Sanya Restaurant that Scammed Customer with “9,000 RMB Dinner” Closed Down

On January 28th, a Weibo user wrote about a friend of his who was just scammed at a seafood restaurant in Sanya. The user wrote, "My friends (three people) ate some seafood at a restaurant in Sanya the day before yesterday. Three ordinary dishes they had ended up costing them nearly 4,000 RMB alone! He said that a friendly taxi driver recommended the restaurant to them. When they entered the restaurant, one of them pointed to a big looking fish in the tank and inquired about the price, at which time the manager – without giving them any price quote – quickly pulled the fish from the tank and threw it on the ground [to prepare it for cooking]. After this happened, they were then told that the fish weighed 11 jin, and that each jin cost 580 RMB – 6,000 RMB for the whole fish. As my friend tried to reason things out with the manager, several large henchman-types came out, and he thought it best to keep his mouth shut."

After this story was posted online, news of the "9,000 RMB seafood dinner scam" quickly went viral. On February 1st, law enforcement officials from Sanya's Industry & Commerce and Commodity Price Departments arrived at the restaurant "Haidao Yucun" (海岛渔村) to conduct their investigation, and shortly after the restaurant was closed down.

Scams of this nature are quite common in Sanya and around Hainan. If you plan on visiting, be weary of any restaurant or tourist attraction recommendations offered to you by "friendly" taxi drivers, as they are likely trying to scam you.

See also: Sanya to Use Electronic Scales in Fruit Shops and Sea Food Restaurants