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

I have bought and sold things on Facebook but always in person, never online. I found the item or the service online and then met in person to conclude the sale. Why would anybody send money to a complete stranger on Facebook rather than through one of the booking apps, and did they research the property using Google, Agoda, or Booking.com, prior to sending the money?

 

These days there's so many scams that one has to be ultra diligent in order to avoid being on the tail end of one of these scammers. Let us make life difficult for these creeps, do not make life easy for them. 

Use face time to talk to people,makes it a lot more difficult to cheat.

[spidermike007]

10 minutes ago, jvs said:

Use face time to talk to people,makes it a lot more difficult to cheat.

Exactly. Any sort of preventative act reduces your chances of getting scammed. 

 

Best to stick with the travel sites, or reputable agents. You have recourse. 

[newnative]

Good.  One less noisy holiday family ruining a residential neighborhood.

[YouAgain]

On 4/11/2024 at 1:53 AM, spidermike007 said:

Best to stick with the travel sites, or reputable agents. You have recourse. 

 

Agreed....  In addition to this, I pay with PayPal if possible (instead of directly with my credit card) as I believe they could scrape back funds in case of a problem. 

[Korat Kiwi]

5 minutes ago, YouAgain said:

 

Agreed....  In addition to this, I pay with PayPal if possible (instead of directly with my credit card) as I believe they could scrape back funds in case of a problem. 

My last and only scam to date revolved around PayPal. 

 

Long story short:  Won an online auction. Guy wanted payment via PayPal.  I didn't have a PayPal account but was told easy to open. 

 

Started the process to join. Received email stating all good. 

Then another email stating Seller had incorrectly put sale price with additional transportation charges. 

 

Requested that I pay the whole amount then will be refunded transportation fee. 

 

Contacted 'real' PayPal and found it was a scam. 

 

Seems like nothing is safe these days. 

[YouAgain]

11 minutes ago, Korat Kiwi said:

Long story short:  Won an online auction. Guy wanted payment via PayPal.  I didn't have a PayPal account but was told easy to open. 

 

Good for you sniffing it out!   I nearly got scammed too via auction site and PayPal...as a seller. 

 

I tried to sell 3 laptops on eBay auction site and had basically zero experience as a seller on auction sites.  Immediately got 12 offers over the asking price...I checked the profiles and most had zero history on the site.  Got suspicious...

 

The scam goes like this:  they make an offer, you accept, they pay with PayPal.  Then they ask you to ship it somewhere else other than the PayPal verified address (or as a variant are from a neighboring country).  They claim they never received the item and get refund, and you're sunk, out the money and out of the item. 

 

Often they'll be from a different country e.g. Canada instead of U.S. in my case, and the shipment tracking goes blank at the border.  

 

My understanding was that PayPal would have backed me up had I sent to a PayPal verified address...but glad I didn't have to test it. 

 

Eventually a legit buyer came through and it was OK for me, but I barely 'spit the hook' to use a fishing term.    So many scams out there!  😬

[Harsh Jones]

3 posters hit the laugh emoji.

 

Yeah so funny! Cretins. 

[Harsh Jones]

On 4/10/2024 at 5:26 PM, Korat Kiwi said:

Yep,  that would put a dent in your holiday. 

 

Partially why I stick to Agoda or Booking.com.  Haven't been scammed yet! 

You could easily get scammed on one of those. There are ppl who sub rent small hotels. They run them legitimately for awhile and build up reviews. Then at a busy time of year , they they exit scam. They can rig the booking so that there's an unlimited amount of rooms. So ppl keep booking and booking. Then when they get to the location , the place is locked up and nobody's there.

 

And then the scammed people try and phone into the booking agent to explain what is going on. And the agents don't even understand and the booking ad stays up. 

 

This exact thing happened to me on Expedia. The scammers had an add on Booking .com as well 

 

It was just a one night thing. I didn't lose very much money. But the frustrating part was how dumb the Expedia agent was. He could not understand what was going on. 

[sherwood]

On 4/11/2024 at 3:27 PM, CanadaSam said:

A modicum of intelligence would make the buyer at the least search for competing prices on other sites, possibly proving to him that the place doesn't exist.  But TIT.

No fella, this is the world.

You don't have to work in a normal occupation, have computer and scam others out of their money.

[it is what it is]

 

sophisticated? hardly. more like the buyer didn't do basic due diligence or research before booking. booking accommodation on facebook when there are plenty of bespoke aps available, what could possibly go wrong? 🙄