Ameri-scam.
Two months ago I wrote a short article about a telemarketing call that I received from AmeriVacation. It has very quickly become one of the most viewed pages on this site, and also the most commented upon, by many people who are worried that they have been conned.
With just a little digging I’ve started to unearth some more information on AmeriVacation, and some “companies” that appear to be related.
It appears that AmeriVacation is only the latest front. They set up a website, to appear legitimate and then cold call people, anyone whose number they can get using an automated calling mechanism (which is very simple to do with a computer). They then sell a package that is not what it appears to be and then make it very difficult to obtain a refund.
Sadly the people that get scammed are often the most vulnerable people who can least afford to lose such a large amount of money.
Through my digging I discovered a little about the history of the scams, and a little about how they’re all related. What follows is a brief review of the links so that others may pick up the trail more easily.
The currently active websites (which can be linked through identical wording, identical phone numbers, IP addresses that resolve to the same physical machines, etc) are:
- www.amerivacation.com
- www.expertholidays.com
- www.yourvipholiday.com (bad press) (more)
- www.flbahamastravelhome.com
- www.mydiscountholiday.com (bad press)
- www.doublevacations.com
- www.affiliatedtravelnetwork.com
- www.brilliantholiday.com (bad popup press)
- www.destinationcenter.net
- www.myffc.com (bad press)
- www.mydiscountholiday.com
- www.floridaholidayusa.com – discovered July 2005
- www.holidayfloridausa.com – discovered July 2005
- www.sunrisetravels.us – discovered August 2005
- www.imperialvacation.com – discovered August 2005
- www.5starholidays.net – discovered August 2005
- www.floridatouristbureau.com – discovered August 2005
Now, anybody that sells a holiday from Florida, or sells a holiday to Florida must be registered. The last entry in the above list , “mydiscountholiday.com” claims a Florida Seller Of Travel License Number of ST35170. In fact, this next list of sites all claim to have that same license number.
- www.mydiscountholiday.com (bad press)
- www.usafamilygetaway.com (bad press)
- www.sandyvacationsllc.com (bad press)
- www.floridabureauoftourism.com
- http://www.destinationsforyou.com
- http://www.celebrationpromotions.com
Another useful thing for linking companies is the address, several of these companies have used “600 North Highway 1792, Suite 120, Longwood Fl 32750″ including:
- www.yourvipholiday.com
- www.usafamilygetaway.com addres link also mentioned here
That link is important because without it these appear to be two separate groups of companies, when in fact, it’s one big cloud.
The next link in the chain is the phone number, all the sites below are connected because they use the same UK freephone number 0800-917-7462. What’s especially nice is that three of them have also decided to share testimonials too!
- www.windsorvacations.com
- www.myvacationschoice.com
- www.vacations-paradise.com (bad press)
- www.sohovacations.com -bullshit testimonial (bad press)
- www.centuryvacations.com – bullshit testimonial
- www.firstclicktravel.net – bullshit testimonial
- www.usafamilygetaway.com
The other address in use is “7632 Southland Blvd, Orlando, FL 32809″ and this is used by:
- www.myffc.com
- www.mydiscountholiday.com
- www.brilliantholiday.com (bad press)
- www.destinationcenter.com
Currently www.destinationcenter.com looks like a bit of a sales force advertisement. However, by looking at the caches on google and web.archive.org, it’s apparent that it was also used as travel sales site (hence I got the address match above), selling these same packages – i.e. not just a coincidence, this was the same outfit.
So, who’s behind it? Well, according to this story, it all comes back to to a Altef Hemani (aka Alex Hemani), who has a history of such scams.
His name is as good as mud on the internet, so he’s tried to combat this by buying a few websites and and writing eulogies about himself.
Each of those sites, incidentally, is owned by the same company: Travel Express Investments 385 Center Point Cir, Altamont Springs, FL 32701.
What’s especially interesting is that the administrative contact for the domains is Arif Rajan who may be the same business man whos only newsworthy moment until now was that in 2002 he was was questioned and released without charge regarding money laundering for terrorist organisations.
Sources
Naturally the information I’ve been able to gather and present here is all freely available to the public. Please feel free to check, corroborate, dispute, disprove or otherwise extended it through your own investigation.
I have found the following resources most useful:
- http://whois.net/ which provides information about the owners of domain names.
- http://sunbiz.org/ which provides information from the Florida Department of State regarding companies, and the persons legally responsible for those companies.
- http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/ the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which regulates travel in Florida.
681 Comments
Google Satellite Maps is your big brother..
Here is 7632 Southland Blvd, Orlando, FL 32809 and here is 385 Center Pointe Cir, Altamonte Springs, FL 32701, USA.
And here’s the route between the two.
I received a phone call from Amerivacation last night. They left an automated phone call advising that I ring 0800 091 4766 which I did the following day. I spoke to a girl who advised me was called Elizabeth Brown and then went on to advise that I had indeed won a free holiday to Florida except the free holiday was infact going to cost me £698 which isn’t free. I was advised that the holiday was an all inclusive deal and would be made up of a free cruise to Nasau, 7 days 6 nights in Orlando including 2 tickets to a theme park, $500 gift then 3 days 2 nights in Daytona at the Surfside resort which is 10mins from the Kennedy Space Centre, then 3 days 2 nights at the Ramada in Fort Lauderdale finishing with a 3 night 2 day cruise back to Nasau. This pacakage would normally cost £1899 I am told but because I have been awarded a £1301 voucher, all I would have to pay was just £698 for a ticket which covered 4 people. She then went on to say that all the information would be sent to me in an info pack that would be sent out to me but this won’t arrive at my home thats for sure. Elizabeth then wanted me to book the holiday there and then but I said NO, not a chance, my partner wouldn’t agree about spending the money without talking to her first. My partner wouldn’t have minded to be quite honest but there is no way I am giving my credit card details to an unknown person for something I don’t fully know about. Elizabeth then advised me that when I was ready to book I should ring either 0800 091 4761 / 2 which I am 100% sure I will not ring…… I suggest that if you read this then you shouldn’t take this offer up UNLESS YOU WANT TO LOSE YOUR MONEY!!!!!. I have just phoned them back to ask what there view is to the info on the web and they hung up…. Does this sound like a legitimate company….. I DON’T THINK SO !!!
My mom, who cannot afford this paid them £675 yesterday, what pisses me off is that she wanted me and my girlfriend to join her on a vacation. Have been unto Florida consumer affairs and they said that they have not received any complaints only enquiries about this company. As my mom only paid yesterday, I will send a cancellation letter registered tomorrow and see what happens. The consumer affairs people were very friendly and helpful saying to me that if I did not get a refund to inform them and they will take it up, ‘I do wonder’ if it is not a thing to suck money out of us europeans?????
I have a friend who went on one of these trips (very nervously) and raved about it when she got back. It did live up to her expectations. the only downer was that the company who were supposed to organise the Bahamas trip went bust.
I ‘won’ a holiday and I have decided to take the risk.
The catch seems to be that I do have to sit through a 90 min presentation breakfast as the company believe that for every 10 people they get through the resort at least 1 buys a timeshare.
Apparently the company also gets some sort of tax payoff which is why the holiday is cheap (?). noticed that is was very difficult to get any feedback on the company via the internet. I’m talking about expertholidays.com. Has anyone heard of them, cos i’m nervous now.
The scam has now reached Norway! They called me, said I had won a vacation. this was their “Norway campaign”, and I only had to pay seven-ninety-five euro for the costs.wich I thought ment 7.95, but no:It was 795euros…. I think they immediately have charged my Visa around 1200 euros…. I feel so stupid! I froze my visa, but I have to wait untill monday to talk to the bank.. I think my real summer vacation just went out in the blue….
Though, when I was connected to the third-party confirmation(is this real? does this exist, or is it just a scam to make you wait untill they have charged your visa?) I went back on the offer, saying I could not afford it. I was then connected to this guy called David, and i told him to cancell my order. He said he would do so…. But my bank account says I have pretty much nothing left on my account…
I also “won” this exact same deal as you. My daughter opened a web page and then all the bells and whistles went off saying that I had won the 3 day, 2 night cruise in the Bahamas. It gave a number to ring. So I rang the International number, and spoke with an American sounding woman, who spoke far quicker that I could absorb it. I even said this sounds all a bit confusing, but she said “no, not really.” But rather than explaining it further, she continued on. I stupidly gave my card details as by this stage, I was running on pure adrenilin. But my package did arrive as she said it would. They were quick to draw out the Euros ($1,100 AU) without me even sighting or signing this package. I thought this was strange. Being an Australian, I’m not up with “Hotel Taxes” and Port Taxes, which we would have to pay. There is no information on what these hidden costs are, how far it is between resorts, is there transport between them. None of this is covered. I have no idea how big Florida is, so I don’t know if it takes a couple of hours or days to get from one resort to the next. Also, there is no information of the resorts names, or if we have to go in any particular order. So… is there anyone out there that thinks I should persue this, or just cut my losses?
phone the florida fbi 850 224 4107, file a complain or phone 1800 help fla (435 7352)
im fr uk , just scammed last 2 wks. they took my money and they violated the Florida Sellers of Travel Act. Theywere really trained well there. u need to write a letter of cancellation they will charge you but it shd bec, of the florida law you have the right to cancel within 30 days full refund. but of course, they want to get some money, i still dont have any result so just dont give up.
do anyone knows what is the real address of Amerivacation club in Florida?
i think ive been scammed too.i went through the whole process too.big mistake,i gave them my bankcard details too.Then i ended up saying no ,but it was too late they took my money anyway now i`m $1140 out of pocket.is there nothing we can do?
Hi
I am a Norwegian journalist doing a story on the firm called Amerivacation. I have been in contact with one woman in Norway who have recieved a phonecall from one of their sellers. She was asked to give away her visa-number but refused. The seller then became very agressive and told her she was a liar.
I see several of you people have had experiences with Amerivacation. If anybody from Norway (or anywhere else for that matter) read this and have anything to tell me pleas send me an email: tsd@tv2.no. If it is a scam it must be stopped. You will not be exposed if you don’t want to.
Kent ( who wrote the article may, 27.) I would very much like to hear from you.
I was phoned up yesterday of som sort of machine. The voice told me I had won a holiday. I was asked to press nine to claim my price. Then a woman was on the other end of the line, she said her name was kathy and asked me to write down almost everything she said about the holiday. After some time she told me that I had to pay 798 euros to secure the information packet they were going to send me, and that they needed my visa to reassure that they sent it to the right person.
I told them it was out of the question. The woman appeared very aggressive, she said that I had to answer now or I would loose my price. I said that I wouldn`t as long as she couldn`t give me som verification that this wasn`t a scam. She set me over to am man who should “help me” with this. All he did was tell me to go to their website. I told him that anyone could have a website, and I couldn`t know if he really was calling from a serious company or if it was a scam as long as he was calling from a hidden number. He got angry, and said that this of course was my descition…he hung up! I am glad now that I see so many people who have lost their money… GO GET THEM! Bastards!
Some background info from the IP addresses: Based on the IP address of Amerivacation (207.58.158.170), I’ve found a few more domains that are pushing the same deals (my source):
The whois information for these entries (those that aren’t anonymised, poitns to Mr. Alamin Jessani, Amerivacaton, 7818 Fernleaf Dr., Orlando, Florida 32836, United States. Telephone 001 (407) 363-0561. Email al@yourvipholiday.com – so anyone wanting a refund who can’t get any sense out of the company migh like to give this chap a call – he’s listed as a manager of many of the above companies on the official forms for setting up Florida Limited Liability Companies (LLC).
Looking at the other IP addresses in thenearby range was also interesting.
On 207.58.158.171 we find:
On 207.58.158.173 we find:
On 216.69.164.115 we find:
On 216.205.92.20 there are too many FL-BahamasTravel derivatives to list – go see!
On 69.90.58.213 we find more familiar names:
On 69.42.68.78 we find:
Both domains here are registered to Arif Rajan, the Manager / Owner of Travel Express Investments.
On 69.42.68.69 we find:
Both domains here are also registered to Mr Arif Rajan, Travel Express Investments, 385 Centerpointe Circle, Suite #1319, Altamonte Springs, Florida 32701 US.
A broad search for Travel Express Investments turns up lots of advertisements for sales-people (note, they’re not advertising for people to call you and tell you you’ve won something). Google’s cache was full of the jobs they’ve been advertising recently, including these.
Based on the Job adverts I’ve discovered another company I’d not heard of before: Eastern Pacific Holdings (managed by Mr. Rajaf, (source))
I received a call from this scam outfit, though interestingly not on just one of my UK telephone lines but on both – AT THE SAME TIME!
However, as the numbers are **3*** and **8***, I am VERY interested to know how they apparently obtained both of my ex-directory numbers to ring them consecutively.
Is my Telephone Services Provider leaking my information, or is there some pay-off to someone on the inside. Suffice to say, this has happened before with NTL (whoops – now I’ve said it).
Is there no haven from scams and fraud on this planet, and does anyone really care enough to do something about it? Apparently not.
There appears to be a long history of the Amerivacations style scam.
source: Connecticut State Library
There is, however, no legal precedent from this case because a settlement was reached out of court:
source: Office of the Attorney General, Arkensas
Look on the following site for the disclosure rules for travel sellers….Seems Amerivacation is violating every one of them…
http://www.classactionlitigation.com/library/aqtaed1.htm
They called me last night… really aggressive people! The guy shouted at me when I refused to give him my card-number. sonnamabitch.. and the typical “Congratulations on your winning day! I am the manager..” We have not heard that before..dahh..
They were really good tho I never gave them the information they required. By the way: I have heard the police in Norway is searcing for all Norwegians they have phoned.
Please contact your local police station. Be aware… this is probably not the last time, only the beginning.
There seem to be legal precedents , you can read all about those lawsuits on this website
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/travel_unravel.html
I’m in the UK, am ex-directory (through BT screwup rather than by my choice!), and am on the TPS.
I got home to an answer machine message today telling me I’d won a prize, and got me to call 0800 091 0084.
So — I decided to phone them up and waste some of their time. I got through to so-called Amerisuite holidays, and I got the exact same story from them about a holiday in Florida that others have reported on your “ameri-who” page. (Indeed, I found the page by doing a search for the above phone number.) I played stupid and asked them lots of ridiculous questions and for everything to be repeated etc etc. When personal details were requested, I gave them any old rubbish, including a made-up complicated Polish name to cause added confusion. The whole thing succeeded in wasting over an hour of their time (and of mine, but hey, it was fun…) and hopefully also a chunk of their money on the freephone number.
A couple of interesting details emerged in the course of it:
1) They asked me for a credit card number to “verify” that I had a valid visa card, having previously already asked me for the expiry date. When I gave them a basically random number (in fact, the first six digits of mine followed by random numbers), they claimed that it verified okay. My understanding is that there is a checksum condition which makes it very unlikely that a random card number even exists — and even if does, the chances are next to nil that the card holder will then have a particular Polish name when the initial digits of the card number imply a British bank (which is as well, as I don’t want to dump on some poor innocent third party). So they were talking bollocks.
2) They were absolutely insistent that the holiday had to be booked on this phonecall for the promotional price to be valid. I was equally insistent that I wasn’t booking anything until after “discussing it with the travelling companion”, so would have to phone them back later. When push came to shove and they saw that I wasn’t going to budge from this position, they eventually terminated the call and said the deal was off, rather than agreeing to me calling them back later.
We received a message saying we had won a Carribbean Cruise and to ring 0800 0914766 to claim our prize. When my husband phoned them, they asked for his credit card details. When my husband asked why they needed his card details, they hung up.
I have phoned B.T. to alert them. They already know about the scam, but are unable to block the calls because they are from America.
I makes me sick that these bastards can get away with conning people out of their money. Surely, there must be some way we can stop them. Any suggestions?
They just called me, but they never asked for my credit card-number. Anyway, I got this phone-number to call them back; Diana is on 0014072793271 with the extension 251.
I live in Norway, and I was tricked by these guys a couple of days ago, they charged (reserved) about $1000 immediately to my card. Feel very stupid now, as I don’t usually think of myself as naive.. I suspect they have been targeting Norway as we are not so used to agressive telemarketing scams. I have not yet received anything like a confirmation (email or post), not sure where to send my ‘cancellation’.. has anybody actually succeeded getting their money back this way, or is it just a nice theory??
I just received a ‘press 9 to get your holiday’ call. So I did. I wound the sales guy up a bit, and he hung up on me. Now comes the interesting bit… Instead of hanging up I held on the line. I found that I was still connected to their system, and could listen in as it dialled other people!! Has anybody else managed to make this happen??
They tried to scam me too. At first, I tried sounding very interested, and asked if they could call me back up…Recorded our conversation.
You can download it here
ftp://213.167.119.250/Upload/Amerivecation.mp3
Their email address is customersupport@amerivacation.com . They probably won’t reply your request to cancel the whole deal but it is important that you send them an email and keep a copy of it in order to have proof that you did want to cancel the trip right away. Also write a cancellation letter and send it to:
AmeriVacation
7800 Southland Blvd. Suite #120
Orlando, Florida 32809
It is important that you keep a copy of that cancellation letter too. That copy should be send to your credit card company. It is very important that you send a cancellation email right away since your credit card is only reserved, not yet charged. For more information on ‘how to cancel’ do visit
http://boakes.org/amerivacation-cancel on this very useful website.
Peter
Hi,
I live in the UK. Was called by a company calling themselves “Corporate Reward Center” – actually they are Amerivacations. I had to press “9″ but of course did not do so. Have been called twice today alone. I have sent them a complaint email and also complained to OFCOM and the TPS (who don’t seem to do all that much about complaints).
21st June – Received a message on my answerphone from so-called Corporate Reward Centre leaving a free-fone number (at least I hope it was free-fone) to call back and claim reward. I called back and was immediately greeted by a very excited sales person apparently from AmeriVacation, congratulating me on my win and telling me I was the biggest winner of the day. He then proceeded to go through all the details of the holiday – which I must say sounded great. As I had recently just returned home from Florida, I really did think I had somehow won something. Then came the crunch – “now if you will just give me your credit card details, I’ll just process your vacation – the amount payable is 698 pounds”! HOLD ON, HOLD ON – I refused to part with my details and asked if I could have an address, telephone number etc. in order that I could call them back to verify that they were genuine. I was then transferred to someone else who waffled on at quite a rate and then insisted on me giving him my cc details. Again, I refused until I could verify. I was told that if I hung up and called back I would be entitled to nothing. I didn’t give in and the now becoming quite irate salesperson, hung up on me! BE WARNED – THIS SEEMS TO BE A TOTAL SCAM!
Thank God your site came up when we typed in the address amerivacations.com on the ntl web search!! We had a 20 minute phone call with a co-ordinator named Charles and were just aboiut to coughup the £699 when my wife said she would rather check things out and not base the whole thing on a phone call. The thing is, they sound so convincing and the offer for us sounded like a dream of a lifetime, something we’d talked about, but never had the cash to achieve. Never mind, and thanks for making people aware of this scam. Luckily we just put the phone down and checked out the details here. Thanks again and keep up the good work!
I have also just recieved a notice when switching on my pc informing me that i have “won” a holiday to Florida and a cruise [with Expert Holidays]. I telephoned the number and listened to an american man called Bob telling me all about it. He then proceeded to inform me that as the value of my “prize” was only worth £1100 and the total cost of the holiday came to £1700 i would need to pay the difference by credit or debit card. I asked when that would need to be paid by and was told at least half had to be paid today! I told him I was reluctant to do this without written confirmation as I didn’t feel happy about giving my card details away on such a whim. Bob advised me that they are a reputable company and suggested that I look at the website and then call him back later with my deposit. It was only when I tried to log on to their website that I found all the info from others who have found themselves in my position and have actually lost money. This confirmed my suspicions that the whole thing is a total scam and I strongly advise anyone who “wins” one of these supposed holidays to think very carefully before giving card details away. How can it be classed as a free holiday when they expect you to pay a good few hundred pounds towards it! Keep hold of your money and use it to book a legitimate holiday.
i’m from Switzerland….guess now they reached this corner of Europe too……
well the same happend to me a few minutes ago….but…they were gettin’ confused somehow…..they told me that i won this Orlando trip…asked for my
Adress details…..later on the guy called Bob transfered me over to some kind of Office Manager to get the Details cleared……
Unfortunately……the Office mananger was drunken or something….cause the only thing that i heard was a strong breathin’ of a probably overweighted man….who couldn’t talk…….upon my question whether this call is really
free of charge he answered with a grummy voice like Joe Cocker in
his wildest years….yaaah for u but not for meeee…….followed by
strong breathin’ for another 20 Seconds…..so i hang up
I live in Wales,UK and was contacted by these bandits with a message left on my answer-phone. As I am on the Telephone Preference Service I too was intrigued and decided to phone to get the name fo the company. After the third attempt having had the phone put down on me twice (once because I wouldn’t give my credit card number and 2nd because I had an attitude – at least my name’s not Todd!!) the rep gave me the name of the company Ameri Vacation. Having looked at this site it all appears clear. But I will still follow up with TPS.
my mom was reading a local publication called the pennysaver. it offers free advertizing for people and has used cars and pets etc for sale. anyway my mom saw an ad in this paper for great vacation packages to florida [with sunkissed travel]… it offered time at disneyworld, daytona beach, your accomidations food and drink would all be covered. they asked for $450 to hold your spot… then you would have a year to actually take the vacation at which time you would pay an additional 200 and then you were off. anyway my mom had many questions so i picked up the phone to get some answers..when i dial the number i’m told that that number can’t be completed as dialed..i call the phone company to find out what that means and it means that number doesn’t exist..needless to say my mom is out 450 bucks..she’s 64 and i’m majorly angry that these jerks are taking advantage of people like this…i just got my computer yesterday or i would have researched them before she put the money down…i need to know if there’s any way my mom can get her money back, and how we can go after these creeps…if anyone has any info on this matter please e-mail me.i’m sorry this was so long, but i needed to give you background on what happened.. you can contact me by reply. thank you all for listening and let’s make these frauds pay.
Matt, did you try contacting the company through the numbers on their web site? [I don't suppose you have the original advert that can be scanned do you?]
I was just informed about the fact that I won 1806 Euros and a Cruise to the Bahamas [with SunkissedTravel.com]
I called the number that was given and was toll free. The woman was talking and talking and did not answer my questions. She asked me if I had a Visa card.
She asked me about the first four digits that I gave them.
Their website said all the questions would be answered in 48 hours. No answer yet.
I am terrified, I was recently bereaved my husband died three days before our youngest daughters wedding. I am 72 and have little money. When the banner came up telling me congratulations I have won a 12 day holiday to Orlando, Florida, and a cruise to the Bahamas all for £299.00 plus my air fare [courtesy of CelebrationPromotions.com]. I was doubtful, I was asked whether I would be accompanied and I said I would ask one of my children if they would like to go with me, I was told that this would cost a further £299.00 plus airport tax etc. I said I could not afford this and a gentleman named Joe came on line and said he would waver the other £299.00. I said I was anxious about giving my credit card number as I had never done such a thing before. I am tired following the death of my husband and not thinking straight and following him convincing me that every thing was secure and that they are a bonafide company Igave it to him. I am now worried to death, I have not received any information other than their web site address and a code to enter which I shall do after I have finished this epistle. I am really truly worried as my income is meagre. I have not had a holiday for so long and although I am not keen on flying I felt it would be the tonic I needed, my husband died last year on the 25th June. Oh dear I truly hope that I have not exposed myself to any sort of problem this is all I need..
Apparently Ramada Plaza Resorts, Your majesty cruise lines and Amerivacation are connected!!!!! It is one huge scam. Just read the following report on
http://badbusinessbureau.com/reports/ripoff142036.htm
it also contains a very useful address, namely that of
the Economic Crimes Division
Voice: 850-414-3600, Fax: 850-488-4483. Their mailing address is:
Economic Crimes Division
Office of the Attorney General
The Capitol
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1050
Their physical location is:
Collins Building
Fifth Floor
107 West Gaines Street
Tallahassee, FL
Ramada Plaza resorts already had to face a class action lawsuit
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/travel/ramada_plaza.htm
The following excerpt resembles a bit too much the deal ‘Amerivacation’ offers:
The itinary of our vacation was that we would arrive in Ft. Lauderdale and stay at a “Luxury” hotel for 4 days/4 nights on the beach. We would then proceed to a “Luxury” cruise line to the Bahamas for 3 days/2 nights, and finally finish our trip staying in Orlando for 2days/1 night.
Nevertheless, this company keeps on scamming people. Apparently they assume that Europeans will never start a class action lawsuit against them.
If you google on +Ramada Plaza resorts +scam you will get 125 hits (13 pages) which is a lot more than for Amerivacation (3 pages).
On June 24, 2005 I got a pop-up informing me that I had won a fantastic holiday plus EUR 1800.00 for travelling expenses. I was asked to call a certain number Ãn the USA. There a lady was very enthusiastic about the holiday I had won and asked me to open the website “www.sunkÃssedtravel.com”. She went over the website with me and kept being enthusiastic about this wonderful holiday I had just won. Occasionally she informed me about the things I had to pay for myself. After this lengthy conversation she told me that she had to call the manager to make a final confirmation about my holiday.
The gentleman I got on the phone was equally enthusiastic about my wonderful holiday and finally tried to convince me that I had to pay $ 700,00 right away by credit card. He insisted on the fact that the laws in the USA were very strict and that the conversation was recorded to enforce the law. When I refused to give him my credit card number he tried a lot of arguments to persuade me. The basic logic of his masterful rhetorics went like this:
First: You have won something fantastic, wonderful, priceless.
Second: You have to pay $ 700.00 this very moment or you will lose your prize.
Third: As you are stubbornly refusing to pay you have lost what you had won.
This is the logic of fairy tales, but I do not believe in them. After I kept refusing to pay right away he finally hung up on me with the words: “So you don`t want to travel with us.”
After some bad experiences I have made it a rule not to make any financial decisions on the spur of the moment. This is a kind of personal firewall that has served me well over the years. The most masterful rhetoric is bound to fail here.
I can only advise the readers to act in a similar way to avoid a substantial loss of money.
Prof. Phil. Guenter Fiebig
When reading the comments I found that the guys in those agencies seem to use the same technique: you have to pay now, otherwise you will have to pay much more or lose everything. When I replied to a person called “Stephen” from “Sunkissed Travel” that I did not mind paying more later, he called it a “crazy attitude”.
In Germany we have a name for people using this technique which means “pushers” in English. When you refuse to give in they become more and more insistent and aggressive.
I was recently conned out of over £600-00 by expert holidays. I was offered a prize for being the 1 000 000th visitor to the above-mentioned website on the 24th June 2005. They said that it was necessarry for them to confirm the fact that I was a visa card holder by checking some of the numbers on my card. At no stage did I give them my account details. They said I had won a prize (what amounted to a three week holiday in florida and the bahamas) and that it would only cost £598-00. They said I had 2 years to claim the prize. At no stage did I give them permission to take any money from my account, but they have taken over £600-00 now. The phone number (0800 091 0963) is not working now and I cannot get hold of anyone regarding a refund.
Sunkissedtravel claimed to have been certified by visa. At that moment this gaved me credibility in their company. Actually it was fraud. Interesting, if VISA is alerted of such misuse of their verification.
http://usa.visa.com/personal/security/visa_security_program/vbv/shop_all_stores.html#Q
This evening I had a site which came up while I was on the net. This said ‘CONGRATULATIONS, YOU WON £1101 you are today’s GRAND PRIZE WINNER!’ call the no: below to get your reward Now. Not realising that this was probably too good to be true I rang 0-800-066-4214 and was offered a holiday to the value $2000. I was then asked for my credit card no: which I was reluctant to give but they said that I had to pay for extra charges for transfers etc. I eventually gave in to the pressure and gave my details. They then then said they needed to take £508 so I told them that was not possible so they then said could I cover £299 and I still said no so they asked what I would be able to pay as a deposit and I said not more than £50.They took £48 from my card. I said that being disabled I would pass it on to my son. I was given a web address http://www.celebrationpromotions.com and a ref: of LW9NT to get confirmation. The address I was given, 7503 Atlantis, Kissimee, Florida,34747. Ref:Thom.Gaallanza.0800917742 not available!
i was scammed by nearly £400.00 and they wouldnt giv me my money back! they said i would have to wait 7 days for the broche to get deliverd and for me to phone them back, the broche arrived 12 days later i phoned the man back called george and he said it was to late and that i had to phone back within the 7 days but it took 12 days to arrive! i have now got the visa company on to celebrations to try and get my money back, they said a lot of people have been conned by this company!
this appears to be related to:
Thankyou for the information on Amerivacation, please could you verify that this is a scam i am just about to pay a balance! the number i rung is 08000914761, a 80% discount holiday popped up on my computer, i rang them and they made it sound fantastic!! should i proceed with this? it’s terrible if true, but thank god we have people like you!!
kind regards,
Angie Clowes… UK
I too won the very same holiday [through ExpertHolidays.com]. Only having to pay £598.like all of you i spoke to a lovely american lady who told me that was all i had to pay for my family of four. Sounded great.
I then asked her if the price included flights? she repied “Why no mam, but we also give a £50-£100 discount on flights. Would you like to check out some flight prices and I’ll call you back tomorrow?”
It still sounded great until I found out flight prices! £2500-£2800 return! FREE it said. I DON`T THINK SO!
I then found this site (so glad now) which made me change my mind. Ican’t wait until she rings me tomorrow. I’m going to ask lots of questions and really get on her nerves and when she asks for credit card details I’m going to say I’ve changed my mind. I’M NOT PAYING FOR THE CALL so what the hell. If she doesn’t have a headache when she starts talking to me she will when she’s finished……
(so glad now I never told my children)
I have had similar problems with a company called Sunshine Travel Escapes. They use a very similar method. I was told that I had won a free holiday in florida plus cruise. When I eventually managed to contact them they denied any wrong doing and played me a very suspect recording of my conversation with them that omited my first conversation where I asked on at least two occasions if the holiday really was free of charge. The recording showed me responding to my card details. The voice then mentioned a sum in dollars on two occasions that would be charged (this is apparantly a legal requirement in Florida) but I did not here myself respond to this and am positive that this was not part of the original conversation. I am sure that this was added in. I have just sent a letter by recorded post threatning to contact U.S consumer watchdogs and the local liscensing body. I don’t expect a reply! If enough of us have had similar problems why dont we explore the possibility of a group action against this company. Any interested parties feel free to contact me at kaltash2000@yahoo.co.uk
Hi there, Thank you for your three articles on Ameri-who, Ameri-scam. and How to cancel. I only wish I came across your site earlier. My hubby found your website while researching on sunkissedtravel.com because I’m one of their newer victims. I have linked your articles on my post – http://www.graceandwen.com/grace/?post=20050630235517. Please let me know if you prefer the links to be removed.
From the looks of the number of people who have been scammed… I’m losing hope about ever seeing my money back again.
[UPDATE: Grace received an email from SunkissedTravel yesterday telling her she would soon get a refund.]
Yeehah, I’ve won…or so I thought.
After reading these comments, I’m not so sure anymore.
I replied by phone on a pop-up on the internet from SUNKISSED TRAVEL, and was told by 3 different people, that I’ve won 3 vacations in Orlando/Miami Beach/Bahamas (cruise) and furthermore a stay for a week in Cancun, Mexico. 4 vacations with accomodation for 4 persons all in all. I only had to pay 860$ (plus port and taxes at the time of travel). Sounds great, right? I gave them my credit-card informations( I know!) and within an hour I received a mail with the overall details of the company, my transaction and the vacations.
SUNKISSED TRAVEL were to send me my vacation package by TNT delivery service. I then received a mail from TNT that confirmed, that they have received my package to deliver.
I have now received the papers, and they look very authentic!
Only yesterday the police of Denmark warned people against this kind of scam. Of course I ran to the computer, to find out if I had been robbed as well, and found this page.
I’m still not sure if this is a scam or not? I don’t see why they would trouble themselves with sending papers and guidebooks, when they already got the money??
I have of course blocked my credit-card and asked by mail for a refund. Now I wait for answer from SUNKISSED TRAVEL (but I sure don’t hold my breath).
If any of the readers know anything about this company and its credibility, I would be very grateful for a comment. ANY comment is welcome.
I was ripped off yesterday. I was as naive as to give away my credit card number to “Starr-Getaways.com” but suddenly awoke from mental derangement and never agreed to anything. Too late, I fear. What can I do now?
I´ll give you the used phone number as soon as I get the account.
i live i australia and a month ago i got a pop up on my screen saying id won a holiday to florida and a cruise for four i was so excited i rang my mum at 2 in the morning then i rang the number on the screen to get the details i spoke to a women named heather gains she told me to go the web site to check out the details so i did and when she rang back i gave her my card details, i am such an idiot, then i rang back a few days later to make sure my info was in the mail when i was told that my card was from australia and that they would try to work something out but normally i was not eligable for the prize. i was so upset because four years ago i found out i had cancer and only had a short time to live and i thought that this was my chance for a big overseas holiday cause i knew i could never afford it and wouldnt have the time to save up . im really disapointed.
I urge anyone not to do business with Sunkissed Travel or any of their ilk, for that matter, as they are mostly scams. Do not bother calling them, simply dispute the charges with your bank or credit card company, and allow them to handle it. I was an employee of Sunkissed Travel, and they have recently gone out of business. I would be shocked if any customers received refunds or the vacations they purchased. They are a shell game, they stall you long enough with packages and counter offers and protocol long enough for you to excede the 30 day refund period, and then they are not legally obligated to refund anything. Please feel free to contact me at sunkissedscam@hotmail.com. I am organiziing a group of complaints to bring to the attention of the authorites.
Only last night we were conned with celebrationpromos to the sum of £598 we have had to cancel our credit card and have to wait until later today to see if they have already taken the money – we are absolutely furious!