A traveller has taken to social media to warn others after being scammed $2,700 during an hour-long massage overseas.
The Aussie woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, booked a massage with her partner whilst visiting Seminyak, in Bali.
After handing their phones over to staff, the pair were horrified to receive several messages when they got out of the session detailing large sums of money had been fraudulently taken from their account.
‘When we got out, our phones had messages about fraudulent transactions — $2,700 has been successfully stolen, which cleaned out our accounts and put us in the negative,’ the woman shared in a Facebook group.
The couple had booked an hour-long massage at a parlour in Seminyak, and were horrified to find alerts for multiple fraudulent transactions after giving their phones to staff
‘What was a great holiday has now turned into a nightmare.’
While their bank managed to stop two transactions of $4,500 and $7,500, the woman said both her and her partner’s cards had to be cancelled.
‘It’s left us out of pocket … with no (working) cards and lots of tears,’ she added.
‘The bank also … can’t guarantee we will get (the money) back, pending a fraud investigation.’
The woman said they decided to cut their trip short and fly home early following the ordeal.
‘Our hotel Marriott has been wonderful and security and management confronted the massage manager and also assisted us with going to the police to make a report for the bank,’ she told 7NEWS.com.au.
The incident comes as Aussie tourists continue to uncover many tricks and ruses used by scammers as Bali recovers it’s post-pandemic popularity.
Read Related Also: Princess Diana’s butler says ‘Prince Harry felt less important than William as he got fewer bangers’
Those headed to Bali have been recently warned to double check they are not being scammed when applying for visas.
Numerous holidaymakers have already been duped by visa ‘agents’ and ‘brokers’ issuing over-priced or even fake visas to Australians for travel to the holiday island.
Many travellers have fallen victim to scams in Bali as the country returns to it’s pre-pandemic popularity with Australian holidaymakers (pictured, stock image)
Some visa services go as far as impersonating the Indonesian government website in order to dupe unsuspecting travellers.
Some travellers have shared online they were charged higher fees because they had unwittingly used a private agency which charged a commission to purchase the e-visa through the official site.
Others said they bought visas through agents which were not valid on arrival, forcing them to buy an official visa at the airport – meaning they paid twice.
Another Aussie traveller also fell victim to a scam whilst 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 swindled out of $150,000 in government support payments under their name after the scammers hacked into her MyGov account.
Ms De Rieu said she had no idea so much money had been taken out until she went to log into her account herself, with her and her husband having been blocked from accessing it.
They were then informed by Centrelink their details and home addresses had been changed multiple times with money taken out in their names.
Ms De Rieu said it took about six months to resolve the issue and she now fears she could be the victim of more hacks in the future.
