Tour firm loses RM6,000 in flight and hotel booking scam

Malaysian Chinese Tourism Association Johor Chapter chairman Edwin Tay Kian Chuan (third from left) with other members of the association showing the police report and booking made by the scammer. Looking on is tour agent who only wanted to be known as Loh (fourth from left).

JOHOR BARU: A tour company here has suffered losses of about RM6,000 after falling victim to a scammer who pretended to be a customer.

A travel agent who wanted to be known only as Loh, 27, said she received a call from a man on June 3 expressing interest in booking two one-way air tickets from Johor Baru to Ipoh the following day.

“After gathering the flight details, I contacted the man through a messaging app.

"He then confirmed the bookings. The next day, he sent a receipt for a bank transfer of RM1,620.

“He later made several other bookings, including a one-way ticket for one person from Ipoh to Singapore and from Singapore to Penang for June 5, as well as a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam for June 7.

“He also told us to book hotels in Ho Chi Minh City and Penang. All the bookings were accompanied by receipts that looked real,” she said at a press conference here arranged by the Malaysian Chinese Tourism Association Johor Chapter on Thursday (Dec 29).

She noted that all the bookings were made by the same man between 4pm on June 3 and 11am on June 5.

“I was suspicious as all the flight tickets were booked for dates very close to each other. At about 4pm on June 5, I asked our accounting clerk to check the transactions in the company's account and found that no payments had come in for any of those bookings.

“We managed to cancel the flights from Kuala Lumpur to Vietnam but all the other bookings, including the hotel stay, could not be cancelled. We lost a total of RM6,000 from these bookings,” she said, adding that she also filed a police report on June 6.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Chinese Tourism Association Johor Chapter chairman Edwin Tay Kian Chuan said the scam is believed to have been perpetrated in other states.

“Officially, we have only received one case in Johor but we believe there are more tour agents in Johor or other states that had a similar experience.

“I would like to remind tour companies to be wary of such scams and to always check if payments have indeed been made for each booking.

“I also urge those who have fallen prey to such tricks to come forward and lodge a report with the authorities,” he said.

When contacted, Johor Baru South OCPD Asst Comm Raub Selamat confirmed that police had received the report.