The latest scam: Fake travel agent books flights for unsuspecting travelers using stolen credit cards

Last week, I got an alert from my daughter’s JetBlue account that her flight was booked.

It contained a confirmation number, the traveler’s full first and last name, and her date of birth.

Only thing was, it wasn’t my daughter and I didn’t book her a flight to Chile the next day.

At first, I thought maybe somebody had entered the wrong email for confirmation purposes, until I noticed that the credit card used for payment was mine.

I immediately went into panic mode.

What should I do first?

• Do I cancel the flight?
• Do I cancel the credit card?
• Do I call JetBlue?

I decided to call JetBlue first. This was fun because the automated telephone system did not understand “REPORT FRAUD” and I was put on hold. I waited for a long, long, time – and this was using their Mosaic line, which supposedly puts you at the front of the line.

Feeling really anxious and pressed for time – and really, really sick of jazz – I tried JetBlue’s online chat option, and reached an agent fairly quickly.

I told her what happened, confirmed a million personal details, and listened when she told me not to touch the reservation. She assured me that JetBlue has fraud investigators who “deal with things like this,” and said if the person with the fraudulent ticket actually boarded the flight, she’d be put on the no-fly list. This gave me some comfort, because this lady sure ruined my Tuesday night. She reset all of my JetBlue linked accounts while keeping the Chile-bound ticket in place.

I really wanted to make sure, though, that the fraudster didn’t get on the plane. I was so angry at this theft, violation, and absolute time and energy suck on my behalf:

My next step was to cancel my credit card, and what a HUGE pain in the ass this was, because I have so many things paid automatically using that credit card, which I pay off every month while enjoying the perks of many free flights earned with the points.

This took forever, too, and I kept getting different agents asking me the same questions:

“Do you have your credit card with you?” – It’s right in front of me…

“Did you give anyone your PIN?”  – I have a PIN…?

Finally, at around 11:00 p.m., the credit card is canceled, a new one is en route, and the airline knows about the fraud.

I was SO angry at this person.

How dare she?

How stupid is she to have her name and date of birth on this ticket?

I told some friends about this and one of them suggested that the traveler was not a criminal, but more likely, a “sap.”

He then sent me an Interpol article about airline ticket fraud.

As it turns out, the Chilean traveler most likely got scammed by a fake travel website, which sells “discounted” last minute tickets to travelers using stolen credit cards and stolen airline profiles.

Here’s how the scam works:

• Traveler sees a really inexpensive last minute deal on a “discount travel website”
• Traveler purchases the deal using cash transfer, through Venmo, Paypal, Zelle, etc.
• The “travel agent,” who is a scammer, then buys the actual ticket with the unsuspecting traveler’s legitimate info (full name, date of birth, etc.) – but uses a stolen airline profile and associated stolen credit card. They then bank the cash from the unsuspecting customer.
• The “travel agent” sends all travel info, including confirmation code, to the traveler, who is excited to take their discounted trip!
• Because the flight is last minute, the scammer/travel agent is banking on the person who owns the stolen airline profile and credit card won’t notice the purchase. The traveler is also unsuspecting, and heads to the airport, where if they aren’t caught, will board the flight.
• If the owner of the airline profile/credit card doesn’t notice the purchase, they will then have to fight with the credit card and airline to get the money back for a trip that has already taken place.

After reading about this scam, I actually felt really bad for the victim.

Imagine her excitement, going to the airport – all of the last minute packing! And when she gets there, she is initially accused of fraud and not allowed to go on her trip. Once she explains her innocence, she realizes she is out any money she spent to “buy the ticket,” and feels sad and probably a little stupid that she fell for this scam.

Ultimately, we are both victims.

I wanted to share this story with you to encourage you to maybe change that airline password, and have all of your alerts set when a flight is booked from your account.

Here are some warning signs a ticket ‘sale’ could be fraud, shared from the airline ticket fraud Interpol article:

• Is the ticket price significantly cheaper than anywhere else? – Since they make 100 per cent profit, criminals will offer bargain prices to entice you to take their ‘deal’
• Is the departure date in the next few days? – Criminals will offer fraudulently purchased tickets only one or two days before the flight (or even the same day), before the real credit card owner notices the fraud and cancels the ticket
• Are you asked to pay in cash or via bank transfer? – With these methods, your money is gone instantly and you have little recourse to get it back in case of fraud
• Does the travel agency’s website/social media account provide a full range of contact details, including a physical address and landline telephone number? – If not, do some research to confirm it is a legitimate, certified travel agency before purchase