A 24-year-old cafe employee has been detained in Astana on suspicion of receiving prepayments for booking the venue without the administration's knowledge. According to preliminary data, 10 people were affected, with total damage amounting to about 500,000 tenge. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
According to the investigation, in the absence of the administrator, the man presented himself as an employee authorized to accept orders and received money from visitors who wanted to book the cafe for celebratory events.
The victims discovered that the administration was unaware of the prepayment when they arrived at the venue to hold the planned celebrations.
A pre-trial investigation is underway into the fraud.
Police recommended checking the authority of a venue's representative before making a payment and depositing money only through the official cash desk. Receipts, checks and other documents confirming payment must be kept.
Earlier, Kursiv reported that a resident of Almaty lost money when booking a cottage she saw advertised on Instagram. According to her, after making the prepayment, the supposed representatives of the holiday base stopped communicating and then suggested following a suspicious link, ostensibly to refund the money. The photos of the cottages turned out to be images of other resorts.