On the bait of discounts: experts warned of new schemes of scammers during the holiday season

Due to Western sanctions, many Russians are changing their usual vacation routes, refusing to travel abroad.

But in Russia, it became more difficult to plan a vacation and book a hotel after some aggregator services stopped working.

Fraudsters quickly took advantage of the situation.

“The most common case is when they make a fictitious travel agency.

Sales to non-existent hotels have also become popular now.

They quickly collect money, after a few weeks they close and disappear, ”Dmitry Davydenko, chairman of the public council of Rostourism, told RT.

As the expert noted, scammers were always and everywhere, but the details of the schemes are quickly changing in order to keep up with the times: “They see that no one will fly abroad, but people want to relax, so they offer cheap holidays in Altai or Abkhazia, Where are they all heading now?

"Tourist facilities not found"

In the spring of 2022, an account for the Russian Nordic recreation center in Gorny Altai appeared on some housing booking services.

The base lured guests with beautiful photos of modern houses among picturesque mountains and affordable prices - only 2.5 thousand rubles per day on an all-inclusive basis.

At the same time, on different sites and in social networks, where they offered rest at this facility, the address varied.

Somewhere it was “22 km from the Karakol tract and 50 km from the village of Elekmonar”, somewhere “Embankment street, 41, Chemal, 2 km from the center”, sometimes customers simply threw off the coordinates, stating that the camp is located in the wilderness, where "there are no streets, but only directions".

Local guide Anna Polennikova drew attention to a number of inconsistencies in the ads: from cardinal differences in the landscapes in the photo to the fact that in recent years, hotel infrastructure facilities have not been opened in the specified area at all.

Anna wrote about her suspicions on social networks.

The guide's fears were confirmed: from the beginning of May, gullible tourists from all over Russia began to circle Altai, who had already made an advance payment of 50 to 100%.

Families and companies often got to know each other during the search and realized that they had been deceived.

The attackers simply downloaded photos of beautiful houses from the Internet.

At the end of May, law enforcement agencies joined the case.

The press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Republic of Altai told the NGS portal that they went to the indicated addresses - "as a result, no tourist sites were found."

Now enterprising "businessmen" who arranged the sale of non-existent numbers, are looking for.

“Facts of fraud in the field of tourism have always taken place, but now there are more of them due to the restrictions imposed on Russians.

Fraudsters react very quickly and come up with new criminal schemes.

They understand that in order to save money, citizens are very greedy for low prices for goods and services.

Moreover, the Internet and modern payment systems allow you to maintain anonymity, ”lawyer Ramil Gizatullin told RT.

"The eye can blur"

Abkhazia is becoming one of the most popular holiday destinations this season.

But here, too, there are already victims.

For example, at the end of May, the Moscow Department of Internal Affairs for the South-Eastern Administrative District received a statement from a 67-year-old Muscovite who took advantage of the “hot offer” and paid 31.5 thousand rubles for two tickets to a boarding house.

She received a booking confirmation, but when, shortly before the trip, she decided to call the phone number indicated on the voucher, it turned out that the number was not registered on the network.

The site was also unavailable.

The woman got on the Internet and found out that the site was fraudulent, and other people also suffered from the actions of the attackers.

After that, she contacted law enforcement agencies.

The investigative department opened a criminal case under Part 2 of Art.

159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Fraud”).

One of the favorite tools of fraudsters has become annoying contextual advertising.

“People who think about the rest, there is a shaft of relevant advertising, the eye can blur.

And then a fake site comes out, where, in addition, there are big discounts.

This is how people are caught with a bait,” Dmitry Davydenko explained.

The fact that scammers are constantly adjusting schemes for the tourist season is also said by Kaspersky Lab experts.

“Before the upcoming holiday season, they tend to shift their attention to the travel segment, as demand for tours and tickets is growing at this time, and brands send out a large number of messages in which it is easier to get lost,” explained RT in the company. .

• Legion Media

Judging by the statistics for previous years, we can talk about thousands of fake portals.

Thus, out of 7,680 sites blocked by the Bank of Russia in 2020, the vast majority (6,256), as in the previous year, were fraudulent sites masquerading as the sale of air and railway tickets, p2p transfers and exchangers.

Attention to detail

Cybersecurity experts identify some of the most common scams that tourists suffer from.

Firstly, these are twin sites imitating the portals of well-known air carriers, ticket aggregators or travel companies.

Some pages even offer paid check-in for a flight or purchase additional in-flight services.

At the same time, they can differ from the original in literally one detail.

“We recommend that users take a closer look at the site address before entering personal or payment data on it: if it differs from the original even by one letter, this is a reason to be wary.

In addition, the buttons on such sites, as a rule, do not work, and the text may contain errors and typos - you should also pay attention to this, ”Kaspersky Lab warns.

The second way to cash in on the gullibility of tourists is to create full-fledged websites for hotels or travel agencies.

On such portals you can find descriptions and photos of rooms, and a polite manager will answer the contact phone and explain how to make an advance payment.

But neither the hotel nor the travel agency exists, which customers often find out too late.

The third scheme is the sale of “special tours” (mainly through social networks).

The scammers promise to guide or transport you along a unique route, show you exclusive attractions - and all this at prices below the market, because supposedly the organizers of the tours "have connections."

As a rule, the manager, after receiving a transfer for a certain amount from the client, blocks it and disappears from the radar.

“Everything has its reasonable price, and its significant reduction should be suspicious,” notes Ramil Gizatullin.

To prevent scammers from spoiling your vacation, experts advise you to follow the basic rules of digital hygiene: do not follow dubious links in mail, instant messengers or social networks, do not click on advertising banners on suspicious sites.

Before buying a tour or air tickets, you should spend time and study the reviews about the seller.

In addition, citizens are advised to get a separate card for online purchases and keep small amounts on it, as well as set daily withdrawal limits.

“It would be useful to install a security solution that will block an attempt to go to a phishing or scam site,” added the press service of Kaspersky Lab.