I was scammed nearly $5,800 while buying flight ticket from South Korea to Vietnam

My family lost VND152.56 million (US$5,800) after a flight booking on Facebook led to repeated transfers demanded under the guise of correcting a payment and processing a refund.

On the evening of Sept. 7, my child wanted to buy a round-trip ticket between Busan, South Korea, and Ho Chi Minh City, departing Dec. 21 and returning Feb. 11 next year.

Through Facebook, my child found a "verified" fanpage displaying a blue checkmark and belonging to a general sales agent advertising low-cost flight tickets.

Believing it was a trustworthy provider, my child contacted the page and booked a ticket. After some communication, the seller provided bank account details, and my child transferred VND6.54 million to pay for the ticket.

Initially, everything appeared to be a standard flight purchase. However, immediately after receiving the money, a representative of the page said the transaction had been processed incorrectly and instructed my child to repeat the process to receive a refund.

My child was contacted by a Facebook user who identified themselves as the ticket seller's accountant.

This person introduced my child to another Facebook account, claiming the user was an employee of the payment provider who could assist with the refund.

During the interaction, my child noticed an irregularity in the person's identity. The profile picture appeared to belong to one gender, while the person answering the call was of the opposite gender. Despite this, my child proceeded with the transfer.

The person then instructed my child to visit another website and follow a series of steps, claiming this was necessary to recover the VND6.54 million already paid for the ticket.

Believing the instructions were part of a legitimate refund procedure and wanting to recover the money, my child followed them.

The website then required my child to transfer increasingly large sums of money, VND97,520,427, then VND9,752,042, and another VND9,752,042.

All three payments were sent to the same bank account, which was held by an individual. However, after each transfer, my child still did not receive the original payment back.

Instead, the person providing the instructions continued to give new excuses and demand further transfers. My child still believed the money would be refunded once all the required steps were completed.

The website subsequently said a threshold of VND81.6 million had to be reached before the refund could be released. As the account balance was insufficient, the person instructed my child to borrow money from banks to meet the requirement.

Confused and still believing this was the final step to recovering the money, my family borrowed VND20 million from one bank and VND10 million from another. The VND30 million was then transferred to the account designated by the individuals.

After the transfer, my child waited for further instructions on how to receive the refund. However, it was no longer possible to contact anyone at the ticket vendor or the payment processing entity.

That was when we realized we have been scammed. We lost VND152.56 million.

This is a very large amount of money for my family.

I have thought a great deal about what happened since the incident. My child may have lost money because of a lack of vigilance — trusting a social media page advertising cheap flights and believing people who claimed to be support staff.

But I believe the greater danger is that the same tactic could easily be used against others.

People looking for cheap flights, particularly those living abroad, can easily come across Facebook pages advertising tickets and contact them to make a booking.

If they encounter a similar scam, victims can be drawn from a simple ticket purchase into a cycle of repeated transfers under different pretexts: a transaction error, a need to confirm payment or verify identity, a fee for processing a refund, a requirement to meet a quota, or a demand for additional funds to unlock a reimbursement.

By the time victims realize they have been scammed, their losses may have reached tens or even hundreds of millions of dong.

Losing money is a painful blow to a family. But if telling our story helps prevent others from becoming victims, then sharing it will have real meaning for us.