Registrant Dan Smoker, a Denver resident, recently fell prey to a travel scam. He had taken the call while trying to rebook his own flight and that of his family. Smoker’s perilous experience began last May when her flight from Baltimore to Miami was cancelled due to a mechanical failure. In an attempt to fix the problem, he called United Airlines customer service to get it sorted. What started as a pretty normal scamming sort of call quickly developed into a grim reminder about how dangerous dream-stealing virtual scammers can be.
Smoker first talked to a United Airlines representative, who collected his information and put him on hold. After a short hold, he was put through to a man who declared that he was “David”. Smoker was unaware that David claimed not to be an agent of United Airlines. In reality, David was an unscrupulous fraudster who had played the game back to come out on top.
While the nonprofit was sorting out the initial panic, the scammer already made their move. They called United Airlines that day to assist and expedite the rebooking process. He was able to promise Smoker that a reimbursement for the mistakenly booked flight would appear within one billing cycle. After the trade-in went through, Smoker was sent an email with the refund and payment confirmation information. This email served to strengthen his impression that he was dealing with a bona fide agent.
All parts of the transaction didn’t transpire so easily. Meanwhile, United Airlines has already fully refunded Smoker for his flight upgrades and hotel reservations. They went further astray by failing to refund him the $17,000 they should have been returning to him. This surcharged dollar amount was never actually charged to Smoker’s credit card by United Airlines, putting Smoker in an impossible situation. As of last month, he was pretty excited to get news from American Express. Additionally, he searched for news from United Airlines on the status of his money being returned.
Smoker was disconcerted as well by the whole ordeal. He immediately attempted to contact David through the personal number they had pre-arranged. Even worse was the response to his efforts — nothing. He felt the most lost and disillusioned trying to understand how a basic command for help had turned into such an awful ordeal.
“I know it. I know I called the right number,” Smoker expressed frustration over the experience. He reiterated the challenge to identify who to trust versus who may be a scam artist. It’s one thing to just call the wrong number completely and be scammed. It’s something else entirely to pick up the phone and call a trusted source — or who you think is a trusted source — and get conned. And if it’s happened to me, I can pretty much guarantee it’s happened to other people.
Kati Daffan, Assistant Director in the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Division of Marketing Practices, seconded Smoker’s worries. She cautioned consumers to be wary of searching for contact information online. She advised them to always click on organic search results rather than paid search ads that could potentially lead them astray.
Daffan noted, “What we see is that scammers will place paid advertisements and try to trick people into thinking that that’s the real contact information for a business or for a government agency even.” She emphasized the need to fact-check sources and fields of contact beforehand.
This is a wake up call big business, and everybody,” she said. If folks are trying to find contact information online, do not assume that they know how to be cautious.
With all that said, based on his experience, Smoker is optimistic that others can learn from his bad luck. He has made efforts to file an official report of the incident and calls for more accountability from American Express and United Airlines.
“It is critically important for people to report scams to the FTC if it happens to you or someone you know,” Daffan explained. “That is a huge public service because we and other law enforcement agencies use that information every day.”
Enforcement actions are still continuing against the broader impact of schemes in the travel services industry. In addition, both consumers and businesses need to be increasingly vigilant against these fraudulent practices. The FTC encourages all Americans to report any potentially fraudulent activity wherever you encounter it. Your reports will be instrumental in strengthening research and equipping law enforcement to crack down on these deceptive practices.
Through this incident, Smoker’s experience serves as a reminder of the importance of due diligence when navigating customer service options online. After nearly three years of unexpected turbulence, the travel industry is recovering. If we want to stop these kinds of scams from happening in the first place, we need to lead with our credibility.
