This is how they cheat tourists in Egypt. This method is completely new

Fraudsters have found a new way to extort money from tourists vacationing in Egypt. Unfortunately, even the more risk-conscious foreign guests can easily fall for this sophisticated method. How do fraudsters use personal data to extort money from insurance companies? They wait for vacationers in the hotel lobby, where they offer them free treatment and ask for their policy number. As Hurghada24.pl writes, two tourists from Estonia recently became victims of such fraud.

Free doctor scam

Holiday scams can even happen in the hotel lobby. This time, however, it is not about selling trips, but an attempt to extort money from insurance companies for treatment that is offered to customers for free. As Hurghada24.pl writes, the well-known insurance company If Insurance recently received invoices from a private medical facility in Egypt for the treatment of patients. This situation recently happened to two Estonians who were vacationing in Hurghada. They were to pay 800 euros for services that were supposed to be free.

The person who pretended to be a doctor asked the tourists to show their passport and insurance policy number. “The whole process took about 20 minutes,” we read. Despite assurances that there would be no fees, the private medical institution sent an invoice for the treatment costs to the insurer on behalf of the tourists.

A large-scale operation

Estonians quickly began to suspect a scam and contacted the insurer. Thanks to this, the scam came to light, and during the investigation it turned out that the scale of this practice was much larger than originally thought. At the end of this year’s holidays in Hurghada, a special hotline was even launched, where tourists who suspect that they may have been victims of medical aid fraud can report their complaints.