The online scam that hits travelers at their most distracted

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Seattle Times has a limited paywall, so you should be able to see the article unless you've hit the paywall. If you have a Bloomberg subscription, you can catch the article there.

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/the-online-scam-that-hits-travelers-at-their-most-distracted/

 

[klpca]

I have read about this scam (where the top google search result is not actually the real customer service phone number for a particular airline and it actually directs you to a scammer). Literally, you just can't be careful enough.

 

[davidvel]

We've seen a million of these regurgitated posts about so these scams. When you read the details the only thing you get is a bunch of excuses why they ignored all red flags, and deviated from normal behavior, assuming the story is even true.

Here is the TLDR for those that can't access article:

Person goes on United app to reschedule an international flight that they expected to miss due to their own fault. Was messaging with customer service in app when they disconnected (likely to lack of internet connection). Instead of trying to reestablish the messaging (most reconnect when the internet does), they google United to get the #.

Note that the app that he used to message CS has the correct United CS numbers. He then clicked on an Ad (which are labeled such), and reached a scammer and gave all his info. Guess what, he got scammed.

Personally I think this is a fake click bait story, as it has been posted for so many years.

 

[beejaybee]

Copying my post from 11/17 about this very subject!
"Scammers are so savvy.
I have a long tale of woe with a happy ending about scammers who answered a toll-free number and said they were Aer Lingus. The toll-free # of this "agency" out of India came up 1st in a search for the customer service number of Aer Lingus.
Ironically, a search for airline scams indicates this phone number come-on is how many folks end up being taken!"
Addendum shortening the above tale of woe:
My friend called the c.c. company immediately on recognizing that this wasn't Aer Lingus and claimed fraud. New card issued and charges gone. Nearly 2 months later, the charges were back, listed as AerLin. When she called the c.c. provider, she was informed that because she initially approved the charge it wasn't fraud! (even though the scammers had misrepresented themselves as Aer Lingus!)
Luckily, her claim was re-submitted as "services not delivered" and charges gone!

 

[jp10558]

I think this is simply the sort of thing you'll continue to see when you "pay for" your searches by seeing Ads. When Google makes money on the click through, they have no reason to police the ads. Just like how phone companies won't stop telemarketers as they get paid for those calls. The obvious solution is either to run an ad blocker or to use Kagi which you pay for, so it doesn't show any ads.

Now, the scammers can try and SEO any search engine, but that's more work and less reliable than simply buying an ad to appear!

 

[billymach4]

Anyone can fall victim to a scam. Even the most technical savvy cyber geeks. However it does help to be fully aware and vigilant. Most scams work when you are under stress and vulnerable. Does not hurt to keep posting and educating.

 

[Cornell]

Not a travel scam, but recently I got lured in briefly by a scammer:

I had a Frigidaire 2 year old fridge that failed and I was pretty ticked off by it. So I blasted the Frigidaire corp in a comment on X to one of their posts touting their great appliances.

Not long after I got a reply from what I thought was the official Frigidaire account saying something like "wow sorry about your troubles, send us a DM so we can provide customer service". Well, I did DM that comment and had a little back and forth. Eventually this account I was DMing with said "We need you to download What's App so we can compensate you". LOL - that's when I knew I had been lured in by a faker. I then scrutinized who I was DMing and it was an account that ripped off the Frigidaire logo and used an account name like "Frigidaire_".

 

[klpca]

Not a travel scam, but recently I got lured in briefly by a scammer:

I had a Frigidaire 2 year old fridge that failed and I was pretty ticked off by it. So I blasted the Frigidaire corp in a comment on X to one of their posts touting their great appliances.

Not long after I got a reply from what I thought was the official Frigidaire account saying something like "wow sorry about your troubles, send us a DM so we can provide customer service". Well, I did DM that comment and had a little back and forth. Eventually this account I was DMing with said "We need you to download What's App so we can compensate you". LOL - that's when I knew I had been lured in by a faker. I then scrutinized who I was DMing and it was an account that ripped off the Frigidaire logo and used an account name like "Frigidaire_".

Btw - not scam related but Frigidaire related. Friends redid their kitchen two years ago and installed all Frigidaire appliances. The microwave died under warranty so they did get it replaced. Their induction cooktop died last month and Frigidaire's response was sorry, out of warranty too bad. Seeing that you too have had an issue with an almost new fridge, it looks like there may be some issues with that brand, and definitely with their customer service. I can't believe that they are ok with expensive appliances dying after just two years.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

I think this is simply the sort of thing you'll continue to see when you "pay for" your searches by seeing Ads. When Google makes money on the click through, they have no reason to police the ads. Just like how phone companies won't stop telemarketers as they get paid for those calls. The obvious solution is either to run an ad blocker or to use Kagi which you pay for, so it doesn't show any ads.

Now, the scammers can try and SEO any search engine, but that's more work and less reliable than simply buying an ad to appear!

With all of these "free" services (Google, Facebook, TikTok, …) the users are not the customer. They are the product being sold.

 

[billymach4]

With all of these "free" services (Google, Facebook, TikTok, …) the users are not the customer. They are the product being sold.

Right. We are the stock commodity to be flouted and taken advantage. Most people don't understand this point. FB is terrible at permitting fraudulent ads to rake in the AD money. The rest of us including the companies that are posted in the fraudulent system are left to clean up the mess in the wake of these scams.

 

[Brett]

Anyone can fall victim to a scam. Even the most technical savvy cyber geeks. However it does help to be fully aware and vigilant. Most scams work when you are under stress and vulnerable. Does not hurt to keep posting and educating.

Absolutely. Scams constantly change

 

[davidvel]

Anyone can fall victim to a scam. Even the most technical savvy cyber geeks. However it does help to be fully aware and vigilant. Most scams work when you are under stress and vulnerable. Does not hurt to keep posting and educating.

If you believe this just happened to this Seattle Times author, you are far higher up on list of people to be scammed. The author is scamming everyone that buys a subscription to that site. This never happened to them, just a regurgitated tale.

 

[billymach4]

If you believe this just happened to this Seattle Times author, you are far higher up on list of people to be scammed. The author is scamming everyone that buys a subscription to that site. This never happened to them, just a regurgitated tale.

I don't necessarily believe the author. Despite the fact that this may be regurgitation it's much better to over communicate and educate the public. Scams are probably the actual oldest skill humanity has invented. It's just the delivery and methods that will evolve. Educate and awareness are the best defense.

 

[davidvel]

I don't necessarily believe the author. Despite the fact that this may be regurgitation it's much better to over communicate and educate the public. Scams are probably the actual oldest skill humanity has invented. It's just the delivery and methods that will evolve. Educate and awareness are the best defense.

I'm not sure how much saturation will help. Millions of articles and warnings have been posted for decades. The scams are really all the same, targeting the same people, year after year. People who are too trusting, feeble minded, anxiety ridden with fear, or too polite. Describing a new scam does not change the underlying problem, the makeup of the victims. The particular tactics may change year after year, but the victims generally remain the same. There are always enormous red flags that the victims ignore, as they click, click, click away.

 

[easyrider]

Not a travel scam, but recently I got lured in briefly by a scammer:

I had a Frigidaire 2 year old fridge that failed and I was pretty ticked off by it. So I blasted the Frigidaire corp in a comment on X to one of their posts touting their great appliances.

Not long after I got a reply from what I thought was the official Frigidaire account saying something like "wow sorry about your troubles, send us a DM so we can provide customer service". Well, I did DM that comment and had a little back and forth. Eventually this account I was DMing with said "We need you to download What's App so we can compensate you". LOL - that's when I knew I had been lured in by a faker. I then scrutinized who I was DMing and it was an account that ripped off the Frigidaire logo and used an account name like "Frigidaire_".

Before we went in to get our enhanced driver licenses we would usually renew online if we could. I went to our state website and put all of my info in and paid the fee. This wasn't the Washington State website. It looked exactly like the Washington State website. I called the DMV and was told they knew about this and to call my credit card company. So now these guys had my drivers license number, my address and my credit card number.

When I called our credit card they said I had bought a map. Not a drivers license. They also said they were aware of this scam and canceled the charge along with the card.

Since then, our credit has been on lock down.

Bill

 

[billymach4]

Before we went in to get our enhanced driver licenses we would usually renew online if we could. I went to our state website and put all of my info in and paid the fee. This wasn't the Washington State website. It looked exactly like the Washington State website. I called the DMV and was told they knew about this and to call my credit card company. So now these guys had my drivers license number, my address and my credit card number.

When I called our credit card they said I had bought a map. Not a drivers license. They also said they were aware of this scam and canceled the charge along with the card.

Since then, our credit has been on lock down.

Bill

At this point everyone should lock down with all 3 credit bureaus and chexsystems.

 

[Cornell]

At this point everyone should lock down with all 3 credit bureaus and chexsystems.

Yeah it’s a pain to keep freezing and unfreezing with the credit agencies but I tell myself it’s less work than trying to undo someone ripping me off.

 

[clifffaith]

Before we went in to get our enhanced driver licenses we would usually renew online if we could. I went to our state website and put all of my info in and paid the fee. This wasn't the Washington State website. It looked exactly like the Washington State website. I called the DMV and was told they knew about this and to call my credit card company. So now these guys had my drivers license number, my address and my credit card number.

When I called our credit card they said I had bought a map. Not a drivers license. They also said they were aware of this scam and canceled the charge along with the card.

Since then, our credit has been on lock down.

Bill

I had a similar experience— no exact memory but auto related and receiving a map when I was trying to do something else made my neurons fire.