A 26-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday by Singapore police on suspicion of his involvement in a series of hotel booking scams in the nation.
On Wednesday, the police said in a press release that the man had advertised attractive hotel room reservation deals on online platforms. The authorities said that he made multiple deals between Mar 16 and 20.
He used to ask the victims to pay the money and once the payment was done, he could not be contacted. The suspect had cheated the victims out of at least S$3,000.
The police said that the investigations are still going on. If convicted of cheating, the suspect may be jailed for up to 10 years and a fine.
The members of the public have been advised by the police to be careful while making any transaction online, especially when they are dealing with strangers. The authorities said that if anyone is booking hotel rooms online, then he should book hotel rooms only from authorised dealers.
In case of advanced payments, people are advised to use booking platforms that provide arrangements to only release your payment to the seller upon your receipt of the service. However, customers are advised to pay only upon successful check-in, if possible.
