Beware of Online Vacation Scams
Summertime and the living is easy – particularly for scam artists, the only criminals we refer to as artists, who are successfully stealing the money of unwary consumers through phony online hotel booking websites.
According to Maryam Cope, Vice President of the American Hotel & Lodging Association an estimated 2.5 million phony bookings are done each year.
The problem has also gotten the attention of Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, who has written a letter to the Federal Trade Commission asking them to investigate this scam.
The scam generally starts when you go online to search for a good deal on a hotel room in a popular vacation spot. Often people will start their search through Google, Bing or other search engines by typing in words such as "discount hotel rooms in Las Vegas."
Merely because a website comes up high in a Google or other search engine search does not mean that the website is legitimate. All it really means is that the scammer is familiar with the algorithms used by Google and the other search engines to rank websites and is able to tailor the website in a manner that will put it high on the first page of a search. No search engine guarantees that the websites that come up high on a search are legitimate.
Sometimes scammers use websites that appear to be those of legitimate hotel chains with which we are all familiar. These websites may carry the logo of the particular hotel and for all intents and purposes appear to be affiliated with the legitimate hotel chain, however, it is a simple matter for a cybercriminal to copy the logo and form of a legitimate hotel's website to make it appear that his phony website is trustworthy.
Merely because the name of a legitimate hotel chain appears in the URL of the website you are using does not mean either that the website is legitimate or has authority to use the hotel's name.
Some of these websites will actually make a reservation for you, however, within the fine print you may find hidden booking fees that make the cost of the hotel room far more expensive than what you would have paid if you had dealt with the hotel directly or had used one of the many totally legitimate discount travel websites, such as Kayak, Expedia, Trivago or Orbitz.
In particular, even if you do manage to book a hotel room through a scammer's online travel website, you may not end up getting the amenities promised, which can be quite important if you require handicap access, for example.
It is important to remember that rarely is there anything fine in fine print and it is important to always read the entire contract before you commit to buy anything. Many people use their smartphones when booking online vacations and the inconvenience and difficulty of reading contract terms on a small smartphone screen can lead to problems.
In a worst case scenario, online travel scammers lure you into providing your credit card number and then don't even make a booking at all, but merely take your personal information including your credit card number and use that information to make you a victim of identity theft.
So how do you protect yourself when booking a hotel room online? Here are some important tips.
1. Trust me, you can't trust anyone. Don't trust websites merely because the name or logo appears to be familiar. You are generally better off limiting your online travel searches to the specific websites of hotel chains in which you are interested or well-established discount travel websites such as Kayak, Expedia, Trivago or Orbitz.
2.Don't trust a toll free number found on the particular website you are using to confirm that the website is accurate. Scammers who set up phony websites also will include phony 800 numbers which, when you call, will be answered by someone who poses as an employee of the legitimate hotel.
3.Read the contract in writing. It may be difficult, particularly if you are using a smartphone with a small screen, but it is critical to understand all of the terms, conditions and costs of your booking before you pay.
4.Use a credit card for your payment because it is much easier to dispute any fraudulent charges and have those charges removed if you use a credit card rather than a debit card.
5.If you do use a discount travel website to make a reservation at a hotel, contact the hotel directly after you have made the reservation to confirm that your reservation has been made and that the details of the reservation are the same as what was promised to you.
6.Never provide personal information or your credit card number online unless the website's URL begins with the letters "https" rather than merely "http." The added letter "s" means that your information is being encrypted and safer to transmit.
7.Finally, your mother was right. If the deal sounds too good to be true it usually is. Remember, trust me, you can't trust anyone.