Thai cyber police bust online luxury accommodation scam

Thai Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) officers apprehended a prominent company for an online luxury accommodation auction scam. The scheme deceived numerous victims and resulted in damages totalling over 3 million baht.

Yesterday, August 25, CCIB officers interrogated 46 year old Busnavee, owner of a company that purportedly offered cheap accommodation but failed to provide the promised services. This inquiry followed complaints from over 20 victims across the country.

They had reported their experiences through the Thai police’s online complaint system, stating they booked rooms on a Facebook page and Line group. The operations were conducted by BluNavy Hua Hin which collected payments for room auctions but didn’t deliver the promised accommodation or provide rooms of lesser value.

The victims experienced financial loss amounting to 2,960,228 baht. This issue gained further attention when a popular TV show featured the victims’ plight. Following these developments, police from the CCIB officers initiated a probe into the scam.

They discovered that BluNavy Hua Hin used images of four and five-star hotels to advertise cheap accommodations, starting bids at 100 baht per room. Membership fees for participating in the auctions ranged from 100 to 400 baht per account. Once auctions concluded, administrators deleted all posts and messages before directly contacting the highest bidders for payment transfers.

The scam extended to various promotional sales gimmicks, including mystery boxes, purchase milestones for prizes, and high-value discount coupons. However, these offers turned out to be fraudulent, leaving buyers unable to redeem the promised deals.

Reservations downgraded

After victims transferred money, administrators imposed additional conditions. Victims were asked to pay deposits and provide review photos to claim free continuous stays, which led many to transfer more money. Post-stay, administrators often delayed or avoided returning the deposit.

Further deceit included asking victims to prepay for rooms to avoid rescheduling their stays and then charging a three to six-month advance deposit. When the actual stay date arrived, victims found their reservations downgraded or postponed and deposits were not refunded as agreed. Victims were also misled into converting deposits into discount or cash coupons for future auctions.

In numerous instances, victims received reservation numbers from well-known hotel booking sites. However, upon arrival, they found the hotels had not received payment. If guests insisted on staying, they had to pay upfront with the promise of a refund upon checkout, which never materialised. Another tactic involved selling bookings at 40 to 60% lower rates than the original website, but these reservations were invalid.

CCIB officers’ investigations revealed that Busnavee, acting as the legal entity representative of BluNavy Hua Hin presented documents showing the company as a registered accommodation agent. The company claimed to have operated for several years with semi-charitable intentions, supposedly supported by a foundation in Phuket to subsidise room costs.

Recently, Busnavee appeared at the CCIB office to acknowledge charges of collaborative fraud against the public through deceitful means, introducing false computer data likely to cause harm to others or the public. Initially, Busnavee denied all allegations, prompting police to detain her for further legal proceedings. reported KhaoSod.