Lost Money in Gulf Gate Tourism Scam

rayyannew
By rayyannew

Dear friends,

My friend lost his hard earned money to Gulf Gate Tourism last year. When he went to book a tour,they closed the office and ran away. Numbers were not reachable too. He is been looking for a way to recover money.

I am writing this because the victims should get money back, no one else should fall for the scam and scammers should be punished according to qatars law.

Their scheme was,

1. Collect name and number infront of renowned supermarkets/malls(He gave the details in centerpoint, Barwa)

2. They will call you and says, you won a free Holiday voucher with lulu voucher and kitchen utensils.

3. They will demand you to come with family so that they can convience you easily.

4. There will be muliple people sitting in same room where loud music is played. We wont be able to hears what others are talking.

5. They have staffs to engage kids and they offer Tea, Coffee and Milk. 

6. They will ask you questions like credit card limit, how much you spend on a holiday to assess how much you can spent.

7. They will ask you about dream destinations and they say they will 5 star hotel, resourt, tour gate, discouted tickets and free breakfast.

8. Then they will say we get gold voucher and shopping voucher and starts conviencing your wife. 

9. They use manipulative words and they particulary ignores red flags in the contract.

10. Finally you will choose a plan and pay for it, One guy announces it and they claps.If you choose EMI that is another scam. It will never converted as EMI.

11. Then comes the contract. As per the contract its non refundable and it is its your own decision and you read and understood the contact completely.

 

I heard they are still active with other names. The package was 16500, 26500 and 36500 if I remeber correctly. Their contract is full of red flags like non-refundable, subject to availbality, annual usage limit, waiting period etc. And they give excuses whenever we try to take a package. 

Please let me know if anyone got their money back. If you have any contact info about the company it is really helpful. Any help is appreciated.

I am living in Qatar for last 10 years. I personally know many victims. If we can file a compalint together I am okay with it.

Any help is appreciated.

Please report the issue in Consumer Complaints and QFC Regulatory Authority so that we can bring the attention of the officials.
Reference:
https://www.qfcra.com/financial-scams/
https://www.moci.gov.qa/en/our-services/consumer/submit-and-complain/

By Molten Metal• 6 Mar 2024 12:39
Molten Metal

Humans are natural creatures,. They also know that.

Humans make mistakes, it is alright for them.

We need to forgive them and forget them, three times.

By Molten Metal• 6 Mar 2024 12:39
Molten Metal

Humans are natural creatures,. They also know that.

Humans make mistakes, it is alright for them.

We need to forgive them and forget them, three times.

By Molten Metal• 6 Mar 2024 12:38
Molten Metal

Humans are natural creatures,. They also know that.

Humans make mistakes, it is alright for them.

We need to forgive them and forget them, three times.

By Molten Metal• 6 Mar 2024 12:38
Molten Metal

Humans are natural creatures,. They also know that.

Humans make mistakes, it is alright for them.

We need to forgive them and forget them, three times.

By Molten Metal• 6 Mar 2024 12:38
Molten Metal

Humans are natural creatures,. They also know that.

Humans make mistakes, it is alright for them.

We need to forgive them and forget them, three times.

By Molten Metal• 6 Mar 2024 12:38
Molten Metal

Humans are natural creatures,. They also know that.

Humans make mistakes, it is alright for them.

We need to forgive them and forget them, three times.

By Molten Metal• 6 Mar 2024 12:38
Molten Metal

Humans are natural creatures,. They also know that.

Humans make mistakes, it is alright for them.

We need to forgive them and forget them, three times.

By Molten Metal• 6 Mar 2024 12:38
Molten Metal

Humans are natural creatures,. They also know that.

Humans make mistakes, it is alright for them.

We need to forgive them and forget them, three times.

By Molten Metal• 6 Mar 2024 12:37
Molten Metal

Humans are natural creatures,. They also know that.

Humans make mistakes, it is alright for them.

We need to forgive them and forget them, three times.

By Molten Metal• 6 Mar 2024 12:37
Molten Metal

Humans are natural creatures,. They also know that.

Humans make mistakes, it is alright for them.

We need to forgive them and forget them, three times.

By Molten Metal• 6 Mar 2024 12:35
Molten Metal

Humans are natural creatures,. They also know that.

Humans make mistakes, it is alright for them.

We need to forgive them and forget them, three times.

By civilengr12• 6 Mar 2024 11:06
civilengr12

Hi, Im also one of the victim of this fraud. Plz call me and join me to the wtasapp group. together we can recover the money.

30878654.

By Jeyachandrans• 17 Dec 2023 19:01
Jeyachandrans

Hi All,

I was a victim as well, but it was through a different organisation called Horizon Holidazs. They carried out every action as you indicated.Please let me know if they have deceived anyone so that we can file a complaint against them.

By The_Punisher• 24 Nov 2023 10:48
The_Punisher

Dear All,

I came to know crystal sands team left from the country.. now they left the country.. we all lost our money.. i called to the bank for charge back.. but as per bank they accept disputes wirhin 6 months period..

Whoever have transaction within 6 months apply for disputes.. as their office is close they will not able to send necessary documents like agreement id copy charge slip to the bank.. and bank has to accept your charge back.. it takes around 4 weeks to get your refund on cards..

PS- your card must be visa or mastercard.. irrespective of debit or credit..

How to request a chargeback

If asking the merchant for a refund didn't work, request a chargeback with your credit card issuer. Many card issuers let you dispute transactions by phone, mail or online. You may also be able to submit a dispute directly through your card issuer's mobile app.

When you submit a chargeback, you may need to include supporting documents, such as copies of a receipt, invoice, contract and any communications you had with the merchant. Anticipate that the dispute can last up to 90 days or two billing cycles, whichever is shorter.

Once you submit a chargeback request, the exact process varies depending on your card issuer, network and situation, but generally results in some back-and-forth between various parties. Here's an example of how the process may go, according to Experian:

You file a chargeback request.

Your card issuer reviews the dispute and will decide if it's valid or if you have to pay. If your issuer accepts the dispute, they'll pass it on to the card network, such as Visa, Mastercard, American Express or Discover, and you may receive a temporary account credit.

The card network reviews the transaction and either requires your card issuer to pay or sends the dispute to the merchant's acquiring bank.

The merchant's acquiring bank takes one of two actions: Sends the dispute back to the card network and says the issuer is at fault or forwards the dispute to the merchant.

If the merchant gets it, they either agree to pay for the transaction or dispute the chargeback.

If the merchant disputes the chargeback, there may be more back-and-forth as the merchant, acquiring bank and card issuer try to settle the matter. But if the merchant agrees to pay, the process is a bit smoother.

At the end of the day, the card network decides who pays. A successful dispute will deem the temporary credit you received to become permanent.

This is only way to get refund.. dont waste your time and call the bank and raise disputes..

By HotQatar• 22 Nov 2023 10:07
HotQatar

Hello all,

Please raise this company's fraud to info@moci.gov.qa

I approached them and they took all the details. I am sure if more people write to them, some action may take place. Also, if ministry is vigilant (after getting such mails), they may scrutinize such frauds and may not allow to practice. Its time to act, not just putting post here. Please rise and speak, express and believe in Qatar ministry.

Together we can fight against such companies.

Regards

By HotQatar• 21 Nov 2023 15:05
HotQatar

I believe Crystalsands also missing from their office??

Any update or site visit?

By Spiderajay• 12 Nov 2023 16:38
Spiderajay

Please suggest how to recover our money.. still they are eating many families money.. they are dringking our blood money..

Please careful all the families.

By Farhan Akthar 786• 7 Nov 2023 19:18
Farhan Akthar 786

Good awareness post. Anybody with their conscious state of mind should not fall as victims for their scam. Many ppl who have lost money either are scared due to these people threatening or shy to tell outside that they were scammed. How can they openly scam in state of qatar and walk freely? Please report these guys and they will be caught. Like below ppl. https://www.qatarliving.com/forum/news/moi-arrests-64-illicit-funds-scams-over-qar-4-million

By Farhan Akthar 786• 7 Nov 2023 19:15
Farhan Akthar 786

Good awareness post. Anybody with their conscious state of mind should not fall as victims for their scam. Many ppl who have lost money either are scared due to these people threatening or shy to tell outside that they were scammed. How can they openly scam in state of qatar and walk freely? Please report these guys and they will be caught. Like below ppl. https://www.qatarliving.com/forum/news/moi-arrests-64-illicit-funds-scams-over-qar-4-million

By littleboy• 31 Oct 2023 08:31
littleboy

Hi Friends,

Same is happening to us with Crystal sands & Tourism... Please help me how to get money... Two weeks before i got cheated by them...

By harushi• 11 Oct 2023 09:52
harushi

Hi,

I have lost money recently with Crystal sands tourism located in Bin Dirham, Lulu express 1st floor /4 th floor. Now also they called many people cheating with sweat words in the same place.

They called with family, so that easily convince to fall in to the cheating.

Please don't fall in to the fraud/ scam

After sign the agreement, if you contact customer care, no response, you cant get the amount/ service / responsible answer.

There is no higher management to discuss with them.

Their intention to collect huge money and they will escape.

Please be careful. Once agreement signed, they will change their phone number..

Please advise... how to get money..??

By Saranya_arun• 10 Sep 2023 16:54
Saranya_arun

Hi,

Same is happening to us with Crystal sands & Tourism now. we have paid full hard earned amount.

Now, they are least bothered to reply to our queries or attend our calls. There was no reply and calls for our repeated queries so we visited to their office. We were treated very badly by making us to go to 1st & 4th floor. The concerned officials are not meeting us & we are returned back by telling get appointments and come. When we put a mail for appointments & no reply from them.

Many false promise were given like they will provide banana island, complimentary gold voucher or air ticket voucher for worth QR.3000.

I request like us, anyone don’t fall into this prey kindly check and get the reviews only then it is worth to pay. For us now more than money our mental strength & peace has gone by the way they respond.

By rayyannew• 4 Sep 2023 11:01
rayyannew

They are currenly active in the name "Crystal Sands tourism"(Address: Office number 110 & 406, Bin Dirham Plaza, Above lulu express, B ring road, Doha, Qatar). They also have a website: https://crystalsandstourism.com/

Previusly they were active in the name "Regency Travel and Tours", "Marhaba Tourism WLL", "Acon Travels WLL", "Gulf Gate Tourism WLL".

By goodlittleboy• 29 Aug 2023 17:45
goodlittleboy

This scam has been going on for several years now. Some years back several people had brought this up at Qatar Living. Gulf Gate Tourism closed down their business when things started getting a bit hot, reopening under a different name when things cooled down a bit. I believe they have been operating under different names ever since. It is important this company gets closed down by the authorities and the crooks operating this scam be punished and then kicked out of Qatar.

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