meezy
I think I can...
So... we're not real familiar with airline travel, having done it only once before -- and then, I think, through AAA. My husband's elderly cousin is coming to visit and wanted us to buy him a ticket. Hubby didn't know how to do it but of course instead of waiting for me to do it for him (I always do that kind of thing, travel arrangements etc.) he poked around and found flight information on Expedia. Except that Expedia wasn't working right for him (IDK why) -- I was working at the time so I suggested he book directly through the airline, which was Frontier.
So, he Googled Frontier, clicked on what he thought was the airline site, but somehow got redirected to this scammer site called Airborn Travel. He got a "great price," booked the tickets and paid. The flight info was real, but I'm pretty sure no actual tickets were booked. Then he got to thinking... um, shouldn't it say Frontier Airlines, not Airborn Travel? But he'd already paid.
He called the customer service number to cancel and it appears that they have done so, but who knows? So I rushed to block his debit card (of course he used a debit card, not a credit card, sigh) and transfer out most of our money from the checking account. I just called our bank and evidently nothing went through so I guess we're good.
I just wanted to rant and give a heads up that this can happen. When you click on an online merchant site, make VERY sure it is actually the real, legitimate merchant and not a hacker / scammer who's managed to redirect you somehow.
What I think happened is he looked at the Google results and read the title "Frontier Airlines" without paying attention to the site URL he actually went to.
He's a very smart man in most respects -- but I don't know how many times he's called me absolutely flipping out because he got a call or text from the "IRS" or a "fraud department." LOL
So, he Googled Frontier, clicked on what he thought was the airline site, but somehow got redirected to this scammer site called Airborn Travel. He got a "great price," booked the tickets and paid. The flight info was real, but I'm pretty sure no actual tickets were booked. Then he got to thinking... um, shouldn't it say Frontier Airlines, not Airborn Travel? But he'd already paid.
He called the customer service number to cancel and it appears that they have done so, but who knows? So I rushed to block his debit card (of course he used a debit card, not a credit card, sigh) and transfer out most of our money from the checking account. I just called our bank and evidently nothing went through so I guess we're good.
I just wanted to rant and give a heads up that this can happen. When you click on an online merchant site, make VERY sure it is actually the real, legitimate merchant and not a hacker / scammer who's managed to redirect you somehow.
What I think happened is he looked at the Google results and read the title "Frontier Airlines" without paying attention to the site URL he actually went to.
He's a very smart man in most respects -- but I don't know how many times he's called me absolutely flipping out because he got a call or text from the "IRS" or a "fraud department." LOL
