Any site with airline and phone number in title is spam

Thanks, Frank.

Bumpity bump.

And they’re busy trying to get you to fall for their scam lately.

Yup. Tiresome twits.

Companies that post spam are companies I would NEVER consider doing business with.

Reminder, the webmaster doesn't want us to reply AT ALL, not even to say "reported." It bumps up their posts and encourages further spam.

Be aware, what happens if you call that number is just got yourself into a spam. It’s not the airline but a number where they’re going to charge you a fee to call the airline for you because they obviously think you’re stupid and sadly a lot of people do fall for this.

But phone numbers are not your only risk

Make sure when you are contacting an airline that your are not on a spammer site. These jerks have also paid to be high in Google search results. For example I typed Delta into a search engine. The first site that came back looked very official, but it was not the airline. because I’m very familiar with the airline I instantly knew that but if you aren’t somebody who goes on their website once a day, you might not be quiet as familiar. ( Delta is always Delta Air Lines never Delta Airlines).

Keep in mind that this stuff is not really spam and is not designed to get anyone to call the phone numbers. It is intended to increase their search rankings (see https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tech-tips/are-the-spams-on-the-forum-getting-worse and scroll down to travelerguy's reply and Andrew's follow up).

And it's really better not to reply to them because that just bumps up the ranking. Just report them and leave it at that.

I am going to respectfully disagree with Mardee's post regarding this being harmless spam. This is not just about getting the phone number to pop-up in searches, it is also about getting people who do not realize that they are not calling the actual airline site to make some purchase or change through them and pay for it - through them. And while the money can probably be reestablished to the credit card via fraud protection, that money will never be recovered from the dark web where these fly-by-night (sorry for that) folk operate, and worse, that card number will probably be sold on the web also months down the line. It's the same idea as the mass emails telling you your Norton/McAfee/GeekSquad has been automatically renewed and your card will be charged several hundred dollars, or some purchase through your PayPal, and hope that some will panic, call, and give them a card to reverse the charges.

I realize that most of the people here are savvy enough to not fall for this, but I think we have all seen that, based on the same basic repeat questions from new members, there is tremendous usage of this board by people who can fall for these posts. And if the posts can't get wiped out, the information in them may be found and acted upon before warnings can be found.

It's spam e-mail in your mailbox, it's a spam posting on line--but what they are attempting is a scam. Or, let's use a stronger word--outright fraud. Let's not forget the offers for for counterfeit passports and documents we used to get here.

Bumping back up

Not just a bump, but...

Just had the chance to check on this. I called two of the "airline" numbers (with my Caller ID blocked, of course). The calls of course went to the same place. What I reached was someone, sounded sub-continent or Asiatic, after I said I had changes to make, asking me what airline I wanted. As I led her on, it was revealed that number was in fact, as suspected, a travel agency. and continually asked what airline I was trying to reach. I sincerely doubt that any transaction anyone would make on one of these numbers will not be put through to the airline, money will be lost, and worst the method of payment will be compromised.