I Have Been Victimized by Fake American Airlines Employees. (This title is edited.)

Oh, this really sucks. I'm not knowledgeable enough to offer anything practical, but following to see what others advise.

All I can say is that I totally know that feeling of urgency and anxiety when those flight change emails arrive (or sometimes don't arrive at all, and they're noticed when opening the app!) This may not help now, but in the email did it give you the option to reject or accept the new flight? I have had that with Delta before when they've made a significant change. Not sure if AA does the same thing.

I know you must be really upset right now. You spent a lot of time selecting your initial flights and were happy with them. I am afraid since you cancelled the flights, you probably don’t have much recourse. But here are some thoughts for the future.

• Take a deep breath when you get a flight change. It’s a long time till your trip, so you have time to think. Quell the panic.
• This allows you to begin your research again. While it does occasionally happen that your flights change because of a computer glitch, the most common reason is a flight cancellation. Other than re-booking, there isn’t much you can do about that.
• Do your research (again) and find the most acceptable option before you call. Because the airline has made the change, often you can sub in what you want - even if it costs more than you originally paid. If you are like me, I need to SEE what my options look like, not HEAR them.
• It looks like you may have posted this immediately. If so, you are still within the 24 hour free cancellation stage. If you are, you can still do some research to see if you can find flights that suit you better.

I recently had this happen for my trip in the fall. American started emailing me probably in March (a partner airline had cancelled a flight and the computer couldn’t make a suitable choice) but I was traveling. They emailed me again about every week. When I got home in May, I looked at my options, called them, and reconfigured my whole return trip (by knowing what I WANTED),

I know not much of this is helpful (unless you are in the 24 hr period and have since found a better option). The main message to anyone else is to resist the urge to panic.

What TexasTraveMom wrote. I concur.

Never call in panic. Do your research, know what you want, and provide that when the airline representative doesn't offer anything you like.

The more information you have, the better it will be.

We have had this happen several times with delta, all for international flights. Here is what I am convinced is happening:

We always book these with delta very far in advance, 6 to 9 months out or further if we know our plans. This gets the best rates, but the risk of changes I think is higher. As time goes on, they tweak their schedules, which is understandable. Usually something shifts by 10-20 minutes and isn't a big deal. But near time of flight, the conspiracy guy in me comes out. They put us on a completely different flight, possibly a different connect city, much less convenient and probably under booked and all of a sudden the seats we had on the original flights are gone, and on the new flight, there is a charge to get decent seats. Even though there are other more convenient options they could have put us on, there is no attempt by airline to ask us our preference. I am really believing that they have found a passenger that will pay a higher price for our original flights and seats, and just kicked us to a less desirable flight. I did have an agent tell me on the phone one time that even though I reserve specific seats, there is no guarantee we will get those seats. On another occasion, I was told by a manager that the flight got moved to a different type of plane so the seat layouts was not the same. All done I am sure to reduce cost in analyzing the cost/passenger of each flight. I believe if this is what is happening, it should not be allowed, especially if I have selected seats, unless of course the flight is simply not going.

It is maddening, and has be considering another airline, but I suspect they all do something similar. OK, end of conspiracy guy...

I’m so sorry that happened. I agree with everything TTM said. Just adding that I hate American airlines, which is too bad because they are partners with my favorite airline Alaska. All flights I have ever had with American have been changed or canceled! Yes, ALL of them! The final straw was when my youngest daughter was on her way to camp in California and one hour before we were to drive to airport, yup, they cancelled the flight. My daughter was under age and flying alone. We couldn’t make it work and she ended up not going to camp that summer.

Edited; I just remembered that my flight last year from Miami to Cuba and the return on American was not changed or canceled. Ok, one flight. But, I still avoid them like the plague.

I'm sorry for your frustration. But, you panicked.

Anytime you book with any airline more than a couple weeks in advance there will be schedule changes and possibly rerouting. Sometimes more than once.

Next time, slow down. A middle of the night email doesn't require a middle of the night call to the airline.

And when you're new reservation is changed, again don't panic.

First of all, take a deep breath. Then recognize that you unfortunately did this to yourself by not thinking through and researching prior to calling them. I’m not trying to make you feel bad, you just need to realize that American Airlines is not really at fault here. Their flights changed and they notified you. What happened afterwards is fuzzy in your mind and in the post.

I do think you could call them back today. Be honest and explain your confusion and that you are not happy with the result of your choices. The fact that you cancelled the original reservation may make this far more difficult, but you might get a kind person.

We all have made mistakes when travel planning. It never feels good, but it does happen.

Phyllis, TexasTravelMom has given you great advice, as have the other folks here. When you call AA back, and you should, have an alternate itinerary at hand, as well as a history of your original route, as well as any changes that were made, whether by AA or by you.

AA recently changed our fall itinerary, making a transfer time at DFW very short, short enough that if our flight from Tulsa wouldn't be landing until our next flight would already be boarding! And we'd be changing terminals. Yikes!

I found a choice that worked better for us, called AA, explaining that while the change they had made might be technically possible, I found it unlikely, and would be very uncomfortable trying to make the connection. I then suggested another option that would give us more time at DFW before boarding our flight to Europe. The person with whom I was talking agreed it was a good choice, and made the change, with no added charge, since I was responding to a change the airline had made.

I was so glad I had found another choice (and had yet another as a backup) and had good notes on what had already been done.

So yes, slow down, take a deep breath. I hope you can still work this out. What a tough way to prepare for a trip!

BostonPhil, I am so so sorry to hear this. I hope you have been able to get some more sleep now and feel a better about being able to handle this.

As others have said, first take a deep breath and relax. Panic will not help you here.

Reading through your post, it sounds like you had to pay $700+ more because the new flight you booked costs more than the previous flight, is that correct? If you are unhappy with this, and want more time to shop around, you can cancel this reservation for free if you are within the 24-hour booking window.

If AA charged you $700+ for cancelling your ticket, you can contest that, as you cancelled in response to a significant change in your itinerary, which is required to be free of cancellation charges.

Best wishes. Hopefully it will be sorted soon.

you are all right but i may have learned a bitter lesson.

I should have just relaxed not gotten stressed and excited. Big mistake

I should have gone back to sleep and called during regular business hours to see what i could do. I should have researched my options.

But no I overreacted. And I may be out some money.

I did file a complaint with American Airlines. I asked to speak to either a supervisor or manager. I believe that American has to get back with me within 30 days. If I am not satisfied with the response, I can then open a complaint with a government agency.

Mybe I will get something back and maybe not.

But it is a lesson for the learning as the expression goes.

Among the problems was that none of the other flights available worked. There were really bad options.

The only flights that worked were for a day earlier and I do like the one that I am now on. It is the best one after the one that was cancelled.

Sometimes the lessons that are the most difficult are also the most valuable.

I will do better next time.

And again I thank you all for your very valuable advice.

Before it was over, i was going to have to call back four more times. I was going to be on the phone with American for about 4 hours and it is costing me almost $800 more.
I was never given correct or adequate information about how to change and how to apply my credit. I made mistakes and did it wrong

What I gather from that is that you spent time on the phone with an AA rep and then made the changes yourself online.
Is that correct? If they made you do that, shame on them.

I think a call to AA is in order, and if the rep "can't" fix things, ask for someone higher up the food chain. With the significant change they made to your original schedule, you shouldn't have to be out extra $$$ to get a reasonably comparable schedule.

As others have noted, do the research to see what is available.

If you are unable to get your ideal schedule, hopefully you can get the extra $$$ you paid refunded in some form.

Good luck

Hello joe32F and everyone else

I went back and looked at what American had put me on after canceling the flight that I liked.

American had me arriving at JFK about 8:30 pm but not leaving for Tokyo until 10 am the next morning . Come on .... This is insane.

Joe, I talked to three or four reps, the last being. a man who I spent about 2 hours speaking to. He put me on a flight that I really like and he got my seats and did a lot of work but I ended up having to pay about $800 more. At one point, I did ask to speak to a supervisor or manager and he told me that he was the supervisor and then added "at least for now'

So my response to having my flight canceled was my problem. Instead of getting frantic and stressed, I should have relaxed, gotten more sleep and called back today during the daytime hours when maybe I had the thinking cap on..

I may be out the $800 but I opened a ticket and we'll see.

Hi Jojo Rabbit

I copied the flight American offered me but it does not give exact flight time. And I can not figure it out.

AUS
Austin
3:20 PM
AA 842

JFK
New York Kennedy
8:14 PM
Seat:

Class:
Economy (O)
Wednesday, 1 October 2025

JFK
New York Kennedy
10:00 AM
AA 167

HND
Tokyo Haneda
1:20 PM
Seat:

Class:
Economy (O)

Would you have tken this?

Sorry for your misfortune.
I think you learned a hard lesson about changing flights. You big mistake was to cancel. It is wise to be more aware of what you can do with changing flights that AA did to you.

With most airlines, you can go online and check the options for what is available in changing your flights. Delta makes this easy.

Also, I occasionally fly American, but prefer Delta by far.

American had me arriving at JFK about 8:30 pm but not leaving for Tokyo until 10 am the next morning . Come on .... This is insane.

Agreed.

An overnight at an airport hotel is not the end of the world ….cheaper than $700 in additional costs to cancel and rebook .

You have such a positive attitude -that's admirable! You found a good solution on little sleep and now aren't spending more time "second guessing". Plus, you are still set to fly to Japan!
It got me thinking with all the changes and challenges now it really would be unexpected for a flight schedule to remain unchanged from time of booking.
And that doesn't include delays and other surprises once on your way. Hopefully now you can get back to planning your time in Japan, and as you said, if you ever get a middle of the night email again you'll know what to do.

Personally, yes, I would have taken the JFK connection and booked an Airport hotel. BUT AA have a 7am from Austin, with a 2 hour 30 connection at LAX, arriving Haneda at 2.20 pm, also good connections through DFW.
Both of which are better still in my eyes.

Hi, Phil! This is all very stressful and ultimately I think you're doing a great job managing it all and figuring out next steps.

I myself have been known to freak out and make fast decisions, so I empathize! I also agree that it's ultimately all a learning opportunity. There are so! many! aspects to travel (flight changes included!) that become commonplace to experienced travelers but that simply aren't obvious to those of us earlier on in the process. (Before reading the forum, for instance, I never would have known that flight itineraries could change even without notification and that it's therefore normal for people to proactively check the app for those changes with semi frequency.)

To everyone saying that the overnight layover would have be much preferable, well, that's just not objectively true, for any number of reasons. I know Phil has shared she sleeps at the airport the night before a morning flight, so that would have made for some very long travel with very little poor sleep, none of which would have helped her have a great trip to Japan. Sometimes the extra money is worth it (even if that extra money maybe could have been saved by calling before canceling/rebooking, which is I think what happened here).

Keep at it, Phil! And keep us posted!

An overnight at an airport hotel is not the end of the world ….cheaper than $700 in additional costs to cancel and rebook .

Not the end of the world, true, but I have to think there's a better option than a 14 hour layover at JFK when originating in Austin. I would personally hate this option - getting packed and ready, psyching myself up, flying east and pointlessly sleeping at an airport only to fly back west for 14 hours to Asia the next day...I can't be the only one who'd be upset at this new itinerary?

Phil, can you cancel the new booking since you're still within the 24 hour window as others have mentioned? Then you'd be able to start from scratch finding a flight that works better for you.

I'm just adding a link to the DOT regarding refunds and significant changes.
https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/refunds

And this is American Airlines policy for significant changes.

https://www.aa.com/i18n/customer-service/support/conditions-of-carriage.jsp

1. A change in departure or arrival time of 3 hours or more for domestic flights, or 4 hours or more for international flights.
2. Alterations to the origin or destination airports.
3. Downgrades to a lower cabin class.
4. Increased number of flight connections

Besides knowing what flights you would accept prior to a call, I find knowing your legal rights something to be aware of since I find most agents will not tell you or don't even know themselves. I've had to quote their own airline polices and DOT rules back a few times myself when the agent wanted to charge me for a flight change or deny a refund when I was entitled to one.

Hello All

It was all fraud. I have been taken by a fraudster company based in India. They did rebook me but they charged me for the rebooking, not American.

I am on the phone with Citi right now cancelling. my card and having a new one reissued. The fraudsters also changed the password of my Advantage account without my knowledge.

I called American and they were no help. They know about this company and they said they get calls about them every day.

The fraudsters have access to the American phone number and can pick up. They pretend to be American employees

I will get back with this post later on. It is going on 7 pm and I have been dealing with thi since about 3 or 4 am

So sorry you had to experience this fraud.

I hope you still have a great trip.

I hope this will work out for you. Others here are much more knowledgeable about air than I am, but my only suggestion is to give it a shot. A pleasant but pitiful tone when dealing with the agent is my first strategy and I am not adverse to talking to several agents because every now and then you hit the jackpot and get the simpatico person who may make changes that other sales reps wouldn’t consider. Good luck. And safe travels.

EDIT: I just read your last entry…what a shame! Sorry!

BostonPhil, this is terrible...and scary! So you called an American Airlines number and it was answered by an unauthorized third party??

Oh, no! I'm so sorry.

Make sure you change all your passwords, not just that one card.

Hi JoJo Rabbit.

The email was legit . It was from American and my original flight did get cancelled and they put me on the NYC flight which did not work for me.

I called so many times that i can not keep up with the calls. I may have called. a number in the email or I went to aa.com and went down to Contct American.

The name of the scam company is called Flight Reservations . They are based in India.

They gave me. a number to call them back on and I did so. I asked them who they were. They told me that they work with American and when the American lines are busy, the call rolls over to them

As said, American is fully aware of them . American says they are a travel service on one hand but a scam on the other. They can rebook you and charge you.

Citi has cancelled my credit card and is sending me a new one . I have opened. a dispute with Citi

But Flight Reservations still has access to the reservation they made for me. They could make all kinds of changes including cancelling it.

I am going to have to call American again. I am going to have to ask for their help in makng a new reservation. I asked if Flight Reservation could cancel my booking nd American sid "that's a good question". American does not seem to know how to cancel it.

Oh Phyillis, I am so sorry. What a horrible thing to have happened to you! Yes, please call American Airlines, and throw yourself on their mercy. Have your notes handy, and tell them exactly... EXACTLY ... what has happened and what you have been going though.

We're all on your side, and are hoping for the best for you.

Oh, Phil, I'm so sorry this is happening to you. Innocent people -- including those who think they'd never fall for any tricks -- are the victims of these kinds of criminals all the time.

I second Mary in changing any/all passwords to be safe.

I also wonder if maybe what happened (as happens a lot in these cases) was that you found the fraud phone number by googling for American's phone number. A lot of these criminals set it up such that when you Google for a company's phone number, what shows in the search results is their phone number.

Even if that's not what happened here, be sure, moving forward, to first go directly to the real company's website and then click for contact info from there.

Please know you've got a lot of people here who care about you and are sending a lot of support your way.

Many communities have a local news reporter that works as a consumer affairs advocate. This might be another source of support for you.

If you phoned something other than 800-433-7300, you most likely were NOT calling AA.

Hopefully AA will have some compassion and find a way to fix the mess and there is some way to recover your $$$.

This article expands upon Hannah's point about fraudulent airline phone numbers on Google https://thepointsguy.com/news/airline-customer-service-scam/

Citi has cancelled my credit card and is sending me a new one. I have opened. a dispute with Citi

Citi will contact AA and investigate the charge that you disputed. If it is determined that the transaction was fraudulent, they will reimburse you.

Just a thought . Maybe edit your title? The situation has clearly changed from what you originally thought it was.

Carol,

I think that you are right. Any suggestions on what I should change / edit the title to?

EDIT. I edited the title and added a short intro to the rest of the discussion.

Hi Mary

I read the article. That is sort of what happened to me.

I spoke with American Airlines a lot yesterday. And they asked me if I google aa.com when trying to call them or even book a trip. There are many versions of aa.com that are fraudelent.

And the scammers pretend to be American Airlines employees when they are not.

I have opened. a dispute with Citi. I have reported the company as fraudulent. I have canceled my Citi Card and a new one will be issued

But the fraudulent company is a travel service and did rebook me. Can they cancel my rebooking. Didn't that happen to someone in the article? I asked American and they just did not know.

But the fraudulent company is a travel service and did rebook me. Can they cancel my rebooking. Didn't that happen to someone in the article? I asked American and they just did not know.

So it sounds like AA can't change your booking because it was booked by a 3rd party - same as if you booked with a travel agent or website like Expedia. This is still fraud because you didn't know it was a third party, plus the 3rd party was impersonating AA.

It is sounding like you were a victim of a Phishing Scam. One of the main things from your original post that strikes me is the panic and anxiety you felt at receiving the email (understandable!). Scammers count on you feeling this way. They create a false sense of urgency and panic so people can't think straight and feel as if they've got to hurry, and in doing so people tend to provide personal account or financial information to the person on the phone.

• Was the phone number you called listed in the email you received? Can you look on your phone log and make note of the number you called? You can then google the phone number or do a reverse search and see if there are results showing the number has been reported as scammers by others. Are you comfortable sharing what number you called (or PM it to me)? I can help with this.

• Did you click on a link in the email you received? Often this can redirect you to a fake airline website.

• What was the sender's exact address on the email you received? If you hover your mouse over the sender's email address (don't click it), you can often see the real email address it came from.

• Most important: think really carefully - when you called the number, did you provide any of your AA login information and/or password to the person on the phone? They may have claimed they needed this to rebook you, and in the panicked state you were in you might have provided this without realizing.

• (For future reference):

https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-recognize-and-avoid-phishing-scams

https://www.aa.com/i18n/customer-service/support/communication-and-email-security.jsp

Wow!! I have been following this thread, and my jaw dropped to learn what you determined had happened. My first thought was: "Close the credit card," but you were right on that!! Good. My next thought was: "What kind of info could they have gotten thru your trusted traveler # or other?" Consider freezing your credit files with all the main credit bureaus, if there is ANY chance this fraudster has key personal info about you with which they could apply for credit, etc. You would not want this nightmare to turn into a series of nightmares.

If would be interesting (although not really necessary) to check in with your credit card company (I think you said Citi) after your travels to see if any further "attempted" charges were made to the now-closed account.

Sincere thank you for sharing your experience. It very likely will help many others to avoid falling victim to something similar...either thru travel or other means by Googling phone numbers and links. My spouse is constantly reminding me to save bookmarks and to not just Google. Point now underscored!

I am so glad you were able to unravel what happened, although I know there is still more to unravel.

You are alive, you figured out what happened, and you have a great trip ahead. Safe travels!! As I often say, even on our darkest of days, we have to realize there are millions who would quickly trade problems with anyone of us. Keeps me sane in today's world.

bostonphil7, Its wrong. Every bit of its wrong. I wish I had more. Could happen to any of us if that is any conselation.

Hi, Phil. I just want to pause the whole thread for a second and check in on you -- how are you doing amidst all this stress? I hope you've been able to take good-enough care of yourself.

I just read the edit that you added to your initial post. That helps clarify things: so, the initial booking was through AA, the 3am email about the itinerary change was legit from AA, you panic canceled that booking through AA, and then when you went to rebook your flights you (presumably, based on the comment back to Mary a few comments up) googled AA's phone number but got caught in the fraud results and accidentally called the scammer's phone number where you paid them for what is ultimately a real booking but absolutely fraud nonetheless.

Is that correct?

Mr E

This is happening to millions of consumers

If it happened to me yesterday, it could happen to you tomorrow.

Here is.a tip

When you call an airline, first ask "are you an employee of such and such airline. Do you work for such and such aIrline?" Make certain that you are really talking to a person who works for the airline

Hello this is a General Update before I respond individually

I called back the scam company and spoke to the person who scammed me. I confronted him.

He claims that their company is a consolidation desk for American Airlines and every time the American lines are busy, the call rolls over to them to avoid long waits.

I told him that I had opened a dispute with my credit card company as well as a fraud complaint. He told me that if i would drop the dispute and fraud complaint, they would refund me my money but they would also cancel my flight booking.

I have no intention of dropping my complaints or disputes.

Later, I called American Airlines. They told me that they never heard of a consolidation desk or their phones rolling over to a consolidation desk.

American can cancel the reservation that was booked through the fraud company and rebook using my credit.

Or they can help me with a passkey. I would give American a password that only I would know. The password would be attached to my flight and my flight could not be touched. The fraud company could not make any changes to my flight . They could not cancel my flight. The downside is that I could not touch my flight either . In order to access my flight, i would need to call American to apply the password.
But I could also always have the password removed like the day before the flight.
I still do not quite understand how this works.

American has suggested that I not call the fraud company back.

Citi has cancelled my card and assigned me a new card but I can not yet view my new number. The security department tells me that I will be able to view my new number within 24 hours but I have been told other things by other staff. I should be getting my new card within 4 to 7 business days.

I will continue to keep this situation updated

Hi Hannah

I think that I am doing ok. I did sleep well.

We are having violent weather in Central Texas so we can not go anywhere. I have to be home for now anyways.

Still dealing with the situation. I think that you kind of have it right. I am not certain because I still do not fully understand myself. I can. not believe all the phone calls that i have been making just to try to understand.

I do not know how I ever ended up speaking to the fraudster,

They claim that they work with American Airlines and when American's phones are very busy, the call rolls over to them. They claim to be the consolidation desk for American

American tells me that they never heard of such a thing.

I hve added an update of where I am currently at at the bottom of this discussion.

Thank you for your concern

"*The security department tells me that I will be able to view my new number within 24 hours but I have been told other things by other staff. *"

THIS is a reason to have credit cards in an Apple or google wallet. I had fraudulent charges last summer on my AMEX card. Called, cancelled card. While I was on the phone with AMEX the staff member said...I see you have this in your AppleWallet. We will update that immediately and you can continue to use Apple Wallet today with your new number before you get the physical card". By the time I hung up and checked my AppleWallet, the number was updated...so that was within minutes. I ASSUME this is how it works with googlepay as well but I only have experience with Apple.

I think your awful situation is a lesson for all of us. When confronted with a huge change....

• Pause (go back to sleep)
• Gather your wits
• Research
• Plan a course of action

Hi Mary

I can not quite remember any longer how I ended up talking to the fraudster.

Isn't there something also called. a Trojan site that is made to look like the legit site.

Ameican did say something about being cautious when you google aa.com. Well what are we supposed to do when we want to book or manage a trip with American?

yes, the fraudster company had changed my Advantage password. American gasped when I told them this. They say they would never do this. They said that they consider our Advantage Account to be sacred like a credit account

So I have repaired the damage and now have my newest Advantage password. I have my passport number and lots of person info attached to my Advantage Account.

I have posted a recent update at the bottom of the discussion. And I will continue to keep forum updated. .

I think that I am supposed to be researching and working on my cruise

Everything they're saying about calls to AA rolling over to them is a lie. You can't believe anything they tell you. If you asked, do you work for AA, they'll say yes or anything they have to in order to complete the scam. That's why I agree with AA that you shouldn't call them back or further engage with them in any way.

With regard to your flights and the two options AA gave to you (password protect the current itinerary, or cancel and start over), I personally recommend you cancel the flights that the fraud company booked and then use the credit to book an entirely new itinerary. That way you don't have to worry about all the details of the AA password option to protect your current itinerary. There's already enough to have to remember as it is.

Hello Pam

to be truthfully honest, I have never understood Google Pay or Apple Pay. It seems that people love Apple Pay.

Maybe I should look into it.

Fortunately I have 5 credit cards which I do not need but got them on promotion.

In some ways, I have been learning a very valuable lesson. And I am glad to share it on forum.. I am glad for the support but also hope to keep others from my grief and my mistakes..

I have September 2026 on my calendar.

American can cancel the reservation that was booked through the fraud company and rebook using my credit.

At this point please make it easier on yourself and cancel the reservation. This way you can wipe the slate clean, so to speak, and start over with a new booking, but not today. Today take a breath and don't call anyone or open any more websites. You've already filed a dispute for the fraudulent charge, so there's nothing else you need to do. AA and your credit company will take it from here regarding the return of funds.

Ameican did say something about being cautious when you google aa.com.
Well what are we supposed to do when we want to book or manage a trip
with American?

For those in a future situation, go directly to the official website for the airline - in this case, aa.com. If you use Google to search, before clicking a link look carefully at the full URL to verify it is a commercial site (.com), check for weird spelling in the URL, and even double check their social media accounts to confirm the address is correct. This might not be foolproof but it will help weed out the more obvious spammers. Not blaming you for this very unfortunate situation but it is a good reminder to stay vigilant.

American can cancel the reservation that was booked through the fraud
company and rebook using my credit.

You should do this as soon as possible, but please take a deep breath before you do. Rebooking will give you a new reservation confirmation number that the fraudsters do not have. Make sure you know exactly what flights you want to be rebooked on, considering all of your options, including the long layover that you were offered originally. As you have other credit cards available to use, waiting on your replacement Citi card is not necessary. Cutting off as many paths to your personal information as possible as quickly as possible is essential.

American has suggested that I not call the fraud company back.

Absolutely do not call them ever again. Block their number on your phone and if you corresponded via email, block their email address. If you have a consumer fraud agency in Texas, report them. For the next several months please stay vigilant responding to any phone or email requests - they may attempt to contact you under a different premise than your airline tickets.

American did say something about being cautious when you google aa.com. Well what are we supposed to do when we want to book or manage a trip with American?

I second everything CL suggested about double and triple checking the website URL, etc. But I'm also wondering, Phil, if you use bookmarks to save/manage the websites you often use? So, for example, if you use Chrome (a Google product) as your web browser (or Firefox, Safari, whatever), you can save websites to your bookmark manager. And so then you can just click on that saved website instead of googling for the website every time you want to use it. Do you know how to do that? If so, I highly recommend saving all of your important, sensitive websites -- airlines, your bank, etc -- to your bookmarks, and so then you can go directly to the site just by clicking. That would greatly reduce chances of ending up on a fraudulent site. You just need to make sure you've bookmarked the correct legit site to start!

Did you have any automatic payments set up on your Citi card?
If so you will probably need to revise/update them when you get your new card number..

(ETA: the comment referenced here has since been deleted.)

Hard disagree with the above "just sayin'" comment. I think most of us reading along and engaging on this thread are doing so with genuine kindness and understanding, but I do feel like some comments have veered toward passive-aggressive nitpicky judgmental nonsense.

Phil, your edited title is not only fine, it is precise. It literally says Fake American Airlines employees, which is exactly what they are. The fraudsters are presenting themselves as real AA employees and they are not. If I hadn't already been following along on this thread and saw the new/current title, I'd click to read it -- because criminals using the cover of a major airline to do their scams is of pertinent interest to all of us.

American has suggested that I not call the fraud company back.

Please follow their advice. Never call a company that has scammed you back. If they lied to you once. they will lie to you again. It's just asking for more trouble. And if you try and fight this legally, it could potentially be used against you.

I believe everyone here sympathizes with Bostonphil. That doesn’t mean however that there aren’t lessons to be learned that can help others. Mentioning these lessons doesn’t mean that someone is judgmental towards Bostonphil.

The most important lesson to be learned here is that if you want to phone your airline you need to make sure you call the official telephone number of your airline. If you want to contact them via email or text message, double check you have the correct number or email address.

This whole mess would not have happened if Bostonphil called the correct number when she received the email about the changes to her original fight. Saying that doesn’t mean someone is judgmental. It could very well be that this someone just wants to help others.

I have deleted the post about my thread title comment that is deemed offensive by someone here. Sheesh...passive aggressive?

Good luck to Bostonphil.

Bostonphil7, glad you're getting things sorted.

As my wise mama used to say when I was in high school and wanted to stay out past curfew,

"Nothing good happens in the middle of the night"

"Nothing good happens in the middle of the night"

Hahaha...did we have the same Mom?

I just want to add that google is not the only search engine, but it is the spammiest one - the one most likely to return bad phone numbers. I use https://duckduckgo.com/ or https://kagi.com/, both of which are less prone to spam than google.

This whole mess would not have happened if Bostonphil called the correct number when she received the email about the changes to her original fight.

Rather, this whole mess would not have happened if criminals didn't prey upon innocent people making honest mistakes. To say otherwise is to engage in victim blaming, and it's precisely why so many victims of fraud stay silent.

Phil has generously chosen to share her experience here with us, and she's said she's hoping others can learn from it. There are indeed lessons to be learned: that innocent victims are not at fault for criminal behavior and that there are protective steps we can all take to try to shield ourselves from such harm being perpetrated upon us.

Key words there are to try, because everything I've ever read about these criminal schemes indicates that no matter how smart or diligent any of us thinks we are, ultimately we are all vulnerable.

(Gift link to a multi-part series on how sophisticated these criminal operations can be: https://wapo.st/3HjiHxa)

g o og le is not the only search engine

Absolutely. I use Startpage within my Firefox browser. Or DuckDuckGo. And another benefit is that both of those also claim they do not sell my browsing data. It is well known that the Big Ubiquitous search engine makes it's living from collecting and selling data and advertisements.

And Bostonphil, thank you for starting this thread. It really is of great value and a learning experience for most all of us. Best wishes for resolving your refunds.

I don't think it's fortunate to have 5 credit cards. I would have a max of 3 and take 2 on a trip. The more cards you have, the more opportunities for fraudulent charges. You need to check these cards every month. My recent credit card bill included trips to Madrid, Barcelona and expensive jewelry-I guess someone was planning to pop the question in Spain? Chase and I are hoping the criminal showed up to use the ticket after I saw the bill and reported it.

Hello Dutch_traveler

I quote you

"This whole mess would not have happened if Bostonphil called the correct number when she received the email about the changes to her original fight. Saying that doesn’t mean someone is judgmental. It could very well be that this someone just wants to help others."

The whole mess might not have happened if I had not overreacted to American canceling my flight to Tokyo.

I wish that I had not tried to do anything at all at 4 am. I wish that I could have gone back to sleep and called American during daytime hours after more sleep.

I have regrets that I got as excited as I did . I wish that I had waited until later in the day.

But that is among the symptoms of being an insomniac. One often acts irrationally being sleep deprived.

I can not recall what number I called when I first got the email. I may have called a number in the email or I may have gone to aa.com and scrolled down to Contact American and called the listed number.

The fraudsters tell me that when American's lines are busy, it rolls over to them.

So I may have called a correct number but the fraudsters picked up. They appeared to be employees of American Airlines.

Someone at American told me that they get calls like mine daily. More than one employee at American spoke to me about being cautious when you google aa.com because fraudsters have set up sites that look like the real thing but you are calling crooks.

Among the reasons that I am sharing my story is to make forum aware of how these crooks are operating.

Thanks to everyone

I am much more relaxed today.

I did call American and Citi this morning but was able to let go in the afternoon and just relax

I am hoping to call American tomorrow and ask them to cancel the flight that the fraudsters rebooked for me. Then I will ask American to help me rebook. the flight that best works for me. I have already talked to American about it and they did advise me that it might cost more than what my credit is. I am prepared to have to pay something more for my flight to Tokyo and returning from Seoul.

I would do all this myself but i can not figure out how to use the credit

I did mock bookings and neither of them should have cost me even close to $759.00.

I will keep this updated and yes, I hope to make members aware that what happened to me could happen to you.

I can not recall what number I called when I first got the email. I may have called a number in the email or I may have gone to aa.com and scrolled down to Contact American and called the listed number.

Your phone history can tell you what number you called, and the time you called it; check it and compare it to the number you are now calling that is the real AA phone line. I assure you that the fraudulent number you first called and the current legit number you have called will be different.

The fraudsters tell me that when American's lines are busy, it rolls over to them.
So I may have called a correct number but the fraudsters picked up. They appeared to be employees of American Airlines.

You still think this is possible, that you called the correct number and it rolled over to the fraudsters? No, that did not happen.

Where did you get the legit number you are now using when you call AA?

When I get a suspicious text or email, purporting to be from a company or bank I deal with, the first thing I do is go to to my online account and look for any indications I have a problem, and I never do find a problem. Fraudsters imitate Amazon, for example, with an urgent message about a problem with a shipment...or I get a text from a fake Bank of America fraudster, an urgent message to call a number or click on a link...assume it is a fake email or text every time, and go to your trusted online account or app.

Of course it goes without saying your online account and app should be bookmarked - never click on a link in any email or text you receive prodding you to sign into your account - never do that. And clearly never google, in this case, AA.com, if you have an account established with them, saved in a bookmark.

If you had gone directly to your AA Advantage account after getting the email instead of "calling" AA on a number you googled, you would have avoided all of this. The fraudsters did not already have control of your AA account at that point; when you called the fake number, and you describe being on the phone with them for several hours, they wore you down and convinced you to give them access to your account - like asking you for your password - and then they changed the password, locking you out of the account. No legitimate company will ever ask you for your password; if you are on the phone with anybody, and they ask for your password, hang up immediately,

Final point: even though it turns out that the AA email that started all of this was legit, never click on a link in any email or text, just in case it is not legit. Assume every text or email you get is potentially fraudulent. Immediately exit the email, or text, and sign into your account or app, and see if it shows the same itinerary change. If it is legit, you are now inside your secure account, and you can find out exactly how to deal with the issue, your options, etc.

Good luck.

“I hope to make members aware that what happened to me could happen to you.”

That’s very good of you Bostonphil. In order for others to learn from this however, we need to be clear and honest about what happened. That’s not victim blaming, that’s helping others understand what happened. Only when you understand what happened can you learn from it.
The employees of the 3rd party travel agency lied to you about just about everything. Including about how calls to American Airlines roll over to them when the lines are busy. That simply is not true. When the lines of American Airlines are busy, you won’t get thru or you will be put on hold.
What happened is that you ended up calling them yourself after you Googled the number of American Airlines. These phone numbers are posted here and on TripAdvisor from time to time by spammers with the aim to manipulate search engine results and to get the number high up in the search results.
The actual American Airlines staff you spoke to are correct in advising you to not call this travel agency back. Let AA deal with your booking and let your credit card company deal with the charges to your card.
Make sure that from now on you triple check you have the correct number before you make the call. Also make sure that you change the password of your account with American Airlines.

Hello Jojo Rabbit and Dutch_Traveler

Most of the phone calls that I made were from my home land line and I do not have caller iD on my home land line. I have no history of the calls that I make or receive.

I have a cell phone that has a history of calls made and received but I prefer using my home land line when at home.

I had also emailed customer service at AA during the situation and received an email back yesterday. I was given a phone number to call for assistance and it is the same one that I have written down so I know that it is correct.

I plan to ask AA to cancel the flight that the fraudsters rebooked for me and rebook a new one for me using my credit. I may have to pay something additional because American cautioned me that flight prices change which I am well aware of and I am prepared to pay something additional.

The fraudsters are a travel service based in India and the rebooking is legit but they currently have access to my booking and can change it or even cancel it.

Most of the phone calls that I made were from my home land line and I do not have caller iD on my home land line. I have no history of the calls that I make or receive.
I have a cell phone that has a history of calls made and received but I prefer using my home land line when at home.

That is a real shame. Your cellphone is a valuable tool with safety features, including the ability to block callers, report numbers as spam, etc. Your landline has none of these features...without even caller ID, I assume that you must answer every call in the blind, and these fraudsters will be calling you back, you can be certain of that. Your landline is an open invitation to fraudsters, and it might already have been sold the dark web now to other fraudsters. You should consider cutting the cord and closing that number down.

I no longer have a landline, cut that cord 20 years ago...I also never answer my cellphone unless it is from a number in my phone directory. Any legit call from a number I don't recognize will leave a message. The ratio of legit calls received like that is about 1 in 20, meaning 95 percent of the calls I don't recognize the number are spam. Since I don't answer them, I don't waste my time, and in addition, I don't let the spammers know that they have reached a "live" phone number.

If your fraudsters call you back on your landline and identify themselves as American Airlines, how will you know if it is the real AA or not? You won't know...

Finally, be aware that there are sophisticated scams by phone, where the spammer can record your voice, and using AI synthesize it and use it in nefarious ways...you really should never engage with any spam calls, never answer one, never speak...

The fraudsters are a travel service based in India and the rebooking is legit but they currently have access to my booking and can change it or even cancel it.

You need to immediately cancel this booking before the fraudsters do it to you, Do it right now.

Bostonphil7, listen to Jojo!!!!

First an update

I called American Airlines on the one number that I have which I know is good. As I now do, I asked "are you an American Airlines employee" before I said another word.

The employee was so so helpful. She was so patient with me and I likewise. She was so understanding.

After a long discussion with her and through her to the IT Department, it was suggested that I keep the flight that the fraudster rebooked for me and put. a password on it.

She told me that it was a good flight and if I was happy with it, keep it. If I had to cancel, there would be no guarantee I would get the same flight and the same seats and or I might have to pay more money.

So I put.a password on the flight. The flight is now fully protected. The fraudsters can not access it but I can not access it either. I can make no changes. When it comes time to check in, I will not be able to do it online. I will have to get to the airport early and check in at. a kiosk or go to the counter. I always get to the airport hours early and I always check a.bag so that should not be. a problem.

If I call American about this flight, I am going to have to give my password so that they will know it is me.

I asked American how this happened to me. She said that American's phones do not roll over but the fraudster could have intercepted the call. She said I may have dialed incorrectly like one wrong digit. She said that fraud is at at an all time high and they get clls like mine all day long.

So for the first time in three days, I feel peaceful.

But I want to add that I keep referring to the travel service in India as fraudsters. They are a legitimate business and the fraudster did a lot of work for me in rebooking the flight. But the fraudster never told me they were a third party company and not American Airlines. I have disputed their exorbitant charge but they might fight back. It might be that I do owe them something for the change in travel. I have now been put on JAL frm Chicago to Tokyo and from my original research, JAL did cost about $200 more.

So I am taking a wait and see attitude. Citi might determine that I owe the third party something.

But lessons learned.

I have disputed their exorbitant charge but they might fight back. It might be that I do owe them something for the change in travel.

Did you receive a statement or invoice from the fraudsters that should itemize your cost? My guess is that they inflated the price you paid and will argue it was a travel agency service fee, not a charge for a ticketing change that you may have owed to AA if you had dealt with AA (and you should have never canceled the ticket before talking to AA about other flight options)..

I am highly doubtful you will ever get satisfactory legal recourse, but any thought of suing this outfit, especially operating in a foreign country, is probably futile.

As for Citi refunding you some portion of this: if your card had been stolen, or there had been an unauthorized use, or you had purchased something that you did not receive, these are typical grounds for refund. Unfortunately you called this outfit, authorized the charge to cancel the ticket, let them rebook for you, and you agreed to the charges, no matter how exorbitant the charges seem to be to you in hindsight. Maybe if Citi has dealt with this outfit before you may get lucky with some help, but I hate to say it, I would not expect Citi to help you here based on the evidence you can provide them. Hope I am wrong, but your costs are probably sunk costs at this point, a painful lesson.

So I put.a password on the flight. The flight is now fully protected. The fraudsters can not access it but I can not access it either. I can make no changes. When it comes time to check in, I will not be able to do it online. I will have to get to the airport early and check in at. a kiosk or go to the counter.

I don't like the sound of this password protected ticket, one you can't change or access. The fraudsters will figure out it is password protected, and they could call you on your landline, tell you they need your password because of a flight change...well, I have a vivid imagination, but I would have had AA cancel that flight, and use whatever credit you have in a rebooking. Also, this could get messy if AA changes this itinerary, which as you have learned, you should anticipate that it could happen again.

I asked American how this happened to me. She said that American's phones do not roll over but the fraudster could have intercepted the call. She said I may have dialed incorrectly like one wrong digit. She said that fraud is at at an all time high and they get clls like mine all day long.

Umm, I would not pay attention to her suggestion that they may have "intercepted" the call. The only plausible explanation is you googled the number, got the fraudulent link, and dialed it...you mentioned you "wrote down" the real AA number, so did you also "write down" the fraudulent number the other night? So you can compare it to the real AA number?

But I want to add that I keep referring to the travel service in India
as fraudsters. They are a legitimate business and the fraudster did a
lot of work for me in rebooking the flight. But the fraudster never
told me they were a third party company and not American Airlines. I
have disputed their exorbitant charge but they might fight back. It
might be that I do owe them something for the change in travel...

Whoa. Please stop and reconsider.

The fraudsters that victimized you are not a travel agency. They are not a legitimate business. They are NOT simply a hard-working "third party." They are criminals, scammers, liars and thieves. Nothing more.

I would urge you to be honest with yourself about that and stop equivocating in how you refer to them or how you react to them. You owe them nothing, beyond helping authorities stop them, catch them, and prosecute them (unlikely though any of that is). They did no "work" on your behalf. They scammed you, for their own benefit. They did not and can not "intercept" a call - that is simply impossible technically (anyone who tells you something like that should be suspect, too...this calls into question if you really are dealing with American Airlines now or not...perhaps someone misunderstood what was said). Calls made to American Airlines do not "roll over" to scammers. Ever. Period. They can NOT be "intercepted" by a third party.

There are things in the world that are black-and-white simple. The above are examples. It's obvious you have been through a difficult experience and everyone here sympathizes with you, wishes you well, and are hoping for the best. But if you think these scammers are somehow a legitimate business, that they did anything to help you, and that (of all things) they deserve some of your money because of all the hard work they did for you(!)...I can only say that you are wrong about those things, and you are again setting yourself up to be victimized further, and in fact you could be still being scammed by the same criminals.

There's a lot of good advice above. My own advice is to first accept the reality that the thieves are still "working" on you and will never relent. if you think they're not just crooks and liars, if you still think they're a legitimate "travel agency" in any way, and you still think they might be owed some compensation for all the work they did...then I think you may be in for yet more trouble ahead.

I wish you well, I hope this works out, but your statements above that appear to sympathize with your abusers are a bright red flashing light that appears very worrisome to me. I won't be commenting further on this thread, but am worried about what's next for you. Choose carefully those who you will trust going forward. Take care of yourself and be careful.

So here is another update that I find interesting

I have gone to my Citi account and I can see my active dispute

But the company listed is Flight Reservations in RENO NEVADA (my caps)

I tried to google this company to read consumer complaints and reviews but it is impossible to google because what comes up are all sorts of links having to do with flight reservations and if I add Reno, then I get links having to do with flights to and form Reno.

I can not find.a business named Flight Reservations in Reno Nevada

bostonphil7,
You have been wonderful sharing all of this with us. I'm glad AA has been so considerate and helped you with a password. We have all learned from this.
I hope you can let the rest go no matter the outcome on the reimbursement you've filed, let it go and enjoy your well-earned cruise. My heart is with you. Bon Voyage, Elizabeth

JoJo

I have no interest in suing anyone. I am not trying to get money back

The $759 is in dispute and is frozen. It hs not been erased because Citi still has to do a thorough investigation. They can not just accept my word or the word of Flight Reservations (the business that I have discovered is located in Reno Nevada)

I am not completely happy with the password on my account but it is in the learning.I found this. a very valuable lesson no matter how much it cost me in time and energy. Thus far, it has not cost me any money.

The $759 is in dispute and is frozen. It hs not been erased because Citi still has to do a thorough investigation. They can not just accept my word or the word of Flight Reservations (the business that I have discovered is located in Reno Nevada)

Just know that it can take months for a dispute to be resolved. I have successfully done it once on a charge for a service that was never provided, pretty open and shut case, but it was not finalized for 2 months.

Where did you get the notion the company was in India? Did they tell you that?

Bostonphil7

A word of caution:

As I do now do, I asked "are you an American Airlines employee" before I said another word.

If you called me and I am a scammer and you asked me this question, I would tell you that Yes, I am an American Airlines employee.

If I'm a scammer, then chances are I'm also a liar.

I don't know you personally, but you have me very worried.

Please be careful in all of your transactions that involve your credit cards, bank accounts and personal information.

Bostonphil, you have been through so much from the outset of this ticket situation!
I don't use AA so don't have their app. But I use Delta's and it's super helpful with updates etc. Have you considered the AA app, to monitor your rebooked flight, without having to call an agent? (I don't see that anyone else has mentioned this.)
I hope you can start looking forward to your trip once more and very best of luck!

As far as your CC dispute goes I had a dispute once and it seemed the CC company did all the legwork. Then I received an email from the CC that the other party had 30 days to respond and if they did not, then the charge would go away. And it did.

JoJo Rabbit

Ok so the name of the company is Pcmtravels. They have an address in Houston but others maybe all over the place.

They are legit on one hand but many more complaints about them than compliments.

On trust pilot, they hve a rating of 2.5

They book international travel

Complaints include similar to what they did to me and they can also access hotel numbers.

They are one of those third party sites that offer cheap flights etc

MasterCard called me and did an investigation. They say that because I used their service and accepted the amount, I am out the $759.00. But MasterCard negotiated a deal. I had to delete my complaint with Citi and Pcmtravels is refunding $459.00 so I am out $300.00. I am eating the $300.00. I did get an email from Pcmtravels to accept the refund to my credit card but the money hs not yet been refunded

Reviews about Pcmtravels are on line.

Bon voyage

I am still looking forward to my trip. I have been changing hotel reservations and now have two. I will have to make a choice.

I do not use my cell phone very often and I do not like apps very much. I only use an app when necessary

I am home a lot. I am semi homebound. Obviously not completely.

At home I like my computer and websites. When I travel, i prefer my iPad. I use my phone just to text message the hotel and any friends in the cities that I am going to or are already in. I almost never ever make a phone call when traveling internationally. On the cruise ship, I shut it off and put it away but I do take it on excursions.

jeanm and others

I am a very smart person who is usually on top of everything. It is very hard to take me. I am very conservative and cautious and wary

If I could get taken by these fraudsters, so can anyone else

I am glad that you are getting at least a good partial refund of your money that was spent. I always hate it when there are expensive travel lessons like this, but at least you were able to minimize some of the damage. As I said before, if you travel very much, you will eventually make a mistake that costs some money...... Learn from it and go on. You also are helping others learn from yours.

MasterCard called me and did an investigation. They say that because I used their service and accepted the amount, I am out the $759.00. But MasterCard negotiated a deal. I had to delete my complaint with Citi and Pcmtravels is refunding $459.00 so I am out $300.00. I am eating the $300.00. I did get an email from Pcmtravels to accept the refund to my credit card but the money hs not yet been refunded

Why was MasterCard involved? Let me guess, they called you on your landline phone, right? You didn't find it odd that MasterCard is involved? Strange...what kind of "investigation" could they have possibly done in this short amount of time? I am afraid you have been 'scammed' again by the fraudsters. How sure are you that you actually spoke to "MasterCard"? Did they call you? Ummm...I am doubtful you spoke to anyone at MasterCard.

My guess is this fraudster bunch (trust me, they are involved in fraud here) decided that if we get the victim to remove the complaint on her Citi card, we will collect the $759, but if we don't cut this "deal", Citi will cancel the transaction, and we will be out the entire $759...what did Citi say about this "deal"; did you call them?

So the charge stays on your Citi card, but you are receiving a refund of $459. Is this refund going back to your Citi card?. Have they conveyed that $ to you? How?

I know you don't want to hear this, but you should have let the process play out with Citi. Your charge was frozen, but now you are out $759. Worse, you have forfeited any recourse through Citi if this "deal" falls through because you have voluntarily altered transaction. You are now relying on the fraudster to refund you, but when and how? Let us know how/when (and if) you ever get the $459...you do realize that when you lifted the complaint at Citi, the fraudsters effectively collected $759...and now you have placed your trust in this refund from a company that already defrauded you once.

What's the expression?..."fool me once, shame on you...fool me twice"...you know the rest of that one.

Good luck

I did get an email from Pcmtravels to accept the refund to my credit card

Phil, I just want to be cautious here and make sure you didn't actually DO anything "to accept" a refund. You should NOT have to do anything. You should not (ever!) provide any information, click any links, etc etc to receive a refund. A business (legit or otherwise, in this case) does not need the customer to do anything to accept a refund; the business can issue a refund entirely on their end. Anything that required you to do something "to accept" a refund is likely more criminal activity.

This story gets ever weirder. PCM at least exist, and allegedly hold an ATOL licence. But how the shining do they enter the story?
My next step would be to verify the supposed ATOL licence, which I will bet is false.
If it is by chance true that is another potential avenue of redress.
As their UK arm is not ABTA bonded that is a red flag for me, in a case where red flags abound.
I agree you have in every likelihood been scammed again.

Phil, I implore you - please don't click any other link, open another email, or call anyone. And certainly don't talk to anyone who calls you. You've asked for help and many here are doing their best to advise you, but we can't help if you won't take our advice.

Phil, I just want to be cautious here and make sure you didn't actually DO anything "to accept" a refund.

She said she agreed to cancel the fraud complaint at Citi - the quid pro quo - so yes, she actually did do something to receive the refund.

So doesn't she have a new Citicard number? Hope she didn't provide that to the bogus MasterCard rep...

She should literally cut the line to that landline phone...that phone is at the heart of this mess. No caller ID, no phone call history (like on a cell phone)...

Taken from my post 12 hours ago:

That is a real shame. Your cellphone is a valuable tool with safety features, including the ability to block callers, report numbers as spam, etc. Your landline has none of these features...without even caller ID, I assume that you must answer every call in the blind, and these fraudsters will be calling you back, you can be certain of that. Your landline is an open invitation to fraudsters, and it might already have been sold the dark web now to other fraudsters. You should consider cutting the cord and closing that number down.

Hannah and JoJo and others.

Here is an edited copy of the email that i got from Pcm travels and yes I did accept it. They only have my old CC number, not the new one. Citi told me that even if the amount is refunded to my old CC number, it will be automatically applied to the new one

We writing to confirm that the refund for the amount of $450.00 USD is approved. In order to confirm the refund please reply back to this email stating “I accept and acknowledge” post which the refund will be processed.

Refund Details:
Refund Amount: 454.00 USD
Refund Method: ** 1996
Refund Date: 28 May 2025
Refund Timeframe: 07 to 14 Business days

Please note that refunds typically take 72 business hours to reflect in your account from the day of cancellation. Factors such as banking processes and intermediary networks may affect the exact timing, but rest assured, we're diligently monitoring the process to ensure a

isn31c and others

I have copied part of one review on. Pissed Consumer

"Scammed me out of $2500 by acting like they were representing United Airlines

Called number on back of my United card. Somehow ended up talking to people at PCM .

They told me my flight would cancel unless I paid the additional fee!

Should've picked up that they pushed me very hard and rushed me to agree to sending the money. Actually were somewhat rude and required me to click on an email site agreeing to pay the money which I should've known was a scam"

and here is another from Pissed Consumer

American Airlines and United Airlines Imposters
Mar 31, 2024
1.0
TRAVEL SCAM

Pretended to be American Airlines and United Airlines.

Hacked a senior citizen's AA account by saying they needed to get into it.

Charged exorbitant cancellation fees and unknown travel fees to credit cards. Kept calling back for more credit cards saying charge did not go through, yet they did- which victim later found out.

They deceive you into thinking its the airlines,

never say who they really are and take advantage of seniors.

User's recommendation: Triple check airline phone numbers,WHO you really are talking to, imposters everywhere!

“ Let AA deal with your booking and let your credit card company deal with the charges to your card.”

I wrote this yesterday and I’ll repeat it here again. You should have ignored the phone call from the fraudsters pretending to be Mastercard. And you most definitely should not have agreed to this deal that they proposed. Citibank was still investigating the case, but you’ve now basically confirmed that the charge was correct, so you no longer have a case.

May I suggest you do the following from now on every single time the bank, credit card company or airline calls you; ask the employee for their name and your case number/booking reference and tell them you will call them back. Hang up the phone and call the bank or airline back on their official number you found on the official website. In the Netherlands this routine is officially advised by the Dutch banks in case you get a call from someone who says they work for a bank.
If the call was legitimate, the person you spoke to will understand your need to be careful and to verify they actually work for the airline, bank or credit card company and they won’t mind. If it is a fraudster they will try their hardest to not to let you hang up, or they will try to call you back immediately so you don’t have a chance to contact your bank/airline.

Please understand that your data is now in the hands of fraudsters and you need to be super careful and cautious.

Hello Dutch_Traveler

The man who called me from Mastercard may have really been from Mastercard. I am not certain that he was a fraudster.

He called me on my cell phone and I do have his number. I did call back and he did answer.

However he said his name was Austin and he had. very thick foreign accent. Austin can not be his real name.

I can always reopen a dispute with Citi .

But I think that I am going to call Mastercard and see if this Austin really works for Mastercard. I am going to try to talk to Mastercard about this guy.

Thank you for your advice.

Please consider very carefully what you’re about to do. If I were you I would contact Citi, not Mastercard. Contact Citi at the official number on their website and explain what happened. Definitely do not call Mastercard on the number this “Austin” called you from!!!

In the future you might want to find a good travel agent. One with an office and a reputation. Then walk into their office and work with them and let them book your trip for you .... paying only them.

Hello Dutch_Traveler

I did call Citi and I asked them about Austin. (Interesting that I live in Austin, Texas). They were not allowed to do anything. He did call me on my cell phone so I have it and it says that he was in Alabama although he claimed to work in NYC,

Citi says that they are not allowed to take his information and number

But they told me that the $450.00 refund is pending. The $795.00 is not even posted yet but the refund is pending.

But my account says something about Citi looking into the $795 after the amount is posted. I do not understand what that is since I removed the dispute. I will have to call the security department back next week

I my be out $300 but I am willing to eat it just to hopefully never deal with these fraudsters again.

They are targeting seniors and have quite a history of ripping off older people. How have they been allowed to operate this long? Why is the public not being made more aware.

My suggestion next time is to deal with a legitimate, local travel agent who you can speak to face to face.

This way, if your airline cancels on you, he/she can rebook you on a new flight and you won't have to deal with this.

By the way, Mastercard is nothing more than a payment processor of credit card charges. It doesn't get involved with individual card holders. That would be your bank. In this case Citi. If there is a problem and you wish to dispute it, that would be through Citi and not Mastercard.

Please let us know if your "refund" actually shows up in your account.

So you have an AA Citibank Mastercard?

Call the customer service number printed on the card or your most recent billing statement. Should be fairly direct process to find out if you have been dealing with a real MC rep or another scammer.

Agree with Dutch Traveler to call back if and whenever you get a call from anyone involved in this mess. The bad guys can make your caller ID show whatever number they want.

Don't use redial.

Either put the real number in your contact list and use it, or manually input the real number, to do the call back to be certain you .are talking to the real rep.

Hello Mr E

Maybe I am wrong but I do not think we consumers pay the travel agents. I think they get paid from the airlines, hotels, etc etc

But I have also heard of persons having problems with their travel agents. Some are very good but others not so good.

And you always have to go through your travel agent. You can not go to American or Delta directly.

I was thoroughly unprepared for such a nightmare. I am definitely wiser and older.

But I am very excited about going to Japan in October and sailing to Seoul.

Hello Frank II

Would you believe that my $450 refund is pending on my Citi account and the $795 charge has not yet posted,

I am shocked. I was not expecting to get the refund. I must have really scared these fraudsters with my dispute.

I don't know about Travel Agents. Some people are very happy with their TA and others not. You have to know who you are getting.

Nothing prepared me for this big to do with these fraudsters.

Hi Joe

I did call Citi and spoke to customer service. She told me that they can not check on Austin and would not take the number but she told me that the $450 refund is already pending even before the $795 charge has ben posted.

There is.a lot out there about Pcm Travels which is one of many names and many locations. Someone even posted that they are. a Nigerian scam.

I think that sooner or later,, they are going to get busted. I do not know why it has not happened yet.

They are targeting seniors.

Maybe I am wrong but I do not think we consumers pay the travel
agents. I think they get paid from the airlines, hotels, etc etc

Yes, but I meant let them book and reimburse them.

But I have also heard of persons having problems with their travel
agents. Some are very good but others not so good.

Like I said find a good one with a good reputation.

And you always have to go through your travel agent. You can not go to
American or Delta directly.

Yup, and that way you cant be making all of the mistakes you have made on this trip. Some are better at recognizing fraud than others. My suggestion gets rid of that issue. I didn't get to the point where I could retire very young and travel a lot by being smart or clever. I got here by recognizing what I was good at, doing that, then hiring the best for everything else in life. Surround yourself with the best then live off their sucesses on your behalf.

I was thoroughly unprepared for such a nightmare. I am definitely
wiser and older.

Or it happens again.

But I am very excited about going to Japan in October and sailing to
Seoul.

And you should be. Sounds like a lot of fun and I wish you nothing but the best.

An actual refund and a pending refund are two different things. Let us know if it actually posts.

It's also possible that they might give you a partial refund to minimize disputes. Too many complaints and they could lose their ability to accept credit cards.

This is Emma from London and Chester. I used to be a regular poster on the forum but stepped away a few years ago.
I have been lurking to see what everyone has been up to and whilst I still don’t want to contribute to the forum I feel I can usefully contribute to this post.

I have previously done a lot of work on postal and telephone fraud in the UK and so I can probably provide some useful advice to add to that already given. In no particular order:

The advice from Dutch_traveler about calling back on an official number is good but it is worth adding another step. Some scammers are able to keep the phone line open so you think you have disconnected and redialled but you haven’t, you are still connected to the original caller. The best thing to do is wait a couple of minutes then use the phone you were called on to dial and connect to a number you trust, for example call your mobile from your landline. This will clear the line so the next call you make is a ‘real’ call.

If you receive a call from a number you don’t recognise, don't immediately answer it. Make a note of the number and google it. You will then see if other people have checked it, if it has raised concerns or if it is legitimate. Having a phone with caller display and/or one that records the numbers you have received makes this easier. I don’t know if it is the same elsewhere but in the UK if you dial 1471 it will tell you the last number that called you, unless the caller has withheld the number. Most scammers don’t, they are too lazy.

As was said earlier most mobile phones will now alert you if a call is from a known scam number. You can also buy call blockers to attach to your line that will block suspicious numbers. Neither is 100% successful but they can help and give some peace of mind.

When you search the number be aware of hits on similar numbers. If a lot of concerns have been raised about number x012345678 it's reasonable to assume x012345679 is dodgy as well.

Don't put any trust in telephone area codes. Scammers can select the numbers they want to use, choosing those that make them look more trust worthy. For example London codes in the UK.

Regarding the use of the name ‘Austin’ scammers absolutely do use names that they feel a potential victim is more likely to trust. I dealt with a welsh victim who was regularly contacted by Mr Jones, Mr Evans and Mr Thomas all with very strong ‘foreign’ accents. That said this is not a definite indicator of a scam. Workers in legitimate foreign call centres will also change the names they use to fit the country they deal with eg Rajesh becomes Rick, but it is something to be aware of.

They will call you back and pretend to be from other organisations. Once my welsh victim told the scammer he had spoken to the ‘police’ he was regularly contacted by other people pretending to work in law enforcement, all with welsh names funnily enough!

If you are suspicious of a call don’t engage with the caller, don’t be polite, just put the phone down. If you don’t communicate with them they can’t communicate with you. Scammers are very unlikely to keep calling back to a number where they get no response, they have better things to do. A legitimate caller will try again or leave a message.

Continued below

Continued

If you have fallen victim to a scam or even nearly fall victim you need to be VERY careful for the foreseeable future. Scammers trade data so it is likely phone numbers, email addresses etc used will be shared with other types of scammers via ‘suckers lists’ (sorry an unpleasant term).If they think you are vulnerable they will keep trying for all different kinds of fraud

For a similar reason you should be very careful when signing up to legitimate services. Always tick the box asking for your data not to be shared. The trade in this data is legitimate but open to abuse. I was told scammers are very keen to access the details of people who have donated to charities, single women who give to animal charities being particularly popular! Similarly if you sign up to a lot of competitions and lotteries.

Hopefully this advice is of some use. It is a while since I have worked in this area but it is still valid.

They are targeting seniors and have quite a history of ripping off older people. How have they been allowed to operate this long? Why is the public not being made more aware.

The public is made aware of this. There are countless articles every week published by AARP, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and many many more. Your scam could have been much worse. I recently read about a older woman who received a phone call saying that her daughter was being held hostage and she had to pay money to have her released. The scammers tried every trick in the book to keep the woman on the phone so that she could not check with her daughter. The woman was so scared for her daughter that she fell for it, and wound up losing over $20,000 before she finally realized that her daughter was safe and had never been in danger.

I would suggest getting a AARP membership (only $11 per year). Membership includes a monthly magazine, which will alert you to many scams. You can also find out more information on their website. Here is one page of theirs that discusses multiple types of scams tailored to older adults: https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/ And on that page, there is one that is specifically earmarked for travel customer service scams like yours: https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/travel/

The fraudsters are targeting everyone, not just seniors. We are all under siege. Seniors of a certain age do seem to be particularly vulnerable, less tech savvy, more gullible, more trusting, and more oblivious or blind to red flags - but people of all ages and walks of life get scammed every day, this is the world we live in. Bostonphil missed every red flag.

Bostonphil compounded her misery with a series of mistakes and misjudgments, starting with her middle of the night panic reaction to the AA flight itinerary change email. From that moment forward, she dug the hole herself. The fraudulent travel agency did not contact her, did not "intercept" her call to the real AA phone number, or "hack'' her AA Advantage account. She called a fake number for AA that she found on the internet. She gave them control of her Advantage account; no reputable company like AA would ever ask you for your password - a huge red flag she ignored. And she agreed to the ridiculous charges for changing her ticket, but had "buyer's remorse".

She is getting off pretty easy if/when the refund hits her CC. Loss of $300...but she also agreed to a password restricted AA ticket, one that she can't cancel, can't change, and can't check-in online...I have never heard of something like this, and would never agree to it...she has lost a lot more in this mess than $300. I would be anxious about this ticket until I get the boarding pass in hand and am seated on the plane.

I feel like most of the posters who have read this thread and/or participated on it have learned and reinforced valuable lessons, but I have serious doubts that Bostonphil really fully understands what happened to her. Like others, I wish her nothing but the best, but I don't think she is out of the woods on this scam, nor is she fully prepared to recognize future red flags and scams that are coming for all of us.

Great advice from Emma. I learned some tips reading it.

Agree with everything jojo rabbit wrote above.

Best wishes to the bostonphil. Let us know how it all works out for you.

Yes, very sound advice from Emma.

Thank you, Emma, for your excellent advice.

I was thoroughly unprepared for such a nightmare. I am definitely wiser and older.

Phil, count me among the many concerned people here who are worried that the lessons aren't being completely learned here, because of the things you've said and the choices you've continued to make.

Because you've been successfully targeted by this scammer, you are now a specific target for other fraudsters. You must be diligent. You must change how you go about things (getting caller ID, changing your phone number, only using your cell phone, not answering calls from unknown numbers, not calling them back at the number THEY give you and looking it up independently yourself, completely changing how you look up phone numbers online, and on and on and on).

Just like you learned to take notes -- literal notes, not just in your head -- for travel planning, I highly suggest you slowly read through this entire thread again and take detailed notes of all of the suggestions made here for what you should and shouldn't do moving forward (both in this specific case and more broadly). I also suggest spending time reading articles (they're out there; I even linked one series way up in this thread) about how scammers operate.

People are trying to help and if you follow the many diligent suggestions here, you will be able to better protect yourself not only from this happening again but from it being far, far worse.

But in the midst of this terrible situation, how nice to hear from Emma again! Her advice was always so helpful. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has missed her wisdom and kindness.

As mentioned above, my concern is does she really have a valid ticket.

Welcome back, Emma! I have missed your posts!

I'm with the others who are so very happy to see Emma poking her head above the ramparts! Thank you for your always helpful and concise advice. I did not know that about the scammers possibly keeping the line open so to dial a known safe number to clear things out.

Hello Emma

Do you have a YouTube channel? Because if so, I watch your videos.

I will sailing from Yokohama to Seoul on the Spirit in October.

Thank you for your input

Hi Mardee

I do belong to AARP Plus I live in senior housing and we have Family Eldercare on premise.

Next week, I plan to call AARP and talk to someone about this business. And I am going to make an appointment with Family Eldercare

I want someone to open an investigation about this fraudster company. I do not mind being a complainant.

Even while I was talking to the Fraudster, I got the following email from Citi as well as. a text message telling me that Citi thought the call was fraud

Citi declined the charges

But I said that I recognized the call and the amount which I did

Everything was moving so fast. It was maybe 5 am by this time and the fraudster was also using pressure.

I was on the phone with the Fraudster believing that it was American

Hi, Let us know immediately if you, or anyone you authorized, used your Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Card ending in 1996 for the transaction(s) noted below. You may not be able to make purchases on your Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Card until we hear back from you.

Amount: $759.98

Date:
05/28/25

Merchant:
FLIGHT RESERVATIO
Location:
United States

Charge Status:
Declined

Do you recognize the charge(s) above?

Yes

I recognize all of the above.

No

I do not recognize one or more of the above.

I am grateful to bostonphil for sharing this experience with other travelers, the Forum is such a resource for not only advice but also support, as evidenced by the continued thread.
I'm old enough to remember a fraudulent landline situation (they claimed to have "blocked" my phone line, and in those days there weren't other options for communication at all other than going to a neighbor or a pay phone or I guess writing a letter?!) as well as going to an actual travel agent to plan and purchase tickets for our first family trip across an ocean.
I have already suggested communicating and using the tools primarily with the airline's app. For example, I installed Lufthansa's last year. for that journey. When the cascade of cancellations began I was notified in the app before the announcement was made in the boarding area.
I started researching alternatives to be prepared. Thankfully I didn't do anything. Because the app kept me informed of the automatic rebooking and I never had to deal with phone calls at all.
I can't speak for every airline's app efficiency. I use Delta's the most, followed by Alaska Air and Jet Blue and all have kept me informed of flight changes, etc.
So glad you are getting some support bostonphil, from your retirement community! I do also worry if you really do have this replacement ticket to Japan, even should the "refund" come through I don't see that as proof. I also strongly suggest freezing your credit.
Wishing you the best and please report back!

A side comment and not judging.

I’d never call an airline. I’d never email an airline. Only old people do either of these activities.

I work through the chat feature to communicate with airline employees when logged in online to the airline website, or chat via the airline app.

This is for several persons on forum

The fraudster company does change the reservation and even cancels.

One person is reporting that they got to the airport and found their flight cancelled. And it was a huge mess as you can imagine.

Another person is reporting that the fraudster company threatened to cancel cruises they made through other companies if the person did not pull a complaint

The fraudster is also able to steal calls made to hotels.

On person reported calling their hotel and thinking it was the hotel employee but it was the fraudster.

Do you remember some discussion on forum about someone calling their hotel and finding out it was a third party and not their hotel. There has been discussion like that.

And there has been additional discussions about problems with booking and hotels due to fraud

Another person reported checking in to their hotel and the cost was exorbitant because the fraudster had added so many fees The guest could not do anything and had to pay it

The password on my flight is supposed to protect me from the fraudster being able ro do anything to the flight

And late last night, I called American Advantage to see how it works. I gave them my password and they looked over my account for me reading me back everything. And it all looked good.

I could probably do this daily which I do not plan on doing. I might do this once. week or every other week until I fly. I will probably leave the password on until I get to the airport and the counter. I always get to the airport hours early and I always check a bag so I need to go to counter.

I am not just flying to Tokyo. My flight also returns me from Seoul the third week of October.

Norwegian is getting me to the airport early when in Seoul because again unless I remove the password, I will not be able to check in on line until I go to the counter and remove the password

But American tells me that I can also use the kiosk. And American said that I will not need the password when I go to the counter because I will have my passport and they will know that it is really me

Hi toby

I am old.

I do not like apps and use them only when necessary. I do not like chat and I do very little on my Galaxy

I like my computer and I like websites and emails.

do not create that much for text messaging but hve been forced to participate.

It seems my discussion has made many members happy because Emma is back

Is this Emma of Emma's Cruise which has been recommended to me by forum.

And she sailed the Spirit visiting many of the same ports that I will. be visiting.

Phil, you are getting an extraordinary amount of very sound/solid advice and I truly hope you take all of it. Some things that stand out for me that are red flags is that MasterCard called you on your cell phone, so did you find that legitimate since the call was not on your landline? Sadly, all it took for me was a simple Google search and I found a landline and a cell phone number for you, as well as an address and more. You have an internet presence stating you are a "senior citizen". While admirable to be one, live alone and travel as you do, you have become a target, repeatedly. I suspect "Austin from MasterCard" did a similar search which is how he got your cell phone number, and being inept at coming up with an original name chose Austin from the city where you live.

I agree with Jojo, a password restricted AA ticket? Um, no. You can access your ticket with a record locator, last name, or even a ticket number. Like others are questioning, I wonder if you really do have a valid ticket for your trip. I don't post much, which is evident, but I do have a lot of travel experience and flew with AA for many years so things you have wrote about interactions with AA made little sense to me, and now we all know why. If I were you, I would drive to the airport and talk with an AA Customer Service agent in person rather than wonder for months if my ticket was actually valid.

This past week I received an email from AA notifying me of a change to one of my flights in September; there was no link I could click on in the email, but it showed me the before and after flights, part of my AAdvantage number as well as my record locator and ticket number. I was directed to access the aa.com website to make any changes to the new itinerary (remember to hover over the URL to be sure you are accessing AA's secure website as the first site listed in a Google search is not always the legitimate one; you must scroll down with any search, really, - with the amount of spammers and fraudsters out there - to find the secure one!). As suggested before, bookmark the correct link for AA.

As others have said, I do hope your pending refund becomes an actual one. And the next time I am in Austin I will reach out to you and hopefully we can visit over coffee or an iced tea with all of this madness behind you!

Hello Bon Voyage

I do have or will have American App on my iPad if one is available for the iPad and probably also on my phone. I prefer my iPad over my Galaxy. It would be different if I could afford an iPhone but I can no longer afford iPhones. I can not get used to my Galaxy.

A little FYI for everyone here....a password protected reservation is a real thing. Its done specifically for the reasons given.

Hello Shellie

yes, next time you are in Austin, get in touch. Let's have coffee

I am going to have to google myself and see where all the information is and obviously make changes

I do not think that American makes it readily available that they can put a password on your flight They told me about it after hearing what was going on and they said something about not making it readily known that they can do this. I cn not remember the exact words.

The IT Department does this for you, not customer support

I m going to keep my eyes on the flight. They way that things are going, American is going to probably change the flight again before I leave.

UPDATE. yes, I wonder about Austin from Mastercard. . He may be part of the fraudsters. He had a very thick foreign accent .

If he turns out to be a big fake, I will report him to Citi

I believe that I can always open another dispute with Citi.

Hello Mary,

I have to give American my password so that they can access. my flight. There is no other way and I knew this when I established my password.

I can not access my flight and I can not put in the password. I have to call American and ask them to do it

Thank you Frank II for the FYI

bostonphil7:

Emma who posted above regarding fraud is NOT the same Emma Cruises who posts on YouTube.

The fraudster is also able to steal calls made to hotels.

Bostonphil, the fraudsters are not intercepting or stealing phone calls - you still seem to not understand what happened to you and everyone else on the internet talking about stolen phone calls and hijacked FF accounts. The victim is calling a fake number, and the victim is giving the fraudster access to their FF account. These are "own goals" by the victim, if you understand that term from soccer - you accidentally kick the ball into your own net, scoring one for your opponent. You scored several "own goals" in this episode.

A little FYI for everyone here....a password protected reservation is a real thing. It's done specifically for the reasons given.

I do not question it is a real thing, but I personally would want nothing to do with it. Bostonphil has this all important password written down, and I hope she keeps it somewhere she can't lose it...I would hate to have that burden myself.

I’d never call an airline. I’d never email an airline. Only old people do either of these activities.
I work through the chat feature to communicate with airline employees when logged in online to the airline website, or chat via the airline app.

I can't imagine not having the airline app on my cellphone - not an iPad - particularly when in transit and there is a problem. I, too, never call an airline to make a reservation, or for any other reason. Not even sure how email is useful for something important, either. All of my contact is through my airline FF account and via the app, either to chat, or to get the phone number for FF support to help me rebook a canceled connection.

I work through the chat feature to communicate with airline employees when logged in online to the airline website, or chat via the airline app.

I, too, never call an airline to make a reservation, or for any other reason.

I'm another one who never calls the airline. First reason is because chat is faster; at least with Delta. I can chat with a representative in usually less than 15 minutes, but waiting for a callback can take hours or even days. And second, it's safer. You are chatting from the airline's website, so you can be pretty sure that you are not linked to a disreputable source.

You may not like apps, but they are certainly safer to use for purposes such as this. You might want to talk to your Family Eldercare and ask them about taking classes on how to use the internet, how to use apps, how to use chat sites; even how to use your Galaxy. Once you've done it correctly a few times, it becomes much easier.

well. a friend of mine called Austin's cell phone number and to no surprise, he is with the fraudster travel service. He is not with Mastercard

A female answered and she answered with the name Pcm travels.

I have no proof that when Austin called me, he identified himself as being with Mastercard. But he did get me to drop my dispute

All I have is his name and cell phone number and supposedly the cell phone number is in Alabama

But all persons have extremely strong foreign accents as though they might be in another country

And I went back to my rebooking information when a man named Richard Cruz rebooked my travel.

I am not gong to list my my schedule for travel

But I had time to read what I agreed to and it is making me nervous:

"To approve your reservation, please click Yes I Authorize:

"I (my name) authorize AMERICAN AIRLINES and FLIGHT RESERVATION to process the payment of $ 759.98 USD for Booking the Flight for (my name) using my card ending in ****1996. I have reviewed and accept the Terms and Conditions and Fare Rules, and I approve the reservation." I understand that this payment is non-refundable, and I will not dispute this charge with my bank or credit card company."

YES I AUTHORIZE

Please note that, as we are offering discounted tickets, ticket issuance may take some time. We kindly ask for your patience while we complete the process. Additionally, as these are some fixed departure tickets, in the event of a cancellation request after approval, the amount will be non-refundable, since the payment for your reservation has already been made to the airline.

Please read our Terms and Conditions and Click on the below link once agree."

I never could click on the YES I AUTHORIZE link and had to respond by email.

I never got. a link to the Terms and Conditions.

I do not believe that Citi's security department is open on weekends or I would call regarding Austin pretending to be with Mastercard and getting me to drop the dispute . I am going to wait and see what happens before opening another dispute

But note that this was part of the agreement " I understand that this payment is non-refundable, and I will not dispute this charge with my bank or credit card company."

I do not know if this makes my situation worse. Obviously, they know they are crooks and that people are going to want to dispute the charges.

BostonPhil, you have received so much great advice from members here on the forum!

Hi Emma, it's good to see you checking in, even if it's just for a couple of posts. Wow,
what  eye-opening posts! Thank you, Emma! To comment on something Emma said, here:

If you have fallen victim to a scam or even nearly fall victim you need to be VERY careful for the foreseeable future. Scammers trade data so it is likely phone numbers, email addresses etc used will be shared with other types of scammers via ‘suckers lists’ (sorry an unpleasant term).If they think you are vulnerable they will keep trying for all different kinds of fraud.

BostonPhil, be aware that you may, in the coming days or weeks receive fake emails from your bank, your utility company (if you pay your own for your unit instead of your apartment office paying for everyone), Social Security asking for your social security number and date of birth and more (why wouldn't they already know that if they're the REAL SS office??).

Read Emma's posts again slowly and absorb everything she's saying.

Re-read the excellent posts by Mardee, Jojo Rabbit, and Hannah.

Mardee's post is a gold mine of information with her excellent advice plus the links to AARP she furnished.

Hannah said:

You have an internet presence stating you are a "senior citizen". While admirable to be one, live alone and travel as you do, you have become a target, repeatedly. I suspect "Austin from MasterCard" did a similar search which is how he got your cell phone number, and being inept at coming up with an original name chose Austin from the city where you live.

Hannah is right. Do not put so much information about yourself "out there"!
I would immediately trim information from your Facebook page so that it is not a banquet of personal information about you for anyone browsing the web. You have given links to your FB page here on the forum...and signed your real full name to some of your early posts here.

Who knows whether the scammer got that information about you from right here on the forum? After all, we periodically get some posts here--with links to click on--that the Webmaster quickly removes.
So some scammers are browsing the forum, maybe? Who knows.

And I wanted to share a story about a friend of mine in Florida who was scammed, thinking her bank account was being emptied.

She received an email pretending to be from her bank. Official-looking header on the email and everything.
They were telling her to contact them immediately because her bank accounts--checking and savings--were being emptied.
The email said it was important to act quickly and to call them on this 1-800 number which she did.

RED FLAG....that was NOT her bank's phone number, and the bank had NOT sent her the email.

Someone answered the 1-800 number, sounding very official. That person told her he had to act fast, fast, FAST! to stop the money from draining her accounts. She went into panic mode. "Please give us your social security number so that we know it's really you." said the man on the phone. She did so. "Please give us the exact name on your accounts and the account numbers." She did. "I'm going to send you another email that gives permission for me to access your account to stop the fraud." said the trickster.
When the second email came, she gave permission for money to be transferred into a new account with a new number "to get her money out of the old accounts before they are drained." said the trickster/man from the bank.

He kept her on the phone while he was draining her account so she could not use her phone to call her hometown bank and check to see if this was a real thing.

Then the phone call was over. She began to wonder if it was legit, so she got in her car and went to her bank and told them what had happened.

The bank checked and her money was gone from checking and savings. No new account had been opened up for her.
She had worked as an insurance agent most of her life, her husband had worked as a Space Shuttle engineer for NASA and Boeing, drawing a substantial pension from both in retirement in addition to his monthly social security check.
My point is....neither of these people were stupid. They just panicked.
They lost several hundred thousand dollars.
Thank God their bank account was not linked to their stock market holdings/brokerage accounts.

So be ready, BostonPhil....this may be the next scam they try on you.
Be ready. Don't take the bait.
I'm telling you this story so you'll know step by step how it may unfold.

Best wishes to you BostonPhil.
Stay alert, think and DON'T PANIC.

P.S. Remember....in my story, this woman's bank accounts were safe **until she opened the email from the bank and called the 1-800 number found in it. SHE inadvertently started the whole scam in motion by responding to that email and panicking.

Remember this whenever you get an email or a phone call. Don't respond to the email; don't call a number they give you. Delete the email.
Hang up on any phone call that begins to go like this. Better still, if you don't recognize the number calling you, don't answer.

Finally, read the AARP articles Mardee gave the links to. This will give you lots more info on scams.

Bostonphil, I am sorry to say but Rebecca’s comments are 100%. I just looked at your profile here on RS and with the name of your MA thesis, I was able to find out your full name, FB page with info on it, your address and easy access to phone numbers if I pursued it. Years ago because of my work and a unique surname, I put strict privacy settings on all of my social media and online accounts. I do not have my last name on anything that I have set up. Please please edit your profile here and change your user name on FB and anywhere else. It may be at a point that you need to also reevaluate what phone numbers you have. As well, if you have passwords that are easily identifiable or you have used on multiple websites/accounts, you may need to update those and make each one unique. Everyone here wants to support you in reducing/eliminating your financial and online vulnerability.

I'm in the UK and it's just taken me literally two minutes to compile a full report on you in the manner stated above, simply from the name of your PhD. I haven't actually taken it out to issue the report, but only because I don't want to. Your name is unique enough (I've never looked at your profile before) that even without report services to do the work for me I could do the work myself.
And your FB page has way too much info on it.

I don't know what else to say. Crumbs.

JoJo

Why and how are you so sure that our phone calls were not stolen but that we called a fake number? We meaning some of us victims.