Airline Ticket scam

[Jim3k]

Beware!

Today, my wife received in the mail an offer that's too good to be true. And of course it is.

Marked "personal and confidential" the fold-over zip-tab letter/envelope has no return address. Nor does it have a corporate logo, but claims to be from "US Airlines"--no, not US Air, but US Airlines. And the letter has no letterhead to speak of. The "envelope" or address side has a pre-sorted first class US postage paid permit, listing Tampa FL as the originating city. It has a toll free contact number (855 area code).

The letter is signed "Dana Kine, vice-president." VP of What? It doesn't say.


"I am please to inform you that you have qualified [What? Not won?] for an award of 2 roundtrip airline tickets. Congratulations. These tickets are valid for travel anywhere in the Continental U.S. from any major international airport. The retail value of this award is up to $1398.00. Certain restrictions apply.

We have attempted contacting you several times without success. [No they haven't.] This our last attempt. If we do not hear from you soon, we may need to issue the ticket vouchers to the alternate. [Oh, my...the horror.]

[Followed by the phone number and a claim number.]"

A quick Google search led me to the Flyertalk blog (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/us-airways-dividend-miles/937422-us-airlines-promotion-two-tickets-received-mail.html). It looks like this letter has been in use for a couple of years. Some of their posters assert that it is a time-share pitch. Others note that you have to pay large 'fees and taxes' and you have to give them your bank information.

I'm going with straightforward fraud. There is no US Airlines. And reputable companies have real addresses.

So...if you receive this pitch, treat it like the scam that it is.

I'm looking into reporting this to the postal inspectors and advising US Air that someone is illegally trading off their name.

[OldPhiKap]

Beware!

Today, my wife received in the mail an offer that's too good to be true. And of course it is.

Marked "personal and confidential" the fold-over zip-tab letter/envelope has no return address. Nor does it have a corporate logo, but claims to be from "US Airlines"--no, not US Air, but US Airlines. And the letter has no letterhead to speak of. The "envelope" or address side has a pre-sorted first class US postage paid permit, listing Tampa FL as the originating city. It has a toll free contact number (855 area code).

The letter is signed "Dana Kine, vice-president." VP of What? It doesn't say.



A quick Google search led me to the Flyertalk blog (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/us-airways-dividend-miles/937422-us-airlines-promotion-two-tickets-received-mail.html). It looks like this letter has been in use for a couple of years. Some of their posters assert that it is a time-share pitch. Others note that you have to pay large 'fees and taxes' and you have to give them your bank information.

I'm going with straightforward fraud. There is no US Airlines. And reputable companies have real addresses.

So...if you receive this pitch, treat it like the scam that it is.

I'm looking into reporting this to the postal inspectors and advising US Air that someone is illegally trading off their name.

Thanks, Jim.

I did an internship with the Federal Trade Commission in law school many years ago, and they also investigate such matters. You may want to shoot a copy to them as well.

Of course, use of federal mail is a possible RICO predicate too. So, if Mrs. J3K doesn't mind being a class rep, well -- you know how this sentence ends. ;-)

Thanks for the heads up!

[devildeac]

It's not airline tickets but Ozzie shared this crazie solicitation he received recently:

Attention please!!!
We have registered your ATM CARD of (US $2.6MillionUSD) with dhl Courier Company with registration code of ( 9665776) please Contact with your delivery information:
dhl OFFICE:
Name Mr.JERRY BROWN,
E-mail:(atmcard844@ymail.com)
Tel:+229.9944 6795.
We have paid for the Insurance & Delivery fee.The only fee you have to pay is their Security fee only.Please indicate the registration Number of ( 22-67059411)and ask Him how much is their Security fee so that you can pay it.
Best Regards.
Mr. Fredrico Young

[Lord Ash]

You know, just for once I want a scammer to do a good job. You know... Use proper grammar, create a believable letterhead... Is that too much to ask? The grammar especially always kills me; what, you can't find someone to edit your scam letter for you?

[BD80]

But he is a Prince of a real African nation!

[77devil]

You know, just for once I want a scammer to do a good job. You know... Use proper grammar, create a believable letterhead... Is that too much to ask? The grammar especially always kills me; what, you can't find someone to edit your scam letter for you?

I periodically receive phishing emails with perfect graphics replicating major bank login screens even down to the fine print. The message content, however, always contains glaring spelling and grammar mistakes. Apparently coding is easier than mastering the English language.

[77devil]

But he is a Prince of a real African nation!

I sat next to him on a flight from London to Milan in 1989 while he made his pitch. I'm not kidding.

Over the last 25 years, I experienced the Nigerian scam in person, by mail, by phone, and of course the Internet which is the wild Wild West for scammers.

[OldPhiKap]

I sat next to him on a flight from London to Milan in 1989 while he made his pitch. I'm not kidding.

Over the last 25 years, I experienced the Nigerian scam in person, by mail, by phone, and of course the Internet which is the wild Wild West for scammers.

Interpretive dance cannot be far off.

[DU82]

Two mail scams to look out for.

First is the magazine renewal that makes it look like you're re-uping, but it's a third party that charges a LOT more than the actual magazine site.

Second is the car warranty scam. Sales of cars must be a public record (registration info from DMV I presume; one of the negatives of the sunshine laws is that a lot of personal information that really should be private is available to anybody for the asking.) Now that my car is just about three years old, I'm getting a bunch of these.

[matt1]

Another clue is that the airline is called US Airways, not US Airlines.

[devildeac]

You know, just for once I want a scammer to do a good job. You know... Use proper grammar, create a believable letterhead... Is that too much to ask? The grammar especially always kills me; what, you can't find someone to edit your scam letter for you?

Please to send bank cheque for $399 American dollar to devildeac @ Box 5000, Freetown, Sierra Leone and he will try for you. I thank you for advance payment.

[devildeac]

Interpretive dance cannot be far off.

We will be happy to stay with the standards like foxtrot and waltz, thank you.

[devildeac]

Here's another one. We actually received our tax refund 4-6 week ago. Kinda late you scammers:mad:.

"You received a Tax Refund on your Visa or MasterCard.
Complete the form, and get your Tax Refund."

[moonpie23]

unfortunately, elders and naive people fall for this stuff ALL the time...

[sporthenry]

You know, just for once I want a scammer to do a good job. You know... Use proper grammar, create a believable letterhead... Is that too much to ask? The grammar especially always kills me; what, you can't find someone to edit your scam letter for you?

I thought the same but apparently much of the poor grammar is on purpose. If they make it too realistic, they realize they'll get a ton more responses from intelligent people who will waste their time but eventually see it is a scam so they use the poor grammar as a screen to cut to the dumb people right away.

[cspan37421]

Another clue is that the airline is called US Airways, not US Airlines.

Strike that, reverse it.

[Bluedog]

Another clue is that the airline is called US Airways, not US Airlines.


Strike that, reverse it.

I think matt1 was saying that the actual airline is called US Airways, not that the scammers used US Airways. So, them using US Airlines is a dead giveaway. I, at first, read it the same way you did, though, thinking matt1 had it reversed in his mind...

[cspan37421]

I think matt1 was saying that the actual airline is called US Airways, not that the scammers used US Airways. So, them using US Airlines is a dead giveaway. I, at first, read it the same way you did, though, thinking matt1 had it reversed in his mind...

OK, yeah, I guess it can be read that way too. I thought he meant that the clue was from the scam letter, that the "is called" meant "is called in the letter."

Anyway, I got one of these several weeks ago and was impressed by the effort. I wasn't fooled, but I did wonder for half a sec if it could be legitimate. I thought to myself, "Isn't it called US Airways? Maybe they changed their name yet again. I'll go look."

[Jim3k]

This came via email and is already recognized as phishing as my filter picked it up. I'm linking to a page on techhelplist (http://techhelplist.com/index.php/spam-list/154-payve-remit-file-fake-american-express-email-with-virus-attached) which covers it. The problem with AMEX's PAYVE is that it is a legitimate site. But the PAYVE phish I received has a virus attached to it. Note that there are multiple variants.

[TruBlu]

Scams have been around a long time.

My grandfather fell for a newspaper/magazine ad that was a scam . . . probably back in the 1920's or 1930's.

It was an ad for new invention which was "guaranteed to kill all bedbugs in your home" for the modest fee of $5.00, "if the instructions were properly followed". The invention was two small blocks of wood. The instructions were: "Catch all the bedbugs in your home, and place them on block 'A', then smash them with block 'B'."