21 Apr 2006

The Samoa Hotel Association says the tourism industry is losing out on thousands

10:47 am on 21 April 2006

The Samoa Hotel Association says the tourism industry is losing out on thousands of dollars because of an international booking scam.

The association's administration manager Nynette Sass says the scam artists make bulk bookings, but the transfer of funds to pay for the booking takes at least 4 days to go through the bank.

Ms Sass says the scammers then cancel the booking and ask for a refund before the transaction has gone through.

She says a number of tourism operators who were unaware of the scam paid out.

Ms Sass says she believes the scam bookings seem to be coming from Nigeria, Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast.