Hundreds of Vietnamese students in Australia were tricked into buying fake airline tickets.

According to a VNA reporter in Sydney, after receiving reports, on January 7, the police of Australia's New South Wales (NSW) state began collecting information to investigate the case of hundreds of Vietnamese students in this country being tricked into buying fake airline tickets through the social network Facebook.

Two NSW Police detectives work with Vietnam Airlines representatives, VDS President and international students at the Vietnam Airlines office in Sydney. (Photo: Khanh Linh/Vietnam+).

Initial information shows that the main suspect in this case is one or a group of Vietnamese people in Australia.

At the representative office of Vietnam Airlines in Sydney, NSW investigators came to work, collect information and statements from representatives of Vietnam Airlines, the Vietnamese Dynamic Students Association of NSW (VDS) and a number of international students who were victims in this incident.

According to statistics collected by VDS Chairman Hoang Anh on the night of January 6, more than 300 Vietnamese students in Sydney and Melbourne (Victoria state) reported that they were tricked into buying cheap air tickets of Vietnam Airlines to return to Vietnam through a Facebooker nicknamed Vi Tran on the social network Facebook. The total amount of money that these students spent to book tickets from Vi Tran was over 500,000 AUD (equivalent to nearly 8 billion VND).

This is considered the biggest fraud ever involving a large number of Vietnamese students studying in Australia.

The students said that the exchange and booking of round-trip air tickets to return home took place entirely via Facebook and phone with a woman named Vi Tran. In reality, no one knows whether Vi Tran is a ticket agent for Vietnam Airlines or not.

After booking tickets, international students are asked to transfer money to accounts (3 different accounts have been identified, 2 of which belong to airline ticket agents) and will receive a booking notification (promised to receive tickets closer to the departure date) or an electronic ticket, but when completing the procedures, they find out that the tickets are fake.

Some luckier cases discovered fake airline tickets when they arrived at the airport, promptly contacted the ticket seller and were able to buy real tickets, but only got return tickets, and still had to pay for the round trip from Vietnam.

Vi Tran's Facebook page has been closed for about a week now, and his phone number has also been cut off, making it impossible to contact him.

International students said that Vi Tran's form of selling airline tickets to Vietnam via Facebook has been operating for over a year now.

At first, Vi Tran was willing to sell airline tickets at a loss (round-trip tickets on this Facebook page are usually 300-700 AUD cheaper than buying from an official agent). Therefore, more and more people want to buy airline tickets from Vi Tran, and his reputation has spread quickly in the online community of Vietnamese students studying in Australia.

Lunar New Year is approaching, and international students who bought fake plane tickets in June and July 2015 are now very confused, because not only did they lose money "unfairly", but at this time it is also very difficult to buy plane tickets to return home to celebrate Tet with their families.

Talking to VNA reporters about this incident, Vietnamese Consul General in Sydney Hoang Minh Son pledged to provide legal support (influencing local authorities to promptly investigate and find the culprit), while continuing to closely monitor, grasp the situation, and wait for investigation notices from Australian police.

Mr. Hoang Minh Son also advised international students to stay calm, avoid agitation or listen to incitements to gather in large numbers. Instead, always obey the laws of the host country and rely on official announcements from the authorities.

Vietnam Airlines representative in Sydney also said that they will do their best to support international students by answering all questions as well as helping to determine whether the booked flight tickets are real or not, and supporting students in need to be able to repurchase tickets to return home for Tet.

International students and their families whose children are stranded in Australia due to purchasing fake tickets and have questions or need support from Vietnam Airlines can send an email to the following email address:[email protected].

Currently, the Vietnamese Embassy in Australia, the Vietnamese Consulate General in Sydney, the Vietnam Airlines Representative Office and the VDS Executive Board are continuing to coordinate with Australian authorities to find ways to support and resolve the incident./.

According to Vietnam+