I was scammed $1000 usd in April 2017, while organizing a trip to Nepal, Buthan and Tibet with Outfitter Nepal Treks & Expedition.
I contacted this agency through their website, because they seemed to be a serious agency appearing in websites such as TripAdvisor. We organized an itinerary together and, after two months of communications, I was told to deposit the money into an account and I lost that money. Outfitter Nepal arguments that the initial emails I received were theirs, but the ones where I was told to deposit the money, “came from another email, and I was victim of a scammer”.
The agency denies any participation in it, but the truth is: the person who did this had a profound knowledge of the Company, had access to their official documents (I received invoices with Outfitter Nepal headletter, copies of Outfitter Nepal Official Tourism Board Registration, etc.) and had access to their email account (since the mails the scammer sent to me came from the original email chain that I exchanged with Outfitter’s owner). Therefore, if the scam did not come from Outfitter, it occurred as a result of them not properly protecting their official documents, their email account, and the clients that contact them through it. If anyone is interested in travelling with them, I would strongly advise you not to do it and I will be more than happy to show you any proof of the scam I was victim of (I keep emails, deposit slips and all documents received during the scam), so that you can make an informed decision before buying a trip from them.
Hi adriana,
Thank you for the warning. Have you contacted the Nepal Tourism Office and what was their response? If they don't give you any satisfaction I suggest you email one of the Kathmandu newspapers like the Kathmandu Post or Republica.
Eric
My travel blog https://wanderingeric.org/
Sorry to hear about this.
We would need to hear what the agency has to say, before coming to any conclusions. There are always 2 sides (sometimes more) to something.
Can you trace the money through the banking system.
Was the money actually transferred into the agency's account, or to some other account. This should be traceable.
In my experience, most Nepalis are pretty honest, and it would not make any sense for the agency to risk its reputation for US$1,000. Possibly the agency has been hacked, or there is something else going on here (an insurance claim?).
Nepal is very much a developing country, and if western banks and bank accounts can be hacked, I assume it is not that difficult for the emails etc of an agency to be hacked.
It would be interesting to hear more on this.
Maybe you are right and the Outfitter Nepal did not commit the fraud themselves, but a hacker did. However, they are partially responsible since I kept emailing them confirming them I was going to deposit the money, asking them for receipts and everything... When they received such emails, they should have warned me that they were not the authors of those emails I was responding; I think they at least owe that to their customers.
No, I have not done it; thanks for the suggestion! I am following the legal course right now, but contacting the Tourism Office or the newspapers seems a very good idea. Regards.
What has happened re tracing the money through the banking system. You have not said anything about this.
I would contact TAAN; agencies deposit money with TAAN as consumer protection. I do not know if this is an effective recourse but it seems to be worth trying.
The money went to an account in the US under a corporation name. During the scam, I was sent, among other documents, a document that said that the agency (outfitter nepal) was registered with the Chinese Government under the name of "Yekax Global". They also sent me a document from the Nepalese Bank, where they said all transactions in dollars were suspended. Therefore, they told me to deposit the money into "their US account for easier procedures" and I believed so. So I know where the money is, but I cant do anything about it.
Dear adriana.acevedo.3956,
Thank you for your post in this forum and as I have already explained you about the situation about the scam and I am very sorry that you have lost your 1000.00 USD and I committed to find the scammer and if I find then I will refund the amount that you have lost as someone take the amount in our company Name and I am seeking your support to find him and asking all the document that you have received from the scammer through our e mail and I have not received any e mail from you.
And just for the information that there is not any possibility to refund the money from TAAN or any agency in Nepal as the amount is paid to US Bank Account in USA not in Nepal and it is not into our bank in Nepal and there is clearly written that we have account in Nepal which is shown in our website.
And the email that you have received is not our e mail however it is similar to our company account and it is found that he found previous communication regarding the tour and he created similar e mail address and ask you to pay the amount in USA and he created all the fake account of our company and even of the banks of Nepal and I had given our Nepal bank account in our precious e mail and it is bad luck you did not send the amount in that account and you paid the amount different account and you even did not check if that is in our website.
And at the last, there is not any our involvement in this scam as we have local company and we always do our best to offer the best tour services however someone scammed you in our name which is bad luck of both of us , and we need to find the scammer and refund the amount that you have lost and I am asking you to ask the bank if they can refund the amount and you paid the amount in that account when the bank were also saying you that it is risky to sent money in this account and it might be scam.
So, I am very sorry and we are investigating the case and if we find out the scammer in the future then we will help to refund your money that you have lost.
Outfitter Nepal: I am sorry that it has taken a public complaint from me in order to obtain a response from you.
Three weeks ago I sent you an email that you never responded. In that email, I was asking what you would do as an agency in order to protect your future customers from being scammed as me. It might be true that your agency did not do the scam, but someone with access to your company email account did it. It might be a former employee or a hacker; but the truth is he had all the information about the company, he had copies of the emails that you and I shared and documents with your agency headletter. Even more, when the scammer created a new email account to communicate with me (he justified this new account by saying he was travelling), I kept copying your agency in some of the emails we sustained (I showed you proof of that)... why didn't you warn me that you were not the authors of those emails when you received those copies?
I appreciate the good will that you are showing in this post now, but the truth is I lost 1000usd and nor the bank, the police where I live, nor TAAN can help me; but what we can do is preventing this from happening to someone else: me, by telling my story; you: by protecting your business email account and consequently, the clients that contact you through it.
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