Scam Alert: BBB Issues Warning About Airline Ticket Fleece

CALIFORNIA — There's a new scam being worked by criminals that is fleecing Bay Area residents out of money, the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern Coastal California arm of the Better Business Bureau warns. The scam involves fake airline ticket booking sites.

Here's how it works — "While doing an online search for cheap flights, you come across what seems like a great deal with a major airline," the BBB said in an alert. "You book the flight—either through the website or by calling a customer support number. But shortly after making the payment, you receive a call from the company saying there's been a sudden price increase or an extra charge to finalize your booking. This is something a legitimate company would never do!"

And that's not all. A similar scam targets travelers after they book a legitimate flight with an airline. The traveler receives an email or text message claiming that the flight has been canceled, and they need to rebook. When they call the phone number provided in the email or text message, the "airline" offers to book a new flight for an extra fee.

One victim told BBB Scam Tracker, "I thought that I bought airline tickets with United Airlines through a company that sells at discounted prices. They called me shortly after I bought my tickets and said that the flight had been canceled. They wanted permission to put me on another flight with Southwest and said it would be 80 dollars extra… It turned out that United Airlines never canceled a flight. I tried to call this company and leave a message and I tried to email them to no avail. It turns out that the airlines were unaware of this ticket purchase.”

The BBB offers these pointers to avoid airfare scams:

• Double check flight details before calling support. Scammers are blasting out fake airline cancellation emails and text messages that can easily be mistaken for the real deal. Confirm the information in the message – such as the flight and reservation numbers – is correct before calling customer support.
• Confirm the URL before you enter personal and payment information. It can be easy to click on a sponsored ad or impostor website without noticing. Before entering any sensitive information, double check that you are on the right website and that the link is secure. (Secure links start with “HTTPS//” and include a lock icon on the purchase page.) Learn more here

See BBB.org for more tips.

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