Online lodging scams in Sagada; tourists warned

By Gina Dizon

SAGADA, Mountain Province -- Scams are all over, anywhere and any way.
    Scamming tourists is a way of a certain Isabel Bait believed to be a false name of a scammer who markets a supposed lodging house here.  
    Tourist Marilyn Victoria Berino reported at the municipal police station she was duped of P7,000  from a  certain Isabel Bait whom she met online and who introduced herself as the transient house owner. 
    Police said initial down payment of P2,000 was given by Berino to Bait and another succeeding  P5,000 for accommodation to  Sagada.
    Berino travelled to Sagada  and instructed by Bait to see her at Petron gas station  at Sitio Batalao and found out  she was blocked by Bait in her  mobile phone when she reached Sagada, police said.
    Police advised tourists to secure their accommodations   when coming to Sagada via the municipality’s tourism website Umali Kayo  at https://lodging.sagada.gov.ph/umali-kayo-registration-sagada/
    In a related incident, an innkeeper here told this writer that one of her visitors who booked in her inn said a certain Rain de la Cruz tried to dupe her to a certain homestay called Kilong Transient House.  
    Kilong Transient House is not registered under the municipality’s online portal of registered inns and homestays. -- With reports from Radio Sagada