This Airline Ticket Scam is so good! You don't even realise you were scammed
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ส.ค. 2023
- This scam is so good, that even the Credit Card company won't issue a refund!
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All scams are bad. But some are worse than others, in my mind. Scams like this prey on people that are already having a bad day and in need of help.
100%
UPDATE: The Credit Company confirmed they refunded the money and there may/ or may not be some legal action against a certain company which I may or may not be called to assist with!
Apparently, they agree that there is a massive difference between shady marketing and purposefully intending to misrepresent for the purpose of financial gain. But hey - I am no lawyer so what do I know😜
Seeing a bunch of comments that this isn't a scam because they did what I asked. And this is exactly why this scam is so brilliant.
So let me put it another way:
Let's say you order a burger from a restaurant for $10.
They ask you if you want fries (chips) which costs $5.
You say yes and pay $15.
You go get your burger and fries and see that the fries are free.
That is fraud.
Yes, you still got what you asked, but you were conned out of $5.
A couple of extra things:
1. For a third party to offer a service, they need to disclose that they are charging a service fee.
You have to accept that you are willing to pay the service fee. This is what they would need to prove to avoid the chargeback on the credit card.
2. They answered the phone with the "airline name customer service". They are not the airline's customer service. That is fraudulent misrepresentation. The airlines confirmed that they don't work with any such organization.
3. They are actively creating web pages to get people to call them when they search the airline name customer service in English. This is done just so they can pretend to be their agents. When pages are reported and taken down, they create new ones for that exact reason.
4. Read the reviews on the BBB website. They keep calling people back after they hang up to tell them their reservations are canceled unless they pay their fees. There is more which you can read yourself.
If after all of this, you still think they are not doing anything wrong, please note that TH-cam is charging a service fee to watch any videos on TH-cam. I will send you my bank account number for the "service" 🤣
But it is not a scam if you use their service, which they are entitled to charge you for, as long as they make the changes, even if you could have done it yourself for free.
The problem is they may be misrepresenting themselves as a different company.
But in law you contracted for them to make the change and they are therefore entitled to a fee, as long as the fee is agreed beforehand.
What country are the Scammers located ? Please provide us with the scam's Website Link so that we can investigate ourselves !
@@degu44 ahhh what was the last part? "as long as the fee is agreed beforehand" - it wasn't. It was disguised as a fee due to a change in the ticket's class. Ie. a lie. And no for a contract to exists there needs to be an offer and acceptance. There was no offer to pay a service fee to change the ticket. The offer was - you bought a lower class fare ticket, so to change it you need to buy a higher class ticket. Vastly different. If the offer was fraudulently misrepresented, there is no contract. Its like me selling you a car, you pay me, I give you the keys and then you discover its not even my car to sell. There is no contract
@@LironSegev Ah I see. I thought you had agreed to the fee to change the ticket details. Sorry I misunderstood that part. It seemed to me to be like a ticket toot re-selling tickets for an event, where a charge would be made. I agree they should not misrepresent who they are or what the fee is for. Good luck.
6:52 - this is the crux of the matter - you can be glad they did not charge you $243 or more. But a great lesson to us all. Thanks for your time Liron.
143 can be a lot to someone else...who decides? plus, a lower number makes one more likely to book...happened to me
A coworker had the same thing happen, googled the number, fake page came up, called the wrong number, gave them the CC.
The really sad thing: it left her 90yo mother at the airport all night to sleep on an airport bench. 😢
Freeze your credit. Check with the bureaus to verify there's no charge to freeze your credit.
Freezing your credit only prevents opening new accounts, it doesn't stop charges on existing accounts. For that you would have to contact the credit card or bank directly.
This is among the best videos you've ever released!! Good gosh... We are helpless against all these scammers and the regular companies as well. I've not been on an airplane in over 20 years; I probably have "Please Scam Me" written on my forehead that such people can read a mile away. A pox on all their houses...
a pox indeed!
This made me smile and remember India. Some scams are so good, you don't even realise you've been scammed, until much later...and usually for an amount that didn't hurt that much... I once arrived at a train station late, with all seats taken. I had 24 hours to make my flight, and was really anxious! I was sold an AC sleeper, for £120 instead of the usual £20. Didn't find out until i got to the airport that the train wasnt full, and this is a very common scam.... I was so happy to make my flight, in such a comfortable seat, that i smiled at the brilliance of the scam lol
I almost got scammed the same way, but they didn't answer one of my questions correctly, so I hung up. They tried calling me back and I blocked them.
Smart
Most airlines have an office presence in large terminals, also I think going to the check ticket counter you could ask to change the flights.
Customer service desk was closed
I've been reading from a couple of other consumer folks about this scam. The victims did exactly what you did as well.
One thing comes to mind as a suggestion for all of us: Preload all the phone numbers for your travel vendors (airline, hotel, car) before you leave. That way you've got them on your phone. If you're going overseas be sure to get any number they suggest you call them collect with if they don't offer toll-free numbers. And of course be sure you have their apps installed and configured.
Good luck Liron. Hope you get your money back.
agreed! This airline's app just kept crashing and their website is eqaully bad. That is why I looked for an alternative way to contact them. Their customer service desk at the airport was also closed - so basically the perfect storm
Always put that specific airline main number in your contacts .
My Prince Liron got scammed,say it isn't so,but it was! What chance do I have ,none? Although the circumstances are indeed stressful,the hellhole of airports worldwide. Nice of you to alert us. Thanks Liron.
Happens to everyone. They just need to get you in the right situation and no one is immune. As I said, I knew it was a scam but the fact that the credit card company wouldn't refund the money is the scary bit.
Smh 🤦🏽♀️ and thanks for all your videos! They are so helpful.
You are so welcome
How about you get us some personal location/ID info on that scammer and we take care of this the old fashioned way?
haha grab your pitchforks!
And the rule is....ANYONE can be scammed! Bummer there Liron....but at least it wasn't too expensive of a scam. Hopefully the CC company fixes it and reverses their charge.
The airline app should allow you to make changes and if you can't they might be able to connect you to the proper CS Desk of theirs.
This airline's "app" kept crashing and their customer service desk was closed at the airport....hense the google search.
First I hope you get your money back. Thank you for shar8ng your bad scam experience, sorry that you had to go thru it in order to share it to others. Im sure the insurance company will appreciate you sharing the scam to them, so they know what to look out for. I think you will get your money back. Thanks Liron 👍
Not too worried. I am sure once the right people are alerted it will work itself out. I just don't want others to get hit with the same thing
@@LironSegev I agree Liron. But if they investigate it and see that you did get scammed, Im sure they will pay you back the money not only for being scammed but sharing this scam with them. It will turn out good for you in end. And again sorry to hear that you had to experience it, but having saying that, if it didnt happen to you, it could of been worse for someone else. But every so glad you shared about it Liron. Hopefully to educate ppl.
Thank you for this VERY valuable information!!
Appreciate you being here 🔥
The only thing that surprises me is why you didn’t use the airlines web site for customer help - it’s always prominently listed.
Secondly in a large airport like Madrid the airline will have a desk where people will definitely speak English.
This partuclar airline, which I will never fly again, website is so crap and even their app kepts crashing.
So resorted to Google.
Tried that airline desk first. At the gate they couldn't help and they referred my to their customer service desk which was closed.
WIZZ AIR ?@@LironSegev
Thanks for the info Liron I hope you get your money back.
I hope so too
Thank you for alerting us to this.
I hope you get your money back.
No problem - the more people that know about this the better
Yeah, I would've just went to the airline's website instead if you are going to go online to fix this. Also, I'm pretty sure they have a customer service desk representative that speaks english.
Like you said, though another warning sign was him asking for the reservation code. He should not have needed it if he truly worked for the airline. He would've been able to pull up the information from the airline database from your name alone.
Still, this is something I'd report to Google. These guys shouldn't even be on the top of list for results of this kind of search. I can imagine Google would want to fix it because this could potentially get them a very pricey lawsuit if somone decides to get a lawyer.
Customer service desk was closed already at the airport. That was my first stop.
The web page is down already but I am sure they just put up new ones with new numbers from new hosting providers.
Thank you for this!
No worries!
Best information ℹ️ thank you very much for your help on this scam.
Most welcome
Thank you brother ❤
My pleasure
I record the phone number of the airline customer service before I travel.
smart
Excellent analysis Liron. That scam doesn't surprise me too much--I could see where it was going almost immediately from my stress-free computer chair. :D It's very slick and I bet most of victims never realize they got hit in the first place.
you said: stress-free environment. These scammer get away with these because they catch people in a state of mind where they arent thinking. And yes, I agree. Most people dont even realise its a scam and this is why this is brilliant.
@@LironSegev exactly. And you made that point well, too--people caught up in the moment are the most vulnerable. It's why the funeral biz is absolutely rife with scams.
I really enjoyed this video. I would be very interested in your social experiment you mentioned at the end of your video.
Me too!
Very helpful info Liron scams of any kind are awful. Sorry about that
there are so many variations and just when you think you have seen it all, along comes a new one.
I know a little about this. But because you gave your info/consent for the transaction to happen (be it a scam), you are going to be held liable, and not the bank. They might even end up using this video as additional evidence of you confirming the transaction
1. They answered the call with the airlines name and pretended to be their "customer service desk" (they arent)
2. With a real airline, they would be able to look up the info and not ask for it and make the change at no charge.
3. When you do use a 3rd party, you have to verbally agree to their fee as the call is recorded and this forms a contract. There was no such thing here.
4. At no point did I concent to being charges a service fee. They disguised it as a "flight change free due to differnet class of ticket"
So basically nope. And this is why this scam works - because they make people thinkg that this is perfectly legit.
It isn't.
@@LironSegev I understand what you are saying and agree that it is frustrating (I've been literally today have been going through some flight change shananagans). But that doesn't change the fact that you agreed to the transaction in the banks eyes. Be it as shady as it is.
You would be refunded in situations that you never received benefits or gave consent. In this case you got both (even though as you said it was misleading and shady).
And I forgot to add, I am saying how the bank will more than likely view it
The onus is in then to provide proof that specifically agreed to the fee for their service in order to avoid the chargeback. At no point did I agree to that. I was careful when I spoke as I knew it was a scam as I said. I confirmed that this fee was due to the class ticket fare price. They said yes. So even if it was recorded which I highly doubt, the recording would show that
Thank you!
You're welcome!
First rule should always be: Don't do a Google or any similar search for a phone number. Search for the company's website, then due diligence to confirm it is the correct website, and then use the number from that website.
That's insane!!!
100%
Scammers are getting very clever and sneaky these days
and its getting worse....
if possible then plz make a video on which website or AI tool we can use to create our power point presentation slides in a jiffy. I loved your video about quillbot. I was looking for a subscription based website for making PPT as well. I must confess that it is a humongous task to create PPT slides on any random topic at the last moment to impress the academia as well as the venture capitalists.
Problem is also the companies, it has improved, but generally it is very difficult to find customer service numbers in their own websites (as they want to try to avoid calls). Better with airlines but still challenging...
Pleasant Green actually made a video about this a bit ago
will check it out. This has been going on for a while apperently
Oh I heard about this….I always call the number in my app for my airline I use…..also my airline I use recognizes my phone number whenever I call 😊
Did you contact Google with that Fake Airline Number to remove it?
no one to really contact. Also the page is already gone and they replace it with new numbers and new pages.
Watching from Yosemite Kentucky. Great video. Let us know if you win your appeal. Thanks!
Fingers crossed!
But wouldn't the airlines and credit card see this the same as if you went thru a ticketing agency or travel agent and they make your reservation and charge you a legit fee ?
7:20 u should charge cc company for that research
haha can you imagine if I send them invoice for $143 lol
Could be any result in reporting this to Google? After all at the beginning of this story there is a result they provide
they just remove those pages and get new ones with new numbers. that page was already gone
rickrolled hahaha
thanks for raising awareness on how these things work.
Any time!
I was waiting for your explanation how you get scam ? Hope you fixed it !!
tada 😜
You stated that anyone with your name and PNR can make changes. If they want to defend themselves, they'll just say that you paid them to go onto the web and make changes that you could have made yourself. You didn't pay for ticket price differences, you paid for their service. I'm not entirely convinced that it's illegal. Yes, if you go to court for $143, and had recorded what they said, and present that as evidence, you'd likely win. But nobody is going to jail or being shut down here. Telemarketers lie all the time to get a sale. And it can be concluded that they did the same, where in reality you were simply paying them to type on a keyboard - that's what the fee was really for. As for the credit card terminal - yes, that IS fraud, but it would be up for the credit card company to take them to court - they probably would just yank whatever money they could out of their account by reversing transactions, but I'm not convinced that the company would reimburse everyone scammed by them. It's sort of a legal-grey-area scam.
For them to say that, they would need to prove that I agreed to pay for the "service". There would need to be a recording of the call (not to mention they would need to disclose that the call is being recorded) and in that recording they would need to explain their service and I would need to agree to proceed and hence a contract is formed. Telemarketers do have that.
I do agree that no one is going to jail or being shut down. In fact their web page is already down and I am sure a new one with a new number will pop up.
I mean, it's not technically a scam in the classic sense -- they are providing you a service you asked for, and charging a fee to do it for you. It's a fee you don't need to pay, but you've still chosen to pay it. It's misleading, but not technically fraudulent.
and this is EXACTLY why they keep getting away with it. People don't realise they are being ripped off.
Lets try this another way:
If you call a restaurant and tell the person you would like to order the burger for $10.
They ask if you want fries (chips) for an extra $5?
You say yes.
You are charged $15.
Then when you pick up the order, you find out that the fries are actually free.
Is that someone ripping you off or not?
This was my immediate interpretation of it. It is shady and predatory but they also rendered a legitimate service in making the change for you, at the price promised. The fact that you could have done this yourself in 5 minutes doesn't change anything. People pay ridiculous amounts of money to service industries for things they could have done themselves every day. I can actually see doing this as a legitimate business honestly advertising that they'll charge a more reasonable fee for handling these issues transactions for those who aren't comfortable doing it themselves.
@@Farsightt see pinned comment
Well... U must look after own things, for others might do the same...🤔🤔👋✌️👍
Good thing you didn't come into contact with WEF via your google search, because then you would probably never fly again🤔
If I can't drive there I won't be going there!!! LOL
Make it kinda difficult to see the world no? Unless you are willing to drive. A lot. 😂
Never have been in a hurry on a vacation and there is alway a Cruise ship! LOL@@LironSegev
You can always get your money back from a credit card company. You have to say you lied and lost your card and someone else used it. It works with the government agencies, police, every business you can think of. Even betting agencies. You are VPN so they can't track it back to your ip.
This must rank and THE worst adivce ever. Almost as bad as publically stating with a useraccount that you think can't be traced.
Eh...good luck.
It's not a scam. It's a 3rd party helping change the flight rather than the airline.
its 100% a scam. If you use a service they have to disclose that it is and can't answer the phone pretending to be the airline. If you ever used a 3rd part service this is pretty clear and they get you to agree to it verbally as its recorded and thereby forming a contract. This is why this is so successful - because so many either dont give it a second thought or they think they got ripped off by using a 3rd party but its their fault. These scammer rely on that kind of thinking. There was NO contract made. This was theft. Plain and simple. Its like saying that the person who took your car without your knowledge to the service station was doing you a favor and is the "driver service". eh... nope. That is theft.
And otherwise, contact scammer payback. They can help. Pierogi and his team will get the job done.
Pierogi is a great (and really really tall!) th-cam.com/channels/joNsHD6hXxCNiisSZjdlLA.htmlcommunity?lb=UgkxBfxP6od9dVC-RcRiSOuerUNFqg3eDzG8 (2nd pic)
8:29 yes please
$143 to do what you could have done yourself is painful but better than getting nothing for your money.
exactly - and this is why this scam is powerful. Can you imagine how many people have done this and not realise it was a scam and never report it?
Always check your bank immediately i had to check with a SMS saying your bank has blocked your card . I didn't use that bank . If the SMS has a URL that even 1 character looks out of sequence
or not spelt legit immediately delete the link. All governments must put more resources into combat scammers
or if you don't recognize a phone no and it is a overseas phone # delete it. only use people on your ph. directory.
Never use Google!
Smart scammers.
yup
watching you is like going to College.
Did you win the appeal?
we are still "talking"
Hard to believe some commenters think this is not a scam...I wonder if it's the scammers themselves...It happened to me..Watch out if they answer the phone immediately, and they're eager to sell....An airline told me any change would be free, since it wasn't when I later tried, I now know i was scammed.
I hear you...some people just ignore the facts. Don't even try to rationalize it 😜
Why in the hell would I pay a fee because the airline company canceled my flight? they should give me a new flight, an upgrade and a gift card for wasting my time. Hope you get your money back brother.
If you watch the video, the airline didnt cancel the flight. I chose not to wait for another dealy and I chose to change the flight. Money will work itself out - I am not worried
WOW
indeed
Go ahead, see how many fish you can catch lol
fishing activated
Just 4 delight: i got an almost expired card, like 2 moths, at a bank that I wanted yhe account closed...
Got a fishing link...
I put the card number, and the other number in...
😂😂😂😂
No money...
Received like 65 mails to CONFIRM something... Some mail being with aggressive message
Better cancel that card since they have your credit card number and info now.
exactly
You called the number and they changed your flight for 143. Expensive charge but they did what you asked and you agreed to the charge. The only fraud I can see is if they answered the phone under the airlines name. So why did you not call the airline to begin with?
And this is why this so smart. You don't think there is anything wrong.
So let.me.pitnit another way:
You order a burger from a restaurant for $10.
They ask you if you want fries for $5.
You pay $15.
You go to get your food and see that fries are free.
Is that fraud or not?
Using Google can cost you.
bank of america Loves to Scam You Too
I still don't get what happened here. 😗
excatly why this is so brilliant
Basically, the scammer was saying that the flight change cost $143 when in reality it was free, so the scammer was able to change the flight without any cost to themselves and they run off with your money.
the success of this scam hinges on a very old, tried and true initial contact number or website provided by a Google search … scammers will populate a search for Amazon, banks, or even CSR for McAfee, Geek Squad, or even Microsoft ..
you may think you’ve reached the legitimate company themselves, when in actuality you’re talking to a scammer …
What is rickrolled?
Same here. Buttieg is in cahoots with airline industry. Expedia and Southcrap, I mean, Southwest owe me roughly $350 that I lost with a service provided.
The big question is: Did the person have a _funny_ accent..?
How about for some advice "Don't follow through on a scam when you know you're being scammed?" Just a thought.
which part didn't you understand? 3:38
You are lucky it was only $143
I knew it was a scam so I wouldnt have gone higher. But the fact that the credit card company doesnt think it is, is more worrying
I think this isn't a scam
and this is why this works
Nice long story, but why don't you show any proof ?
yeah I absolutely should have set up my entire camera gear, fired up a couple of laptops, and then reveal my confidential information just in case I would get scammed while traveling.
No idea what I was thinking trying to warn people. Silly me.
🙄
Your credit card company won't refund your money because the 'scam' company did actually provide a service by re-booking your flight
No - see pinned comment
I vote for YES on conducting an expirement.
Would be interesting 😜
"rickrolled"?
kind of scam.. you DID get what you asked. so... yeah. scam-ish. 4/10 out of a scam. nothing was lost. you did get a real new fight. they just wanted money
Lets try this another way:
If you call a restaurant and tell the person you would like to order the burger for $10.
They ask if you want fries (chips) for an extra $5?
You say yes.
You are charged $15.
Then when you pick up the order, you find out that the fries are actually free.
Is that someone ripping you off or not?
@@LironSegev it is. on that part i agree. a scam in my mind feels as something like: "you pay for the burger, and fries.. you get there to pick it up.. there is no store. and your money is gone. But you are right, you did pay something for something free, but you DID get help and you did get a other flight. they did not steal your money and your ticket.. so thats a good thing.
So you knew full well it was a scam but decided to do it anyway because you thought well it’s not my money and decided to gamble with it all backfired and now you may have to pay. Which in reality you should shouldn’t you because you knew it was a scam????
well Savage, the way we discover these scams is by something called an investigation. You follow the scam so you can learn about it and how it works. It doesnt just happen by fairy-dust and magic.
Security people purposfully find vulnerabilities so that they can be fixed. Its call education. Once we know how something is done we can warn people.
Sorry this is confusing
You're probably going to earn (deservedly) more than $143 from this video!
😂 let's hope so.
#4 Don't fly. Your pilot got a poisn sh0t and is likely to stroake out in the middle of your flight. (Happened twice in the past week). Just don't go.
A whole twice out of how many hundreds of thousands of flights during the same time period where that didn't happen?