 |
|
|
|
Contents
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Travel scam still a popular way to steal
Offers of “free vacations” are often scams
Some old scams never go away. One good example of a scam that has survived for decades is the travel scam, where a company offers a “free” vacation that ends up costing you a lot of money. Here are some tips to help you avoid being taken.
Continued below
|
|
|
|
|
|
Free vacation scams still flourishing after decades of use
The envelope comes in the mail and tells you that you have “won” a vacation to some exotic place. You’re pretty excited; you never win anything. Then the trouble starts. You contact the company about your prize and find that they want a credit card number from you because you will have to put down a “deposit” of several hundred dollars. In the end, it turns out that the trip wasn’t free and it wasn’t fun. You ended up staying in a flea bag hotel that was blocks from the beach and you had to endure a timeshare sales pitch, to boot.
These sorts of scams have been around for years, and they are still thriving. People just can’t get enough of anything that comes in the mail that tells them that they have won something. It’s just, like many others scams, a way to steal people’s money. At worst, it’s a means of identity theft, and there is no travel at all. Just theft of your credit card number and other personal information.
|
|
|
|
Here are some tips to that will help you avoid being a victim of this decades-old financial scam:
- Many offers of prizes, including “free” travel, are bulk mail that is designed to look like certified mail. It’s easy to make junk mail look like important mail, just by adding phrases such as “Urgent: Reply Immediately.” Be careful.
- Read the fine print carefully. Most of these “free” vacation offers actually require that you pay money. If you have to pay, it isn’t free. The details are often buried in the very small text on the back of the letter, which may look like a gift certificate.
- Even if the offer states that the offer requires money, you may find that it’s a lousy deal that you could have booked yourself at a lower price through tine Internet or a travel agent. Just because the letter says it’s a good deal doesn’t make it a good deal. Do some research.
- Check with the airlines or hotels mentioned to be sure that they are participating in this deal, especially if the offer is for free travel.
- Do some research on the company offering the travel. Check on the Internet or contact the Better Business Bureau in the city where the business is located.
- Do you always book vacations through companies that send you unsolicited letters in the mail? Of course not. Assume that any such letter is a scam, especially if it says you have “won” something and you don’t remember entering a contest or sweepstakes.
The old adage applies here: deals that sound too good to be true usually are. There are many people out there that are interested in either identity theft or just stealing your money. You have better things to do than to help them out, so don’t. If you need to take a vacation, see a travel agent.
|
|
