The review below is the personal opinion of Steven and not that of SafariBookings.
A Serious Warning: My Experience Led to a $5,000 Loss Due to a Security Issue
My experience with this company’s booking process led me to what I believe was a sophisticated scam, resulting in a loss of nearly $5,000. I am writing this as a serious warning to future travelers.
After first contacting them on Instagram, the owner, Gifton, sent me a legitimate quote from their official email. When I replied to proceed, it appears my email was intercepted by a third party. This person or group impersonated the business and tricked me into sending funds to a fraudulent US bank account.
Critically, the scammer's demand for a 100% upfront deposit did not seem unusual to me, because the legitimate owner, Gifton, had also required a 100% upfront payment during our initial discussions. In my opinion, this high-risk payment policy makes customers vulnerable to interception scams like the one I experienced.
The legitimate owner only reached out to follow up after the scammer had already "confirmed" my payment. For 13 days of back-and-forth communication, there was no intervention or check-in from the real company, which to me suggests a lack of oversight on active inquiries.
Even more alarmingly, I am concerned that this security issue may not be resolved. After I was scammed, I sent multiple test inquiries from different accounts to their official email. In each case, my follow-up emails were also intercepted by the same scammer.
When I first reported this, the company’s response was deeply disappointing. I felt that the director, Gifton, was dismissive and suggested the problem was on my end, showing little empathy. His tone only seemed to change after discovering a mutual acquaintance had introduced us.
While the safaris themselves may be wonderful, I feel the company’s combination of high-risk payment policies and what appears to be an unresolved security vulnerability is a serious issue. From my perspective, it puts every potential customer at enormous financial risk.
Until this company can publicly demonstrate that they have secured their communication and payment systems, I cannot in good conscience recommend engaging with them. Please be extremely cautious.
