Vacation scam nightmare: Family loses $6,000 in fake resort booking

A family vacation that was supposed to be unforgettable turned into a painful lesson Santiago Machado gives anyone who will listen.

“I don’t want any other person to get into these kinds of things,” he said. If we can make the difference with this interview, I think it’s going to be good.”

Santiago said he paid around $6,000 for what he believed was a vacation package at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Punta Cana, including rooms and flights. He said the offer seemed legitimate because it came through a friend with a membership in a vacation program linked to the hotel and was presented over the phone by supposed representatives of the company.

“They received a phone call from, I don’t know, Hard Rock or the agency giving, like, a very good opportunity to go on vacation this year or stuff like that. And they shared with us,” he told NBC6. 

Santiago paid for his room and additional rooms for his parents and in-laws traveling from Cuba to meet them in Punta Cana. But everything changed when others who had also paid tried to travel first and discovered neither the hotel nor the airline had any record of the reservations.

“No reservation. Nobody knows. We don’t exist,” he said. 

The family said they tried contacting the people who sold them the package, but the calls kept dropping and then they were mocked.

“They were laughing on the other side,” Santiago said.

More than a dozen friends fell into the same trap, they said. And the hardest part was breaking the news to his family in Cuba.

“My mom, specifically, she never got into an airplane. And everybody knows the situation in Cuba right now,” Santiago said.

Beyond the financial loss, the family is also concerned about the personal information they shared.

“Not only the $6,000 that we lost, but also our personal information, our passport pictures and stuff like that,” Santiago said.

NBC6 reached out to the hotel’s public relations agency to ask whether they were aware of this case or similar scams, but did not receive a response. 

Experts warn that these types of scams are on the rise.

“We do get a lot of vacation scams, especially around Easter time, right before summer, when people are trying to figure out what to do, getting the best deals,” Better Business Bureau spokesperson Cinthya Lavin said.

The BBB says scammers often use the names of well-known companies to gain credibility.

“They hook you with an offer you can’t refuse, something that looks to good to be true and it usually is. So just make sure that you do your research and be within the parameters of what something costs,” Lavin said.

To protect yourself, she recommends verifying promotions directly with the hotel or airline.

“And if you decide to pay and decide to go with whatever offer you receive in the mail, use a credit card instead of a debit card because you have better protections,” Lavin said.

Santiago said he paid part of the trip with a credit card and was able to get his money back while his bank completes a fraud investigation.