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Aug 5, 2023 · With travelers hitting the road and record numbers this summer, travel experts note the exponential rise in frauds. Using social media, text and email, scamsters use an indirect method to swindle...
- Vacation Clubs
- Timeshare Sales
- Vacation Certificates
- “Travel-Agent” Card Mills
- Car-Rental Collision Damage Waivers
- “You Won A Free Trip!”
- Fake International Driving Permits
- The Bait and Switch
- “Grandparent” Travel Scams
- Rental Property Scam
Wholesale travel clubs claim that you’ll have access to incredibly cheap vacations if you join. However, once you pay the joining fees, you find that the deals offered aren’t any better than what you can find for yourself online—for free. Consumer advocate Christopher Elliott, whose book Scammedlays out a helpful roadmap for being a responsible and...
Ed Perkins, a longtime contributing editor at SmarterTravel, calls the up-front fees for selling your timeshare the biggest travel scam out there. “Scammers promise to get you out from under, saying they have buyers, but all they really do is take a fee, upward of $400, and do nothing,” says Perkins. Never pay up front to have someone help you sell...
Ed Perkins also warns against prepaid vacation certificates: “Travel scams promise really great prices but deliver nothing. The idea here is to get the up-front money, then keep stalling: ‘Sorry, these dates are sold out; try again soon.’ They delay until people just quit trying.” Or the company charges huge additional fees to redeem the certificat...
Ah, the life of travel agents. Cheap hotels and airfares are thrown at their feet once they pull out their travel-agent ID cards, right? Wrong. Don’t believe the hype from outfits that promise to issue you a travel-agent ID that provides access to discounts. Scammers charge hundreds of dollars for these cards, but victims who shell out will quickly...
Rick Steves calls the car-rental collision damage waivers (CDW) a “collision damage waiver racket” for a reason. When you rent a car, the company often pressures you to buy a CDW supplement, which will prevent you from having to pay a high insurance deductible if the car is damaged. (The deductible can be thousands of dollars before insurance kicks...
If you’ve ever dropped your business card in a “win a free trip” drawing at a restaurant or signed up to win at a fair, you may have gotten a phone call, letter, or email claiming you’ve won a free vacation. These days, the hustle is often via robocall. Be wary—many of these “prizes” are actually booby traps in which you’ll have to pay hefty fees t...
The FTC also warns against fake International Driving Permits (IDPs). Some countries require tourists to have an IDP in addition to a U.S. driver’s license. However, there are only two American associations that are legally authorized to issue IDPs—the American Automobile Association (AAA) and the American Automobile Touring Alliance (AATA). Fraudu...
The hotel you’re thinking of booking is suspiciously cheap, but the property’s website makes it look beautiful and centrally located. When you arrive, the hotel is run-down, missing amenities, and in a deserted part of town—and it won’t refund your money. Avoid this travel scam by using websites like Oyster (one of SmarterTravel’s sister sites) and...
Even if you’re not currently traveling, you can still be the victim of a travel scam: The State Department warns that scammers will call an older relative or friend of someone who’s away on vacation and pretend to be the traveler in desperate need of help. The scammer usually poses as the traveler or a foreign government official and directs the vi...
Rule of thumb: Never go to Craigslist (or anything similar) for a rental home. Scammers will place an ad and ask the victim to wire money to secure the vacation rental—and then disappear. Or they’ll have you send money to them rather than to the actual property owner. Avoid the rental scam risk by going through a reputable vacation rental site with...
When planning your next trip, be wary of false promises and a sense of urgency that can fool you into paying for something that doesn’t exist. These are the five top vacation scams to watch when...
Mar 4, 2022 · 1. Ask yourself: is the deal too good to be true? Scammers will often dangle an enticing incentive to lure in unsuspecting victims. Think about it: is the price of that flight just too cheap? Or are you being offered late or peak season availability when everywhere else is fully booked?
Feb 26, 2022 · The pandemic has spawned a new breed of Covid-related scams. The ever-changing travel rules, coupled with our desperation to get away after months of lockdown, have created the perfect conditions for scam artists to strike.
Sep 21, 2016 · Scams are sweeping the country, ripping off people for hundreds or thousands of dollars. In this scam alert, Consumer Reports explains how to avoid becoming a victim.
Mar 31, 2016 · As the travel booking business has gone almost entirely online, fraudsters are using the Internet to scam customers. Consumer Reports describes three popular travel scams.
