Why you must always demand the RUC before transferring money to a travel agency?
Demanding the RUC (Peruvian Tax ID) from a travel agency in Peru guarantees that the company legally exists and pays taxes. It allows you to track their history, verify if they are active with SUNAT (the Peruvian Tax Authority), and file official complaints with INDECOPI (the Consumer Protection Agency) if they fail to deliver the service.
With the massive use of digital wallets like Yape or Plin, paying for a tour to Rainbow Mountain or the Sacred Valley takes three seconds. The problem is that getting your money back if they scam you can take years if you don't have the correct agency details.
What is the RUC and why is it your protective shield? The RUC is the ID card for businesses in Peru. If an agency gives you a RUC starting with "20" (Corporate Entity) and, when searching it on SUNAT, it appears as "ACTIVE" and "LOCATABLE" (Habido), you have your first guarantee of formality. For individuals (Sole Proprietorships), the RUC starts with "10" and is registered under a person's name. It is perfectly legal for an individual to have a business registered under their own name.
The danger of "ghost agencies" During inspections in 2024 and 2025, authorities in Cusco—the main tourist destination in Peru—detected dozens of operators working clandestinely. By not having a RUC, these pseudo-agencies evade taxes and cannot be fined by Indecopi (since they don't legally exist as formal providers), leaving you completely unprotected legally.
If you transfer money to a phone number without validating the RUC of the company behind it, you are trusting blindly.
Our golden rule: Ask for the RUC, copy it, paste it into the Buho Smart search engine, and if the agency gets a "Green Light," it is proof that it is a formal company. Regardless, you must always look for references of their history on social media or platforms like TripAdvisor. Make sure they are actively operating, that they aren't using AI-generated photos, and that they have a real brand identity (for example, photos featuring the agency's logo in recent posts).
Deposits must be made to the company registered under the RUC. For example, if the legal name of the company is PERU TOURS SAC, we highly recommend that the deposit is made to a bank account under the name "PERU TOURS SAC". If you deposit money into an individual's personal account, that person can simply deny the transaction or disappear.
In business, blind trust doesn't exist. You are paying for a service, and you expect to have the best experience of your life.
To do a quick search, ask for their RUC and run a query by clicking here, in the Safe Travel block.
You can also run the query directly at: