How to deceive travelers when online buying tickets

Get into the “paws” of scammers more often individuals who suffer from their inattention and greed.

 

One traveler recognized scammers when searching for air tickets, as he came across a “fake” resource sold tickets in Alicante for 5 thousand rubles cheaper than the average prices on the route. This resource was referenced from the verified metasearch engine Aviafox, and this increased its credibility. A tourist escaped from a wrong purchase thanks to reviews about a fraudulent resource that he found on other sites - and this method is called effective by lawyers.

 

Vadim Pogorelov, the leading lawyer of the company “Lawyers for Tourism: Bayborodin and Partners” says that some actions are required to identify fraudsters: “... check on the carrier’s website whether the flight specified in the service really exists.” If such a flight is not on the carrier’s website, this may indicate an attempt to cheat. ... check the reviews. Reviews will not reveal 100% of the truth about the service in question, since they may be the result of competitors’ activities, but the presence of a huge number of negative reviews should alert you.

 

The specialist advises to compare prices with other, verified services, because in our country there are services about booking and paying for air tickets, and the amount of fees is about the same. “Intentionally inflating the cost of the fee is not profitable to anyone: due to the great competition, there is a risk that the tourist will go to a cheaper offer. However, if the price is significantly lower compared to other services or the air carrier itself, then this is an unequivocal reason to be wary.”

 

The expert asks to evaluate the content of the site: information about the legal entity - location, country of registration, OGRN, TIN, etc., when you do not find this information, you should be more careful "Should also read the user agreement or offer on the site. A very common situation when tourists simply do not read it, blindly ticking in the right field. The scale of the problem is impressive. According to my judicial practice with tourists out of 10 people, only two actually read the offer, the lawyer said.

 

“The scheme of work of fraudsters is quite a lot and every year they become more difficult. As an example, I will cite this point: after placing an “order”, a tourist is transferred to a payment gateway, which seems to be the same as on other sites.

However, the potential victim is not shown the entire page of the gateway, but only the necessary part, the rest is hidden. Hidden information on which you can determine that the payment is not in the service, but on someone else's card or web wallet. The person confirms the payment and transfers the funds. In this situation, you should immediately go to the internal affairs bodies. If the payment went to the account of the company - demand the purchased air ticket. If it is not provided, you need to contact your bank with a chargeback application, since the paid service is not provided. Most often, the funds will be returned to you.