KWALE, KENYA: Some holiday makers visiting Diani, Kwale County for the festive season found themselves in the hands of online fraudsters who posed as hotel owners to fleece them.
The imposters were making reservations for hotel rooms for those who wished to do booking via travel booking sites which has now turned to be money minting trickery to rob unsuspecting travelers.
One of the hotels affected by these fraudsters was Asins Holiday Inn where imposters pocketed millions of shillings.
Among the victims is Waithera Kamau and her family who found herself in hands of the online conmen as she tried to make reservations at the Asins Holiday Inn.
“I was booking for my reservations through online apps and I confirmed with two sites for the same hotel, that’s when I called the numbers they were displaying,” said Waithera.
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Due to the influx of visitors to the coastal town this festive season, most of the hotels in Diani had been fully booked forcing Waithera to book for accommodation with her family online
This was the beginning of her being robbed.
She made her reservations, paid a down payment of Ksh 19,000 and invoices and receipts were sent to her via email.
The fraudsters seemed to be well vast with the hotel information convincing her to make the payments through mobile money.
“I was then called by a lady who confirmed to me that my rooms were well booked and sought to know whether I would want an airport transfer but I said I was fine,” she said
After a while she noticed all was not well.
“Checking on their email I noticed that it was a Gmail account whereas an established hotel could have a domain name email address, that’s when I started doubting,” she noted.
Her doubts prompted her to make a directory query of the hotel from Safaricom.
“Safaricom gave me the genuine number for the hotel and upon calling them they said that they don’t have my details and that I was the fourth person to lay such claims,” Said Waithera.
She did not lose hope, she travelled to Diani with the family and luckily she got accommodation in the same hotel but now with an extra cost having been robbed in the first attempt.
Asins holiday inn has been hard hit with the highest number of people who have been conned through online bookings with five of its visitors affected.
“There was also another couple who was coming for honeymoon and they have been conned the same way, another family had been conned Sh 42,000. Those are just a few because they are about five families who have been conned through our name and we don’t know how many more will be conned for the New Year holiday” Said George Baya, a manager at Asins Holiday
The hotel management asked travelers to ensure they make due diligence when booking for reservations to avoid such incidents.
“It is wise to make sure you visit the official website instead of relying on the push messages on Google search engine,” he added.
Police in Msambweni subcounty have already begun investigations into the matter.
“We have taken the numbers of those involved and we are following the matter to establish who they are” said Msambweni OCPD Joseph Chebusit.
