I see a lot going on here, so i will add my experience with the service and its provider.
I came into initial contact with them June 30, 2022 wanting to plan for a trip that happened end of Aug into september.
They were initially slow to respond and reluctant to book so far in advance (This made sense later on to me).
The first booking was made on July 13 for a 2 night stay in September. I called the place 15 minutes after receiving the screenshot to confirm and they saw my name. So far so good. I paid immediately after in BTC.
After this, the remaining 2 places were booked the same day. Same deal, called and confirmed.
Being skeptical of the service, I called all the places a few days later and it was still in the system.
One week later, July 22, I called and 1/3 places was cancelled. The hotel found my reservation and said expedia cancelled and that was it.
They can't see why expedia cancelled, but they see they did. (They explicitly told me this). They then tried to obviously get me a reservation through them on the phone because $$$. That sequence of events doesn't signal fraud to me like i see claimed, but i can't discredit based on my own experience.
August 18, the once cancelled room is rebooked (since it was already paid and cancelled, it was rebooked with no cost to myself)
i;ve uploaded some screenshots. I've redacted sensitive information for my own protection. I will likely remove within 1-2 weeks
https://imgur.com/a/T8FMnSG
I go on my trip, the first hotel - also the most expensive one - good to go. Felt good, didn't bother to call up the places until the day of.
One place says they dont see my name. Same with the other place. So 2/3 were cancelled. I only had a day, so i booked myself since service provider was non-responsive. This was during the time they had stated they can't respond to the scam report for a week. Both hotels say they can see expedia cancel it and i should check with them to settle it since they unfortunately can't do anything.
One place went on to say try to find a place soon since it is not many hotels exist in the area. This comment also suggests to me they don't see fraud, because why be nice like that when you can see it's fraud?
So the service provider confirmed on their end the hotel was cancelled on Sept 6 and offered a full refund. I provided a BTC address.
On Sept 10, I am happy to declare for the 2 hotels that were cancelled, ive been refunded in full.
Overall, the experience was shaky. I did get a very nice hotel for a discounted price. The other 2 i eventually had to book myself. Looking in other forums, it seems that's the nature of hotel services. Whatever method it is, it tends to have cancellation and requires constant attention until the week prior. The service provider was nothing but genuine, kind and responsible. They corrected the wrongs and apologized. Nothing was done on their end to sabotage or with ill intent.
Am i happy that they were cancelled and i found out for myself a day or 2 before? Of course not. That sucks.
Could the service provider prevented this? Maybe. It's just them and perhaps a newer service/business model that would need several people in different roles. But just because the lack of resources, i don't consider myself to be scammed. They were honest and upfront.
Edit: Link didn't appear