Scammers hijack famous travel spot’s name to catch Aussies

SCAMMERS have again hijacked the name of a Queensland tourist destination to trick people into unwittingly handing over their details ahead of a slated reopening of the real resort early next year.

SCAMMERS have again hijacked the name of a Whitsunday tourist destination to trick people into unwittingly handing over their details ahead of a slated reopening of the real resort early next year.

Daydream Island Resort representatives have taken to Facebook, warning on the resort’s page about “a fake Daydream Island Facebook page running a scam competition”.

The post, dated about 6.30pm on Thursday, had been shared a whopping 935 times and had gathered hundreds of comments by late Friday.

Daydream Island in the Whitsundays is due to reopen in early 2019 after an extensive $100 million redevelopment in the wake of Cyclone Debbie.

Those commenting are warning friends of the scam — which wrongly stated the island reopens this month — ‘tagging’ them, or expressing their disappointment that Daydream has been targeted again. It comes after a similar scam was reported in the Daily Mercury in February last year.

“If you see this, please report the page or post and don’t give your email address. It is absolutely in no way associated or affiliated with us,” the post read.

“We are in touch with Facebook to have this removed as soon as possible. Thank you to those who have alerted us.”

It appeared the fake page, titled simply Daydream Island and not Daydream Island Resort, had finally been removed from Facebook by late Friday, after the resort’s representatives got wind on Thursday and alerted the social media giant.

The scam Daydream Island Facebook page.

The scam page made mention of a “hurricane”, rather than a cyclone, tipping some Mackay-Whitsunday region residents off that the page may be falsified.

Several representatives for the resort expressed disappointment at having their considerable social media following, totalling more than 44,000 ‘likers’, taken advantage of.

It was suggested the scams, both this week and last year, may be piggybacking off the real resort’s impressive social media engagement.

Meanwhile, the resort is set to swing open its doors early next year after suffering extensive damage when Cyclone Debbie tore through before hitting Airlie Beach on March 28, 2017.

The renewed resort will include 277 rooms and an expanded food and beverage offering, among other drawcards.