Hong Kong and Macau are the first choice travel destinations for many tourists, but what is strange is that many people try to be cautious when choosing travel agencies, but they are still deceived by the so-called Yema Travel Agency. So what are the things that the deceived tourists cannot avoid? what? Let’s start with what happened to tourist Ms. Xing.
"Travel to Hong Kong and Macau" turns into a journey of misery
Hong Kong tour guide: The tour guide's voice was hoarse during that trip, and he didn't spend a lot of money. You are worried that people will lie to you again and again, so you use a computer to calculate the entire itinerary and use your fingers. How much money did you spend at once? What can the tour guide deceive from you? You have to know how to calculate, right? You said that the tour guide who spent one yuan deceived her feelings, right? You said there is a deep grudge. Well, that person is mentally ill.
This is a video taken by Ms. Xing, a Shanxi consumer, when she encountered forced shopping while traveling in Hong Kong during the Spring Festival. Back in Shenzhen, Ms. Xing complained to the Shenzhen Consumer Commission.
Ms. I started by contacting a travel website claiming to be China Travel Service.
Consumer Ms. Xing: At that time, my mother saw this travel agency titled China International Travel Service on a webpage on Baidu. Then she found the contact information through this website, added the staff’s WeChat account, and got in touch with them. Then we paid the deposit in advance to book our next trip. Then during this contact process, he promised us that he would not force consumption.
When the reporter opened the avcits.com website provided by Ms. The reporter noticed that this website mainly deals in travel to Hong Kong and Macao. The bottom of the page is also clearly marked with the "Official Website of China International Travel Service (Shenzhen) Travel Service" and the address is "Xin'an Building, Renmin South Road, Luohu District, Shenzhen City".
The reporter then called the consultation hotline marked on the web page.
Reporter: Are you China International Travel Service?
hotline staff: pair.
reporter: Where are you ?
hotline staff: Xin'an Building.
Subsequently, the staff on the phone asked to add the reporter’s WeChat account for further contact. A person whose avatar is CITS and whose nickname is “China CITS” added the reporter’s WeChat account. This staff member who called himself "China International Travel Service" sent the reporter an itinerary for "five days and four nights in Hong Kong and Macau". The reporter noticed that the words "China National Travel Service CITS" and "China National Travel Service (Shenzhen) International Travel Service " were also eye-catchingly marked at the top of the itinerary.
So, is the website where Ms. Xing participated in the Hong Kong and Macao tour really the official website of China National Travel Service? The reporter followed the customer service notice and the address left on the website and came to "Xin'an Building, Renmin South Road, Luohu District, Shenzhen City", but the reporter did not find this travel agency labeled as China Travel Service here.
The staff of a regular travel agency operating here answered the reporter’s questions. industry insiders said that many illegal institutions pretending to be China Travel Service are using this address to deceive consumers and even force the real China Travel Service away. These fake travel agencies are commonly known as "Wild Horse" travel agencies in Guangdong. mainly uses the Internet to publish false information and organize illegal tourism projects by counterfeiting other company names and travel agency license numbers. The
reporter then provided relevant information about the website to CITS (Shenzhen) International Travel Service Co., Ltd. to verify the authenticity.
Wu Chuangjie, deputy general manager of CITS (Shenzhen) International Travel Service Co., Ltd.: After our multi-party verification, avcits.com does not exist for our CITS Shenzhen, including the CITS sales department in Xing'an Building. In subsequent investigations,
reporters found that what happened to consumer Ms. Xing was not an isolated case.
During the Spring Festival from February 4 to 10, 2019, the Shenzhen Consumer Committee received a total of 26 complaints about "tours to Hong Kong and Macau", all involving "Mustang" travel agency.
Yu Xifeng, deputy secretary-general of the Shenzhen Consumer Protection Commission: A common experience among consumers is that they search online to sign up for a tour group and gather in Shenzhen. Then when they go to Hong Kong to go shopping, the entire living environment and the entire dining environment are very bad. Worse, some consumers said that this trip to Hong Kong and Macao during the Spring Festival was actually a journey of hardship.
The so-called "tours to Hong Kong and Macau" have formed a black industry chain
The relevant person in charge of the Shenzhen Consumer Council told reporters that during their investigation, they found that these Yema travel agencies publish advertisements and related information through the Internet, organize so-called tours to Hong Kong and Macau, and have Forming a black industry chain.
Among the 26 complaints, a woman surnamed Liu from Shandong searched on Baidu and chose a travel agency claiming to be Shenzhen International Travel Service on a website certified by Baidu plus V, and paid 7,600 yuan to participate in a 5-day, 4-night tour to Hong Kong and Macau. group. During the trip, tourists were forced to buy jewelry, gold, chocolate, watches and other items they had never intended to buy. Most of the tourists were forced to spend more than 2,000 yuan per person.
Hong Kong tour guide: I don’t want to have any conflicts with every guest when I go inside. To be honest, I don’t want to quarrel with you. To be honest, I have been a tour guide for more than ten years and I have never lost in a quarrel. If you want Fight, I can find a professional to accompany you.
Jin Lijuan, Director of the Complaints and Consultation Department of Shenzhen Consumer Protection Commission: All ID cards and Hong Kong and Macau passes were confiscated (by tour guides), and you absolutely cannot leave, so you have to buy something. (Tourists) don’t know what to do, they all Kneel on the ground and beg, begging the Hong Kong police to help them escape.
In addition to the mandatory shopping during this trip, even the hotels and meals have been downgraded. The so-called three-star hotel is actually a room converted from an underground warehouse. Staff from the Shenzhen Consumer Council said that during the trip that tourists complained about, the so-called hotel converted from a basement did not meet the minimum accommodation conditions, let alone a three-star hotel.
Jin Lijuan, Director of the Complaints and Consultation Department of the Shenzhen Municipal Consumer Protection Commission: More than a dozen people lived in a room, which was a bunk bed in the basement, and it was a mixed room for men and women. At that time, they were all stupid. Is this a three-star hotel? Sharing a bathroom seemed unbelievable to them. A happy and relaxing trip that
was looking forward to has turned into a painful journey of forced shopping and even restrictions on personal freedom. So, what are the sources and key links of the black industry chain? The Shenzhen Consumer Protection Commission decided to investigate to the end.
Half of the complainants were deceived through Baidu search
Shenzhen Consumer Council staff told reporters that the complaints they received had some common characteristics, that is, almost all tourists were consumers from outside Guangdong Province, and 90% of the consumers Consumers obtained travel agency information through online advertisements, and 50% of them decided to sign up for the group tour after searching for "Guo Travel" on Baidu and seeing the so-called "China Travel" information with V certification appearing on the page.
A staff member of the Shenzhen Consumer Council said that there is more than one Yema Travel Agency, but the methods of deceiving consumers are similar.
Jin Lijuan, Director of the Complaints and Consultation Department of Shenzhen Consumer Protection Commission: When we open this page, there is a header on the webpage. The header says it is Shenzhen International Travel Service official website. Then we check it in Shenzhen’s commercial subject registration database. , there is no such company. The trademark above is the trademark of CITS Shenzhen Branch, the trademark of China International Travel Service. This (donkey’s lip is not the horse’s mouth) is basically spliced ​​together, so the whole thing is a fake website, fake content, and fake information, and it is provided to the public in such a grand manner. our consumers.
It is understood that among the 463 complaints received by CITS (Shenzhen) International Travel Agency Co., Ltd. in 2018, 394 were counterfeit CITS “Mustang” travel agencies. Nearly 90% of the victims were obtained through online searches. Travel agency information.
Wu Chuangjie, deputy general manager of CITS (Shenzhen) International Travel Service Co., Ltd.: In the past two years, there have been many cases of counterfeiting our China CITS Shenzhen company. We now have data that 90% of customers obtain our information through Baidu search engine. Regarding some so-called Hong Kong and Macao travel information, Baidu’s V certification actually has some problems here. This V certification has loopholes in verifying the authenticity of the merchant, including its credibility, which leads to the customer’s failure to obtain the information. Trust this V certification, in fact (Baidu) did not verify with our real merchants when verifying.
Consumer Council actual test: Baidu search results are actually not legally registered
The Shenzhen Consumer Council simulated the actual usage scenarios of consumer online searches and conducted a special test investigation on Baidu search.
After the staff entered keywords such as "Hong Kong and Macao Travel International Travel" to search, the first information on the homepage was advertising information for a company called "Shenzhen International Travel Agency". The reporter noticed that the bottom of the information was clearly marked in blue. Words such as V2 level certification and advertising. Click on this information, and it says "Top 100 National Travel Agencies" in the upper left corner of the page. After clicking on the online customer service consultation, "Baidu has certified that you have entered the official customer service center" immediately pops up in the dialog box. The upper left corner of the dialog box also clearly states It is marked "Shenzhen International Travel Service". However, after verification by Shenzhen Consumer Council staff, this company was not included in the commercial subject registration information.
Jin Lijuan, Director of the Complaints and Consultation Department of Shenzhen Consumer Protection Commission: Shenzhen International Travel Service Co., Ltd. does not exist in our Shenzhen commercial subject registration database, including this website. We also verified with CITS that it is not CITS. website.
The use of false information in Baidu plus V certified websites is not isolated.
Further investigation shows that the use of false information in Baidu plus V certified websites is not isolated.
Shenzhen Municipal Consumer Council staff searched for "Hong Kong and Macao Travel International Travel Service" on Baidu and found that the company ranked high on the homepage was called "Shenzhen International Travel Agency" and claimed to be "the designated outbound travel agency of the State Administration of Tourism". In the information The bottom is marked with blue V2 level certification and advertising. However, after verification by the staff of the Shenzhen Consumer Council, the search keywords "Shenzhen International Travel Agency" provided in Baidu search results and "Shenzhen Travel Agency Hong Kong and Macao Department" in customer consultation are inconsistent with the copyright owner information stated on the website; in addition, this The travel agency business license number provided by this website was found to be a false number upon inquiry.
According to the promotional materials promoted by Baidu, Baidu Credibility V certification means that after Baidu has verified the qualifications of the website operator, website security, website authority, etc., it will display the blue official website logo on the right side of the merchant's official website title in the search results. To help netizens quickly identify authoritative and high-quality websites and prevent copycat websites and fake phishing websites from harming netizens. The Baidu Reputation V certification defines the reputation value levels as follows: Reputation value V1: Basic reputation accumulation, you can visit with confidence; Reputation value V2: Good reputation accumulation, you can trade with peace of mind; Reputation value V3: Full credibility accumulation, sustainable trust; Baidu Reputation V Certification will fully compensate all users of websites with V certification if they encounter fraud.
Yu Xifeng, deputy secretary-general of Shenzhen Consumer Protection Commission: In fact, we have seen that a lot of promotional information released by Baidu V certification is suspected of being false and has violated the Advertising Law. Then Article 56 of the Advertising Law also stipulates Yes, if the publisher of an advertisement knows or should know that the published content is false, he shall be jointly (and severally) liable with the advertiser.
The Shenzhen Consumer Council sent a supervisory letter to Baidu
After the special test investigation, the Shenzhen Consumer Committee held a briefing on the complaint investigation of "Mustang" travel agency for Hong Kong and Macau tours. Consumers who signed up for "Mustang" travel agency for Hong Kong and Macao tours through Baidu search ads were deceived. After being deceived, the Shenzhen Consumer Council sent a supervision letter to Baidu in accordance with the Consumer Rights Protection Law.
Feng Nianwen, Secretary-General of Shenzhen Consumer Protection Committee: Baidu’s V certification, you just saw that V1 can be accessed with confidence, and V2 can be traded with confidence. The two or three in our case just now are V2, which can not only be accessed but also transacted with confidence. It is precisely because of these that consumers have trust and start such transactions. The result is the beginning of suffering. As a consumer organization, we must firmly safeguard the rights and interests of consumers, as well as the rights and interests of legal operators.
Experts told reporters that according to Article 34 of the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China, advertising operators and advertising publishers shall inspect relevant certification documents and verify advertising content in accordance with laws and administrative regulations. For advertisements with inconsistent content or incomplete supporting documents, advertising operators shall not provide design, production, or agency services, and advertisement publishers shall not publish them.
Yang Qin, consumer rights expert of Shenzhen Consumer Protection Committee: We have learned that most of the victims of come from Baidu. The information obtained from Baidu, then Baidu comes from its bidding ranking. , after everyone’s experiments, many of the names before the 20th were fake, including the China National Travel Service, which he had complained to for many years, but with little success.
After the Shenzhen Consumer Council sent a letter of supervision, Baidu responded, which clearly mentioned that it would suspend the release of Baidu Credibility V certification advertisements for travel agencies in Guangdong; clean up Baidu's natural search results; and promise to launch a program called Baidu Netizen Rights Protection Plan to protect the rights and interests of Baidu netizens. Injured consumers shall pay compensation first. However, as of press time, none of the 40 tourists in the group, including Ms. Liu, a Shandong consumer, had been compensated.
Shandong consumer Ms. Liu: So far we have not received compensation from Baidu. I have received a call from Baidu. Why did I receive this call? It’s because I gave the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Congress and Shenzhen Municipal People’s Congress (consumer) Committee) wrote twice, and I repeatedly called 110 many times before they (Baidu) paid attention to me. None of my group members received such calls.
Experts pointed out that powerful punitive measures should be taken against illegal behavior
In view of the proliferation of information on "Mustang" travel agencies on the Internet, experts proposed that the punishment should be commensurate with the illegal behavior, so as to achieve the desired results.
Yang Qin, consumer rights protection expert of Shenzhen Consumer Protection Committee: should join hands and form an effective connection between administrative law enforcement and criminal justice, and thoroughly control and crack down on it.
At present, the public security organs have been involved in the investigation, and the investigation of this black tourism industry chain is still in progress.
The positive actions of the Shenzhen Consumer Council are fully worthy of the title of the consumer’s mother-in-law. However, we also regretfully note that as of press time, the injured consumers have still not received any compensation, and the companies involved have not received any compensation. Hold accountable. We will keep an eye on this. (CCTV reporter Wang Jing)
