There is a new way to deceive travelers through social networks

Judging by the story of one traveler who suffered at the hands of scammers, which she published in the Telegram chat about tourist scammers, another very sophisticated, one might even say elegant way of divorcing tourists for money has appeared.

Technically, the method of withdrawing money has not changed, it is still the same: through social networks or instant messengers, promise huge discounts on tickets, tours and hotels; provide scans of false documents (licenses, contracts, photos); conclude a contract; receive money from the victim by bank transfer or electronic money, and then go into "deaf defense". Of course, all these actions are performed remotely without personal contact, and all the documents submitted are fake, and phone numbers and bank accounts are issued to front persons. But the approach to how the victim is processed in order to gain trust is completely original and has not been encountered before. Everything again happens remotely via social networks or by phone.

In our story, a woman met the victim through Facebook, who, as it turned out, miraculously, her husband works in the same country, and in general they are very similar "in life". The women became friends, but communicated only online, finding more and more similarities. It is worth saying that this is a classic scheme to gain trust – "I look like you." After all, today it is enough to study a little information about a potential victim in a social network, see the circle of friends and relatives, and then just agree with everything and support any opinion when communicating.

After some time of such communication, a new acquaintance, who has become almost native, recommended a person who can very well help with the purchase of tickets. So to speak, she gave a secret tip, which she used earlier. Well, then everything went according to the classic scheme: a fake contract, payment and blocking of all contacts. As a result, our "heroine" lost 100 thousand rubles.

This story, though sad, but we hope that once again it will serve as a lesson for other travelers and tourists, and once again we remind you of the obvious rules of behavior so as not to run into tourist scammers:

• Never buy tours, tickets, hotels and other travel services from individuals in messengers and social networks.
• Pay for the purchase only by bank card or electronic money on the sites, and in any case do not make transfers.
• Buy only on proven sites, and do not look for wonderful super-profitable offers.
• Check with white list of tourist sites, and if you still have doubts, ask questions in a chat about travel scams or in a group VK.

Well, now you can add a new item to this list, no matter how paranoid it sounds in modern conditions.: do not communicate in social networks and instant messengers with strangers, and do not trust anyone there, even your old acquaintances.