airlines

Get a Text About Your Flight? It Might Be a Scam

NBC 7 Responds has a warning for worried travelers

NBC Universal, Inc.

Flight cancellations and delays can ruin a vacation, but if that text about your flight was a scam, you could also lose most of your vacation budget.

Many of these scams start by trying to trick travelers as soon as they try to find a flight.

"A lot of people are reporting they've seen fake booking sites and fake customer service numbers," said Viridiana Quintana with the San Diego Better Business Bureau.

Trying to find a cheap flight could lead you to one of these fake sites, som the BBB says, be careful before submitting any personal or payment information.

"The sites claim to be a third party that reserves tickets," Quintana said. "They also might use a fake number pretending to be a representative for a legitimate company."

The scam attempts may not end even after a flight has been successfully booked: The BBB says another form the flight scammers might try is by contacting you directly.

"They might say there's been a change in pricing and you have to pay the difference in order to keep your booking," Quintana said.

The fraudsters may also say a flight was canceled and the people need to pay to book a new one. Even if they say it's just a small fee, once they have your payment information, they can charge as much as they want.

"The scammer is essentially trying to charge [the victim] for something that doesn't exist, only to have access to their credit card information," Quintana said.

How do they know people have a flight planned? They probably don't, according to the BBB.

"A lot of people are traveling, so they may just get lucky and find someone who has travel coming up," Quintana said.

Travelers should use credit cards for online purchases because they have more protections in place against scams.

Also, if you get a random message about upcoming travel plans, it's best to contact the airline directly. Go to their official website and look up the best ways to contact them.

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