Get the Facts: Vacation Scams

Jun 10, 2012 12:20 - | 2,059 views

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Here is the truth, today scammers get away with a lot of things and there isn’t a lot that people can do once they have been scammed. When it comes to vacations this is nothing new. Scammers have just found a way to con money and time out of people. Vacation scams are happening more often and in more ways, so what are the facts about vacation scams? Here are a few things to keep in mind.

 

  • Vacation Choices are usually as good as they seem and rarely too good to be true. If it seems cheaper than it should be, do some research.
  • Scammers like to impersonate travel agents and travel companies.
  • When a scammer is pretending to be affiliated with travel they might ask for your social security number or banks accounts. This is a big red flag that says scammer.
  • If you have to wire transfer money anywhere the chances that you are being scammed are almost 100%. Wire transfers can be transferred anywhere, even out of the country.
  • Most people who lose money to travel scams do not recover the money, so be careful where you send your money.
  • Travel companies make themselves available. They offer resources, references, and customer reviews on open source areas such as websites and community forums.
  • Travel scams do not always offer the same kind of qualifications and if they offer references they will sound almost exactly like the agents themselves in the selling content.
  • If you get it via email, it is almost guaranteed to be a scam! Emails are very unreliable and it is very easy for someone to send a link that robs you blind before you realize it’s a scam.
  • Scammers target forum pages like Craigslist or Facebook to lure in victims.
  • Authorities can not stop scammers and can not usually recover losses. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of ways that these people can be tracked, so it is important to look after yourself.
  • Most victims could have avoided being scammed if they had simply taken the time to research the company, call the hotel, or look for customer reviews. These scams do not last long because people complain, so when in doubt, search and find out!

There are many ways to avoid being scammed and when you are on vacation it doesn’t mean you should let down your guard even for a second!

» Filed Under Travel Tips

Comments

2 Responses to “Get the Facts: Vacation Scams”

  1. C Littleton on June 10th, 2012 1:05 pm

    Thanks for this article, I am a rental property owner and someone actually managed to hack into my gmail account – hijacked a booking enquiry (I had not seen yet) and started to communicate with the customer offering my villa for a cheaper price. I am so grateful the customer had the presence of mind to double check and find out who the owner really was. Phew!! The customer was about to pay in excess of US$2000 for a property for dates that in actual fact were not available!!! Fortunately this incident dd not lead to disaster. We need to be vigilant to stop these crooks!!!

  2. Emily Green on June 12th, 2012 12:15 pm

    Wow! That’s a crazy story. Being a freelance writer who focuses a great deal on travel, I’ve seen this happening far too often. I hope to shed more light on this growing problem. Thanks for the comment, and I’m so happy that you didn’t get taken advantage of.

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