GRAND RAPIDS, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – The cold Michigan weather may have residents dreaming of warm beaches or a new adventure.
If you need an excuse to book a trip, January 25 is National Plan for Vacation Day, according to the Better Business Bureau Serving Western Michigan (BBB).
However, before jumping online to book a flight or rental home, the BBB is advising residents to take steps to avoid being scammed.
“Scammers create fake booking sites and customer service numbers to trick travelers into making arrangements that don’t really exist,” President & CEO of the Better Business Bureau Serving Western Michigan Lisa Frohnapfel said. “Doing your research and knowing the scam tactics these cons use can help consumers avoid scams and have a worry-free vacation.”
One Western Michigan woman recently reached out to the BBB after losing money to one of these scams. She had used a booking service to plan her vacation, but needed to make changes.
She did an online search for the company’s customer service number and called the number she found, not knowing that number was a scam.
The fake representative asked her to pay for her itinerary changes using a gift card.
After she gave the fake representative the card information, he asked for more gift cards. That is when she realized something wasn’t right.
She was able to contact the real booking service, who confirmed it was a scam, but the scammers got the money loaded onto the original gift card.
- Do your research. If you come across a company you haven’t dealt with before, research it before making any purchases. Look on BBB.org for reviews and feedback from previous customers.
- Use caution with internet search results. Entering phrases like “best deals” or “(company) customer service number” into search engines can sometimes bring up-websites that look official, but are designed solely to rip people off. When possible, use the contact information found on your original booking.
- Double check the URL before you enter personal and payment information. It can be easy to click on a sponsored ad or imposter website without noticing. Before you enter 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. Learn more at BBB.org/BBBSecure.)
- Make online purchases with your credit card. Fraudulent charges made on a credit card can usually be disputed. Payments made with gift cards or wire transfers are much less likely to be refunded if the transaction goes bad. And there is no way to get back the personal information you may have shared with a scammer.
For more ways to protect yourself from travel scams, go to BBB.org/TravelScam.
Read more about customer service number scams.
If you’ve been a victim of an airline ticket or other travel scam, report your experience at BBB.org/ScamTracker.
