EGL Tours reminds citizens to stay away from 108 fake FB pages

Local travel agency EGL Tours has received over 60 deception-related cases involving a total amount exceeding HK$800,000, as it revealed at least 108 fake Facebook pages resembling EGL's social account, which claimed to offer cheap hotels and plane ticket packages.

To differentiate its official website from other fraudulent Facebook pages, Steven Huen (pictured second left), executive director, EGL Tours, said in a media briefing on 28 November, that it had been requesting Facebook's owner Meta to issue the blue verification badge since 1 August.

However, it was rejected by Meta due to a lack of brand awareness until the agency's lawyer sent a letter to Meta last Friday. EGL Tours urged Meta to strengthen its advertising review measures to combat fraudulent activities to prevent further harm.

The fake EGL Tours Facebook pages allegedly used the agency's name and logo to scam citizens through deceptive offers of low-cost hotel accommodations, buffet meals and plane ticket packages, said Huen.

“Although we have got a blue verification badge from Meta, the number of fake pages still continues to increase. While it is difficult to estimate the actual losses caused by the fake EGL Tours Facebook pages, we have seen a 20% to 30% drop in self-guided-trips-related inquiries in recent months,” Huen added.

The agency has received over 20,000 related inquiries and over 60 deception cases, involving a total amount exceeding HK$800k, with the largest loss amounting to over HK$36k. "One of the victims purchased two business class tickets from Hong Kong to the UK from the fake Facebook page. The victim realised it was a scam after paying,” he said.

Huen reiterated that EGL Tours will not ask customers to deposit money into a private account. He reminded consumers to be vigilant and careful, check the seller’s background by looking for a blue verification badge, and see if the payment collection account name is EGL Tours’ company name. 

Meanwhile, James Lam (pictured right), general manager, FIT & wholesale, EGL Tours, said that some of the 108 fake Facebook pages are almost identical to EGL's genuine page. "Meanwhile, we discovered that some fake pages use Simplified Chinese in their Facebook page name, or the scammers even use Simplified Chinese to communicate with the victims," he added.

A check by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE saw on Facebook that over 10 related search results appeared after searching "EGL Tours". However, the travel agency's official Facebook page with a blue verification badge appeared in the very bottom part of the search result list. 

To prevent more customers from being scammed by fake Facebook pages, EGL Tours has created a list on its Facebook page, listing out fake pages that citizens should pay attention to.

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