Chinese search engine Baidu asked to answer complaints about ‘verified’ travel agency scams
- Consumers say they were duped on holidays to Hong Kong and Macau over Lunar New Year
- Company says it will ‘investigate all activities that violate the law or regulations
China’s leading search engine Baidu said it is investigating claims by a consumer watchdog that it carried advertisements for fake travel agencies that scammed visitors to Hong Kong and Macau over the Lunar New Year holiday.
“We have established a team to investigate all activities that violate the law or regulations,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
It said it was also cooperating with the Shenzhen Consumer Council, which levelled the allegations in a notice to the company, “to ensure consumer rights”.
The watchdog for the south China city published a report on its website on Tuesday saying it had received 26 complaints about travel agencies that organised trips to Hong Kong and Macau between February 4 and 10, which despite being unlicensed agencies had been verified by Baidu.
All of the complainants were from outside Guangdong province, and 90 per cent of them had found the agencies online, the report said.
Half of those who searched online did so for the well-known and reputable company “China International Travel Service (CITS)” but instead of going to the real site were taken to a fake page, even though it had been verified by Baidu.
In one case, a woman surnamed Yu signed up for a five-day trip to Hong Kong and Macau, thinking she was dealing with CITS. But when she arrived in Hong Kong, she was told her planned sightseeing had been cancelled and was taken on a shopping trip.