The author warns readers about airline phone number scams, then almost falls for one himself while trying to reach Air Algerie's Canadian call center.
Imagine all the people actual getting scammed thanks to Google AI overview
Thought you were going full-John-Lennon there... "Imagine all the people...(Scamming) for today... It isn't hard to do... I hope someday you'll join us... And the world will (scam) as one..."
I fell for my first scam recently. I had booked a hotel direct, and I guess maybe their reservation system might've been compromised (from a lot of what I've read, this happened with booking.com, so maybe the hotel utilizes them?), because I got a text with my reservation details asking me to verify my credit card and allow a couple pre-authorization charges.
Tired both mentally and physically, and having had enough to drink, my guard was completely down and I missed about half a dozen obvious warning signs and forced the transactions through to the tune of $1K. Turned out they were cash advance charges.
Still kicking myself for that, but I cut the trip budget by even more than $1K to make up for it. So I'll live.
Oh no... Joe... that's not very 'Pro' of you. Glad you'll 'live' but still... yeeeeesh...
Yeah, have had these scam messages on whatsapp quoting my booking.com and agoda.com reservations with my name, hotel name, dates of travel etc... So for 1990 who implies it was silly to fall for this, the messages actually quote a lot of legit and correct info... So be VERY careful if you book with booking.com/agoda.com, my worry is that the credit cards I used to book with are also compromised, we'll see. I did speak to their Security team and they said the CCs are not compromised.
What gives them away is the country code and name on the account is NOT the same as the destination hotel.
No, not 'silly' at all, Paul. More disappointing and shocking than anything else. Wish it were better. Haven't booked with either booking or agoda in a very long time. Back when I had, I agree, quite scam-prone. Interestingly, Citi uses their booking platforms, while Amex/Chase use Expedia. Note the difference...
I've had the same multiple times too and also only happens when going through booking.com. I reported the issue with booking to no avail. It's even more tricky as it's not unusual for small hotels in Asia to write directly on Whatsapp. But as soon as links are involved I go through the official Booking messaging.
Guess I'll stop using Booking.com (and agoda too for that matter, thanks @Paul)
Always refer to the company’s official website site. Not just airlines. Banks etc. I can’t believe you googled it
It’s like the online scammers who “fall in love” with people, mainly single women, and ask them to send money. It doesn’t matter how much publicity there is, people still do it.
The problem is that a lot of companies proactively hide their contact details to avoid customer contact. I was unfortunate enough to have used a phone/internet provider that contracted call centres to the lowest bidders whose staff just couldn't understand, let alone help with, basically anything and there was no way to send them anything in writing other than by post, which elicited responses that had obviously been composed by some rubbish AI which kept anchoring itself to random words in my letters and failing to respond to what I'd actually raised. Someone who's getting desperate at their inability to access an important service could easily fall victim to scammers in that sort of scenario.
(I didn't get round to suing them for failing to provide the service which they'd been charging me for, but the statute of limitations here in England allows 6 years so they may get a little surprise from me if I find myself with a few hours to kill.)
Or just hide human representatives behind a wall of options, which sometimes lead you to an automated message saying "Go on the app/website" then hang up. It can take longer to find a rep than the whole chat to solve the issue.
Ben could give a try to their contact center in United Kingdom. +44 2045 253188, or write down to their Canada email contact [email protected] or their Montreal phone number +1 514-905-0147
Good Luck
Montreal phone will have bilingue Eng/Fr. Montrealers are the answer to an English/French problem. As soon as they recognize you're American and not English-Canadian, you're good to go.
Oof. Yeah, it should, but it happens. Gotta be vigilant... "answered after one ring" and "no prompt" just some dude ... claiming to be "the reservations desk for all major airlines" Bahaha!! *click*
You could play along by switching to another language and saying that you have an issue with an airline that's native to it (Air Algerie would've been great for a French speaker, but Ben could've said something about Austrian or Lufthansa in German).
Expedia!! “Maybe you should have just booked direct?”
omg please do explain your actions Ben
My thoughts exactly. I think Ben owes his readers an explanation of why in this case he booked on Expedia. Never have; never will.
Disagree, gentlemen. Have probs booked like 7 intra-Europe flights over the years on Expedia and Booking, but they were exclusively one-legs on Ryan or Wizz. When you can book a $65 flight for $61 - hard to pass. I think i saved about 34 bucks, proud of every penny.
Also… don’t get your answers from AI. Or, rather, fact check literally everything AI says before you take any action. If you get scammed because you called a phone number that AI said to call, I think you can guess how much sympathy I’ll have.
Many of us fell for things like this.
For me, 2 years ago I flew TAP, and there was a delay. Two weeks later I got a perfectly legit-looking email telling me that because of the delay, I will get a partial refund. When I clicked on the link, my PC blocked it. I called TAP and the agent said: "Oh Sir, we would NEVER offer you anything like that". At least she was honest. Two days later an email was sent to me from TAP telling me about that particular scam email.
Even when you call an airlines legit number, things can get wonky...Fiji Airways seat selection--that's a hot mess when you book an award ticket (using AAdvantage miles--which Fiji adopted as their FF currency, no less!). Doesn't allow online seat selection, and when you call in to make the selection, they attempt to send you a link by text to pay...nnnnnnope. Oh, the option to pay shows up online/in their app after the call as well, but never processes. Not dealing with that BS...looks like I'll roll the dice on being assigned a middle seat in the ass-end of an A350.
(btw, if anyone has any recommendations on how to get past that issue, please post a reply...I'm not in a city where they fly, so I can't just desk-agent it)
Happened to my mom. She called the wrong number she found on-line and things went from there. We didn't lose anything, but needed to cancel a credit card as a result. And thankfully, no one cancelled her flight, as she gave out her PNR. It's maddening how widespread this is.
I went to what I believe to be their official site. They push you to get seat assignments online, through app, or service centers. They offer contact numbers, but none are in North America. There is a UK number. Maybe try the online method first?
Interesting story. The situation is so widespread, that when I needed to speak to United about a seat assignment (app error) they provided me the validated Lufthansa number, thankfully.
The problem is NOT Google, the problem is *AI*. If you Google something and go to the correct (NOT SPONSORED) page, you will be fine.
Even before the AI overview, scammy websites would buy ads or SEO their way to the top of the page, above the official airline / ETA / eVisa websites. Seen so many folks who aren’t super tech literate (or even just in a hurry) getting scammed like this over the years, and clearly Google isn’t all that interested in preventing it.
FWIW, when I flew Air Algerie for 3 different domestic flights, assigned seats did not matter. It was take any available seat regardless of what your ticket said.
This made for some very interesting situations when I tried to get a local to get up because I was assigned to sit next to his wife..**awkward**.
For reference: ALG-GHA, GHA-ALG, and CZL-ALG
Enjoy Algeria, wonderful country, lots of history.
I think of myself as pretty "savvy" but had same thing with Swiss AIR number from a web search. Was pretty far along into changing a ticket when I asked "are you the Swiss reservations dept?" and they answered "are a A reservations dept."
It could be worse. You could be an FBI agent and just had your personal data hacked at the office.
you can reserve seats on their website. also i just flew alg-yul on the new a330-900 and the business class food is hilariously bad.
I don't trust Google or AI for anything related to phone numbers or email addresses. I take my time to go into the official website of whatever company I need to contact until I find their real information and I type the email or phone number myself and do not click on any links. Better safe than sorry! With AI, it is becoming very difficult to discern between reality and scams which is very concerning.
Yes I did. But if I type www.delta.com or www.united.com, etc.... the chances I will get to the real website are much higher. BTW, I always check the entire website address before clicking on anything. Trust me, I have seen so many digital scams that I feel I am a bit above average when to comes to detecting scams.
Call the Montreal office.
+1 514-905-0147.
They should be able to assist you.