CROMWELL, Conn. — As summer travel ramps up, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) is advising travelers to avoid scams while on the road or in the air.
A recent scam a Wilton woman endured took advantage of a family anxious to get home after missing their flight.
The Wilton woman, who FOX61 will not identify at this time, was traveling home from Ecuador with her daughter and her older parents when they missed their flight to New York, leaving them stuck in Miami.
The family opted to head to a hotel, and during the taxi ride, the Wilton woman searched online for the American Airlines' Platinum Pro phone number.
She found a website that looked like the official website and used the AA logo. When she called the number, someone claiming to be a "rebooker" told her another AA flight home would not be available for two days, and was given the option to fly home with Delta for $3,700.
“I was in tears at this point. My daughter’s got to go to school,” she told the BBB.
The woman called the number back the next day and bought the tickets. She provided her credit card number over the phone as well as photos of her driver's license and credit card, being told the photos would be used for "TSA purposes."
The ticket confirmation came from an email that used flighticketexpert.com in the domain, the woman told BBB.
She and her family got home OK, but two charges showed up on her credit card: one from Delta for the four tickets, costing $232 each, and one charging $2,800 to TRVL*EXPERTS.
The Wilton woman thought she was speaking to AA the whole time, but then realized she was manipulated. When she called the number back to question the charges, she said the number was not in service. The flighticketexpert website results in an error message and TRLV*EXPERTS does not seem to exist, according to BBB.
"I was completely astounded. These people had misled me into believing that I was being helped by American Airlines," the woman told BBB. She later added, "When you’re in a state of anxiety you react and make decisions quickly and that is just not a good idea."
The BBB has tips to avoid travel scams. First, find contact information for an airline on its website instead of searching for a support phone number.
Research an unfamiliar company before making any purchases and be wary of third-party websites. Be wary of websites that do not have a working customer service number or physical address. Typos and grammatical errors are also a sign.
Also, double-check flight details before calling customer support. Scammers can send out fake airline cancellation emails and texts that can be mistaken for real notifications. Confirm the information in the message is correct, like the flight or reservation numbers, before calling customer support.
Report scams in Connecticut at the BBB Scam Tracker.
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