Excellent article re Fake Customer Service Numbers

Thank you BostonPhil, your story has been of great value in informing everyone of the fake listings to be found on search engines.

Good Morning travelerguy

yes, it is a good source of information.

I have recently been a victim of one of those fake airline sites and it is a terrible hassle. Just maybe if I knew this information, just maybe I would not have become.a victim.

Thanks Bostonphil for posting. My in-laws got scammed exactly this way.

Hello Andrea

Just maybe if I had been made more aware of the fake customer service numbers and how these criminals are operating, just maybe I would not have gotten myself into the situation that I did.

That is why I am posting the article and telling my story.

I hope that your in-laws did not get scammed too badly and or I hope that they were able to recover their loss.

From the article:

With Delta Air Lines, for example, you can find contact information on
Delta.com and the Fly Delta app.

I find that using the app is the most reliable source to get contact info. However, that can sometimes be hard and I question how interested some airlines are in customer service with the way some bury the contacts page. I recently had to contact KLM and it's app was frustrating and I ended up doing a Google search. Luckily I found a real number. Out of curiosity I tried again with all the airline apps I have on my phone. WestJet, Air Canada and Delta were easy. KLM was still a problem, confirming my previous attempt. This time I somehow stumbled on a link that took me away from the app and to its website that had the contact methods listed. United's app failed miserably.

Maybe worth a reminder of the ongoing booking.com phishing issue.

Scammers hack into hotel computers, grab the hotel password, then log in to the hotel’s booking.com account and send internal booking.com messages to people with upcoming reservations that look like they are coming from the hotel (because in a sense they are). The messages include a link to “reconfirm” the credit card number.

I almost fell for that one. I did it on my desktop and the antivirus software went crazy when I clicked on the link.

Hi Allen

I am not an app person. Sometimes I am forced to use apps but would rather not. Still it sometimes seems that the world now revolves around phones and apps.

I did some research about the fraudster that took me and one victim said he called the United Airlines number on the back of his card and somehow fell into the hands of the fraudsters.

Many businesses are not making it easy to talk to a live person and often call centers are in foreign countries and there is a language barrier.

Hi toby

There has been some discussion on forum about problems with booking.com .

I never completely understood but the scammers who took me have also ripped off persons who booked hotel rooms.

I m not certain how they operated but persons thought they were talking to the hotel iitself but were talking to scammers who were pretending to be the hotel. The victims booked with the scammers and were out some money that they could not recover.

I almost fell for that one. I did it on my desktop and the antivirus
software went crazy when I clicked on the link.

Toby, when that happened to you, did you report the fake to the Power That Be on Booking.com?
I use that site quite a bit and have yet to have a problem but there's always a first time. Guess if I ever get a similar email I'll call the accommodation directly OR message them thru the genuine website.

Makes me crazy: we put men on the moon nearly 60 years ago but can't figure out how to bizbag credit card fraud and identity theft. Doh.

did you report the fake to the Power That Be on Booking.com?

This was a known issue that booking.com knew was happening and was blasé about. I did get an email a month later asking if anything had happened. They also beefed up a warning in the chat about never messaging financial info.

message them thru the genuine website.

Because the hackers have the hotel password they ARE messaging thru the genuine website. The scamming communication comes through the booking.com website and app. It’s not an email scam.

From an article:

“Fraudulent activity begins when criminals take over a hotel’s Booking.com account, likely through a targeted phishing attack against the hotel or accommodation provider. Using the compromised account, they message people who have reservations at the hotel, requesting payment or credit card details under the guise of confirming or completing their booking”

Hello Kathy and Toby

Regarding my own fraud

I believe that I may have become a victim of fraudsters because I did a google search for aa.com. I probably clicked on a website that looked exactly like American Airlines but was fake and then I called the contact number on the fake website. I called the fraudsters.

Apparently this type of problem is now widespread and that is because the fraudsters are getting away with it. And it is only going to get worse and worse if the fraudsters are never held accountable.

FYI to Phil. None of the 3 big US airlines outsources customer service calls to India. Delta and AA use US-based customer service, United uses a call center in the Philippines.

Hi Toby

Thanks for the info.

I have not mentioned the fraudulent company by name in any of my posts on forum but I have done a lot of searching on line. One victim believes the company to be in Nigeria.

I opened a claim with my local police department but they suspended it because they believe the fraudsters to be out of the USA and they can not do anything if the crooks are out of the USA.

They suggested that I report my fraud to the FTC which I had already done.

I spoke to a few of the fraudsters and they all spoke with very heavy foreign accents. But I assumed that American would have international employees, right?

There were many red flags that I was ignoring.