The Costa Rican Tourism Chamber (CANATUR) sent out an alert Friday saying that numerous tour operators are illegally using the chamber’s logo to sell tour packages.

Tatiana Cascante, the chamber’s executive director, said in a news release that these businesses are trying to pass themselves off as verified tour operators, with promotions for low-cost tours.

“We’re worried about various reports we’ve received where these businesses invited consumers to buy tourism packets and told them they were pre-approved by CANATUR, and unfortunately the people took it as fact and paid before later realizing it was a fraud,” Cascante said. “We recommend for people to always verify the received offer, to know the restrictions, read the contract or deal that they will sign, and if they have doubts they can communicate them with us.”

In some cases the businesses have defrauded customers by completely taking their money and giving them nothing in return, said press representative Marcela Delgado Solera. The chamber is prepared to take legal action against the operators it has found fraudulently using its logo, the press release says.

The chamber is officially affiliated with nearly 600 businesses, which can be found on the chamber’s webpage: www.canatur.org.