Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Information was received by one of the HANZ members last month of a suspected scam. The scenario concerned a HANZ member receiving three separate requests for accommodation bookings. After answering many queries and providing quotes to and fro via email, the posed customer then asks to pay by credit card direct and requests if the accommodation provider could then debit money from the card and transfer funds to the supposed travel agent as he does not have facilities for manual transaction.
The request for this type of transaction was only mentioned after several emails which is not only frustrating for an accommodation provider but consumed more time than necessary, especially when they were busy in peak season.
The local police were notified, who suggested to alert fellow accommodation providers. As always we do not advise sending money to anyone in advance for something that you are providing. Be wary of scams - they strike anywhere, anytime and take many elaborate forms.
