Tags: Scams
Ameri-scam.
May 23rd, 2005, by Rich.
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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.
July 23rd, 2005 at 12:05 pm
Hi there,
I too have recived a call asking to press 9 and the person on the line asked me to go to the site http://www.cwrflorida.com, however i was armed with the information from hear and asked lots of questions. The caller then put me on to the sweet sounding american woman who couldnt give me a registration number and ended the convisation sayig she would look into it.
my addvice is leave well alone!!
July 24th, 2005 at 8:43 pm
JACQUI B, keep going! :) I’m too fighting for my rights until the end with Sunkissed Travel. I’ve gone wayyyy over the 30 days off the limit as well.
But I will NOT give up on this.
I got an email reminding me to sign a paper, I refused to do so, and once again I told them all I want is to get my money back. “In that case, you should send the flight card back.” The h*** i am… I’m saving it for as an evidence.
July 25th, 2005 at 2:43 pm
To : ZARA OF FINLAND
I would appreciate hearing your full story regarding Sunkissed Travel. I did not receive a flight voucher from Sunkissed Travel but all sorts of confirmation forms for the various destinations and an inferior “$500 discount booklet”.
I would love to hear your story/comments. Please feel free to e-mail me at jacqui@arbitration.co.za
July 25th, 2005 at 5:13 pm
Lo and behold.
Got called today by Holiday Florida who told me I was indeed a lucky winner. Sounded real interesting at first but less and less so as conversation continued. It dawned unto me that I would have to pay in exess of €800 to get at the “award”. When I finally refused to share my Visa card number I was connected to this “promotion manager” calling himself John Moore. He was getting increasingly rude when I stood my ground, refusing to disclose my card number. Finally, in a rage, he hung up. I did a Google search for holidayfloridausa and wound up here.
I live in Sweden, and this is the first time I have come across this kind of “marketing method”.
July 25th, 2005 at 5:56 pm
i was so amazed to read all of these comments about these scammers.i too fell for the holiday offered by celebration promotions and have lost the money that i paid them.i am so mad at myself for not being more vigilant.i wish that this company well be brought to justice for what they are doing to others like myself.
July 26th, 2005 at 9:14 am
has anybody succeeded getting their money back yet??
July 26th, 2005 at 2:42 pm
Hi,
I’m from Sweden and was just contacted by holidayfloridausa.com they told me that I would get a 80% discount(the highest possible according to them) that would finally add up to 449 Euro for 4 people with hotel’s and cruises in Orlando,Daytona Beach, Ft.Lauderdale and finally a cruise to Bahamas for a total of 14 day. All I had to do was cover the transport myself. Sounded pretty good, but I wanted of course more information and time to decide. They got my home adress and telephone number, but when they wanted my credit card number I said no directly. Funny thing is they really tried to start manipulating me the (almost funny). I don’t know what there tactics are called by they try to make you feel “stupid” for not accepting such a great deal. I was also connected to some higher manager who wanted to reassure me that I shouldn’t be worried about giving away my credit card number. Hehe when he realized I wasn’t he felt sorry for me fo missing out on such a great deal.
Just and advice to everybody: Listen to your instincts. When something feels wrong it most likely is.
I feel sorry for the people who were bullied in to this scam, and hope this kind of parasites who use people would get caught. Very unethical..
BR,
Paul
July 26th, 2005 at 4:45 pm
I’m from Sweden as well, and just an hour ago, the same “company”, holidayfloridausa, tried to scam me. Well, more likely, they succeeded! I know I’m not supposed to give out my cardnumber or anything, but the assholes got it anyway somehow. I guess I’m a bit naive =). However, afterwards I felt a bit uneasy, so I called my bank and had them block my creditcard, so I guess I’m on the safeside now, and luckily, no money had been withdrawn from my account.
These bastards should be stopped, not all naive souls like myself manages to block their cards before the account is being emptied.
July 26th, 2005 at 8:00 pm
Hello,
I am sorry to hear about your troubles with Sunkissed travel, but I am happy to report I have no complications in dealing with this company. Their customer service was spot on. I was handled over the phone by a lass, who explained the whole package clearly and answered all of my questions. I am actually surprised that I found this company on this website; I have had no troubles from my side of the water. I used my Orlando trip and had a swell time with my family. The timeshare piece was not as crude as I was to believe it all went by swiftly and was well worth the evening supper tickets. My family and I cannot wait to try our remaining holidays in Mexico and Bahamas. I am curious from the amount of negative feedback on this site. We all had a hell of a time staying at Radison world gate and look forward to next holiday.
July 26th, 2005 at 8:54 pm
I was called on my mobile (netherlands) that i had won a trip and had to press “9″, i did and then my name was taken and was asked to press “9″ again. Some information was noted and i was asked to surf to “www.floridaholidayusa.com”, instead… i typed it in in Google (reflex) and ended up on THIS site.
With the guy on the phone i went through the paragraphs on this site, i asked him if he knew Alex Hemani, the address mentioned, etc…
He said it was in fact his greatest business competitor … (of course he was lying … sigh)
The phonecall didnt last much longer. Thank you for putting this site up, great help during such a call !! :) :)