BEACHWOOD, Ohio — Scammers are targeting an industry in high demand at the moment.
"You get to go away to these beautiful destinations and locations and leave the bills, the kids, the dogs, you know, all your responsibilities at home," said Dawn Scadlock, Flite II Travel.
That escape is what we all love about vacations, right?
Bad actors are swooping in to take advantage of those emotions, and I've learned that travel is becoming a hot target for scammers.
A frequent flyer is sharing her story about the scare tactic used to shake her down for cash ahead of her vacation.
The excitement of a planned girls' trip was unexpectedly stripped away from Michele Smolin.
"I got a message, an email that my trip had been canceled; my flight had been canceled. The email looked legitimate — gave me a number to call, " said Smolin."
In a panic to find out why, Smolin called a number for the airline she found online.
"I called, and they answered, and they knew everything about my flight," said Smolin.
The person on the other end of the phone told Smolin she had to pay $285 to be rebooked on her original flight.
"And of course, I didn't even question it because I was just desperate to go on this trip."
With that credit card payment, Smolin thought she was good, but when she couldn't print her boarding pass ahead of her flight, she went to the ticket counter, where the agent shared this message.
"We will never, you know, cancel your flight, and we will certainly never charge you for rebooking," said Smolin.
It was the moment Smolin realized she had been scammed.
"Not only am I a frequent flyer for business, I'm also an attorney, so I'd like to think that I have a good and clear eye," said Smolin.
It’s a reality check that travel agent Scadlock also shares.
"I hate to admit it, but I got scammed too. I was rushing. My clients were stuck somewhere, and I Googled the airline," said Scadlock.
Scadlock thought she was dealing directly with the carrier and paid $265 to change flights.
"I felt so stupid because, you know, here I am, the travel expert, and I got scammed. Luckily, my clients, you know, denied the charges and claimed fraud, and they weren't charged," said Scadlock.
I learned that's one of the many ways travelers are getting duped.
"The biggest one, I think, is fake websites," said Scadlock.
Consumer Alysia Beeler got caught up in a copycat website while scrolling through social media.
"They may look like the real deal, but it's really not," said Beeler.
Irregularities in the URLs, with a missing letter or two or a dash where there shouldn't be one, tipped Beeler off.
"So, I went around that, did some fact checking for myself and found out, like, this doesn't look right, you know, and it gave me apprehension," said Beeler.
A minute of verification kept her credit card information out of the hands of crooks.
"I was easily duped," said Smolin.
Smolin was in for yet another surprise after using her credit card to pay for that bogus flight change fee.
"Well, the credit card company said since I confirmed my credit card number with the scammers that they would not cover it as fraudulent. I mean, you do feel dumb about it, but they're so sophisticated in the methodologies that they use," said Smolin.
We've discussed this before, but remember the psychology behind the scam.
In Smolin's case, they used panic to get her to pay.
If you're faced with an unexpected stressful situation, take a step back and breathe.
It's all about playing with our emotions and the desire to solve a problem quickly, especially a financial one.
