Eric 24 November 202
By Rafael Barifouse and Oana Marocico
BBC World Servic
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BBC Maria on the beach in Australia, where she livesBB
Maria decided to leave Australia for a post-pandemic skiing holiday in the Alp
Digital travel scams are a growing “systemic and global” problem, according to the World Tourism Organization, a branch of the UN. Dozens of Brazilian women have been finding this out the hard way, after paying for luxury holidays from a man whose Instagram account sparkles with opulent hotels and exotic locations
Last December Maria (not her real name) decided to have a break from the heat of the Australian summer, and to take her family on a skiing holiday to Europ
It was her first trip since the pandemic and she wanted it to be special. So she paid $20,000 to a travel agent, Rafael Bessa, a fellow Brazilian who had been recommended by a friend, and made the long flight nort
To begin with, everything was perfect, but as Maria checked out of the third hotel the manager told her the room had not been paid fo
Two further shocks came in quick succession. When Maria contacted Rafael Bessa to ask for help, she noticed he was unable to talk to the hotel manager in French, despite his claim to have attended an exclusive boarding school in the Alps. Then, when the family boarded a train to their next destination, there was a problem with the tickets: he had provided two tickets with the same purchase number, meaning that only one was vali
At the next hotel it was a similar story: Maria had to settle the bill, even though she had paid in full alread
Initially she had assumed Rafael Bessa was simply incompetent. “Then I said, ‘No, this is not a mistake, this is on purpose. This is in bad faith.
Rafael Bessa Signature Travel Screengrab of Rafael Bessa Signature Travel Instagram pageRafael Bessa Signature Trav
Altogether, Maria says she lost $30,000 on the holiday – $15,000 of the money she had paid in advance, plus an extra $15,000 for just one of the hotels. Maria says that as well as telling her he’d paid for the room, Rafael Bessa said he’d got her a free upgrade – but he hadn’t, and the hotel charged the staggering full price for the super de luxe room
Rafael Bessa’s promises of reimbursement came to nothing, Maria says. Although he sent her various “proofs” of money transfers, the cash never actually arrived in her accoun
Then, when she posted about her experiences on social media, she says his lawyer got in touch, offering to reimburse $20,000 as long as she signed a non-disclosure agreement. She refuse
The BBC asked Rafael Bessa to comment on Maria’s allegations. He replied that there had been an unspecified “problem” with the price of one of the hotels, and that the room at this price had not been included in the package. He also sent copies of the train bookings – which, as Maria said, both bore the same purchase numbe
Ana in her ho
Ana Jalenna’s first trip with Rafael Bessa was “fantastic” – but not the secon
Another Brazilian woman, Ana Jalenna, booked an Alpine skiing trip and also an Italian summer holiday with Rafael Bessa, after he had organised a “fantastic” family holiday for her in Brazil
She paid part of the bill in cash, and the plan was that he would put the rest on her credit card. Some time later, she was surprised to see a payment to British Airways appear on her card account and called him to ask about i
It was the payment for her Italian hotel, he told her. Finding this hard to believe, she emailed the hotel and was told no payment had been mad
Ana decided to ask Rafael Bessa for proof that he had at least made the bookings at the ski resort. He gave her two reservation numbers, but the hotel told her they were invali
“I lost the money, the dream, the trip. I lost everything,” she say
She later spoke to other dissatisfied clients of Rafael Bessa’s, and noticed a patter
“The first trip was fantastic and everything is OK,” she says. “And then he does a longer trip, a better trip with expensive hotels, and he does this to people
Rafael Bessa insisted to the BBC that he booked the Italian hotel. He said Ana cancelled the skiing trip, and he paid her back the mone
But Ana said she didn’t cancel it – and wasn’t reimbursed.uy..”n.s.d.e.t..dmer.d.t..el'”y.d.r.h.e..sCree,2aid she didn’t cancel it – and wasn’t reimbursed.
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