Sectur fraud alert in online travel sales

Given the proximity of the winter vacation period, the Secretary of Tourism, Miguel Torruco, sent an alert message this Thursday so that people who wish to travel are not deceived by pseudo travel agencies that offer attractive “offers and offers” through social networks. packages” for various destinations and go to companies duly registered with the agency.

“There are pseudo agencies that advertise on social networks (Facebook or Instagram, for example). They are going to scam you. Don’t go with the feint,” said the official, who was accompanied by the Deputy Attorney for Services of the Federal Consumer Attorney’s Office (Profeco), Surit Romero, and business representatives. The suggestion is to go to one of the 9,814 companies that are registered in the National Tourism Registry (RNT), which have sufficient experience to respond to the needs of tourists.

In her participation, the Profeco representative explained that they have received close to 18,000 complaints related to the tourism sector, of which 40% were purchases over the internet, and of these, 8% correspond to complaints involving some type of fraud, the main reason being the sale of vacation packages by ghost or non-existent travel agencies.

“So far this year, 130 allegedly fraudulent electronic links were detected: 77 internet pages and 53 profiles on social networks; of them, 75 bragged as travel agencies, ”he explained.

Romero mentioned some practices carried out by fraudulent firms: they present very low prices, sometimes almost unrealistic; they do not provide data that allows the identification and location of the alleged provider (such as address, telephone, email, name or company name); they request that the payment be made through convenience stores or through bank transfers without mentioning the user of the account, and they eliminate or cancel the comments, reviews or opinions by users.

Among the members of the private sector who were present at the announcement, the following stood out: the president of the Mexican Group of Associations of Travel Agencies and Tourism Companies (GMA), Judith Guerra; the vice president of the Mexican Association of Travel Agencies (AMAV), Graciela Yanuzzo, and the president of the Mexican Federation of Tourist Associations (Fematur), Jorge Hernández.

alejandro.delarosa@eleconomista.mx