Aussie Couple’s Urgent Bali Scam Alert After Losing Nearly $3000 While Relaxing With A Holiday Activity Most Tourists Enjoy
- Aussie travelers lost $2,700 to Bali scam
- Gave phones to staff during massage
- Awaiting fraud investigation at bank
A traveler has taken to social media to warn others after being scammed out of $2,700 during a one-hour massage abroad.
The Australian woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, booked a massage with her partner while visiting Seminyak, Bali.
After handing over their phones to staff, the pair received horrified messages as they left the session detailing that large sums of money had been fraudulently debited from their account.
“When we got out, our phones had messages about fraudulent transactions — $2,700 was successfully stolen, cleaning our accounts and leaving us in the negative,” the woman shared in a Facebook group.
The couple had booked an hour-long massage at a salon in Seminyak and was horrified to find warnings of multiple fraudulent transactions after giving their phones to staff
“What was a great vacation has now become a nightmare.”
While their bank managed to hold back two transactions of $4,500 and $7,500, the woman said both her and her partner’s cards had to be canceled.
“It left us out of pocket… with no (working) cards and a lot of tears,” she added.
“The bank also cannot guarantee that we will get (the money) back, pending a fraud investigation.”
The woman said they decided to cut short their trip and asked to fly home after the ordeal.
“Our hotel Marriott was great and the security and management confronted the massage manager and also helped us go to the police to file a report for the bank,” she shared 7NEWS.com.au.
The incident comes as Aussie tourists continue to uncover many tricks and wiles used by scam artists as Bali recovers its post-pandemic popularity.
Those heading to Bali have recently been warned to double check that they are not being scammed when applying for visas.
Numerous holidaymakers have already been cheated by visa ‘agents’ and ‘brokers’ who issue overpriced or even bogus visas for Australians to travel to the holiday island.
Many travelers have fallen victim to scams in Bali as the country returns to its pre-pandemic popularity with Australian holidaymakers (photo, stock image)
Some visa services even go so far as to impersonate the Indonesian government’s website to mislead unsuspecting travelers.
Some travelers have shared online that they had to pay higher fees because they unknowingly used a private agency that charged a commission to purchase the e-Visa through the official site.
Others said they bought visas through agents that were not valid on arrival, forcing them to buy an official visa at the airport – meaning they paid twice.
Another Aussie traveler also fell victim to a scam while on a family holiday in Bali, when her and her partner’s belongings were stolen.
Melbourne social media influencer Anna De Rieu and her partner were scammed $150,000 in government aid payments under their name after the scammers hacked into her MyGov account.
Ms De Rieu said she had no idea that so much money had been deducted until she went to log into her account herself, with access blocked for her and her husband.
They were then informed by Centrelink that their details and home addresses had been changed several times and money had been deducted from their name.
Ms De Rieu said it took about six months to fix the problem and she now fears she could fall victim to more hacks in the future.