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.
October 6th, 2005 at 4:44 am
Since JohnW has stated that he is no longer employed by Sunissed Promotions Inc. I feel obliged to remind readers that his opinions are uncorobborated and may not reflect the opinions or working practices of SunkissedTravel.com - they’re still valid opinions of course.
I can’t say I’m surprised that Dan doesn’t know how the refund process on his particular credit card works; most people don’t. Most people never find themselves in the position of wanting, or needing, a refund after being deceived into thinking they have won something by a telesales representative.
As for time-wasters, most people object to having their time wasted by telesales people calling them up, or having to interrupt what they’re doing to clear an annoying flashing popup telling them that they’ve won a holiday.
If travel companies behaved more responsibly in generating leads they would experience less wasted time processing cancellations.
Also, Dan’s been perfecly honest and open about the money that’s been refunded to him, and who has paid it: so if the refund process works as JohnW says it does, then there is no obvious reason for JohnW forwarding Dans post to Mastercard.
October 6th, 2005 at 6:51 am
Thank you Rich for responding to JohnW on my behalf and thank you JohnW for your clarification. I have to admit that I don´t have basic knowledge of this subject. The words I used were MasterCards own words. When I finally managed to talk so someone at Sunkissed Travel he jelled in my ear that IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO HAVE A REFUND and that he had verified this with MasterCard. So JohnW, it appears that none of them really knows how a credit card transaction works.
I haven’t for a minute belived that I will be able to make a profit on this deal. If there will be a second refund I certainally know that it would be a fraud to keep the money. I don’t even think it will be paid to me in cash. According to MasterCard it could be possible that this transaction shows up twice in my statment if a refund from Sunkissed Travel has been made but again, I don’t have enough basic knowledge of this subject so maybe this is a misunderstanding too.
October 6th, 2005 at 7:16 am
To Jacqui B.
Just looking over your posts and came across the one where you said you contacted Radisson Hotels & Resorts and you were told that they did not deal with Sunkissed Travel, well that is because Radisson Hotels & Resorts does not own that hotel, it is a franchise. You can find the Radisson Worldgate Resort at: http://www.worldgateresort.com and the company that owns it Driftwood Hospitality Management at: http://www.driftwoodhospitality.com
JohnW
October 6th, 2005 at 7:59 am
Thank you for your most valuable input JohnW, albeit a duplication of information already posted here. If you read Sunkissed Travel’s response thereto, you will note that they provided alternate details of a gentleman at the Raddisson who is able to confirm that Sunkissed Travel deals with this particular hotel. The Sunkissed representative however gave an incorrect telephone number which was useless, but we did manage to track the man down that she referred to. So… all is well in that department.
Constructive criticism is always welcome JohnW.
October 9th, 2005 at 8:09 pm
Today starr-getaways.com are using a licensed certification number of STST29333. Spoke with sales rep Aquil. Said would check with my spouse. Was told to call back 1-954-239-9924 before 3 pm., with confirmation # 56444. Was told they take no cash or checks, and credit card company would get a recording of our conversation. Told this prize was for four people for a total of $950.00, but first was told the cost in Euros! This was for 5 nights, 6 days in Orlando and Daytona, where we would take a 90 minute Time-Share tour, etc. Then to Ft. Lauderdale for cruise on Discovery to Nassau, Bahamas for 6 days, and would have to pay the port fees. Was given the web site to look up and told to click on upper right at Current Specials. This was a pop-up while I was on a website looking up info for Averetec Computers. Thought he spoke just a little to smoothly, but I looked up the site and found the spam and hoax info. I never did call them back and hope they don’t call me!
October 10th, 2005 at 8:51 pm
I returned all documentation back to Royalty Holidays. They confirmed they had received it on the 18th August. I am still waiting for a refund. They even blamed Katrina for the delay. Now when I call the managers are all in meetings or left for the day.
I am now sending everything to my credit card company and they are going to look into it.
October 11th, 2005 at 10:06 pm
Sirs we keep getting calls from this “Holiday Rewards”. The other night my 6 year old grand daughter answered and was delighted when she thought she was off to Disney. It took some time for the truth to sink in. Here they mostly advertise Disney and I contacted Disney to ask if they realised the damage this was having on them. They did not reply, but from one 6 year old in the UK they come very low on her list of “want to go”.
October 12th, 2005 at 10:02 am
Im from Dubai…I was hoaxed by Starr Getaways.I paid $475 initially as half of the holiday package and held the remaining after reading an article in a german-based website.
I wasnt able to get anything from the amount I paid. Not until recently when I filed fraud claim from the bank, that a company Florida Tourist Bureau sent me a mail threatening to file a possible libel/slander case against me addressing the same issue.
I am just an overseas employee and cannot even afford to have a holiday.
I hope this wont happen to others as well.
October 12th, 2005 at 6:34 pm
Hi Jof,
The more accurately you can describe what happened to you, the more you can help others who have the same expereience; so how were you “hoaxed”?
Did they call you, or was it an internet popup? Were you misled on the phone? Did you try cancelling? How many times have you called them? What happened when you called? Can you show evidence of why or how this company has intimated that they may be willing to pursue legal action against you?
Lots of questions I know, but your comment was rather “open to interpretation”.
Rich
October 13th, 2005 at 6:42 am
Hi
I also for the first time I must say got caught up in this sales con. I purchased a holiday through sohovacations Apr 04 after receiving a ‘pop up’ saying I had won 1101.00. I paid just short of 600.00 by credit card. My promotion was for a duration of 18 months. Apr 05 I started to pursue my vacation by ringing 08009177462. To my amazement I was told sohovactions had been bought by celebrationpromotions and given a password to access my holiday on line. After many attempts to view my holiday without success I sent an email to enquire about the change and why I was not advised. As you can guess, I have not received a reply. To date I have sent numerous emails and made many calls which have never been returned. I did speak with someone (Nadia) at 19:05 (UK)yesterday who advised me that my vacation had been extended to Feb 05 and that I could view via http://www.celebrationsresort.com [see below - Rich]. I accessed web site, which is extremely basic and was currently being updated. No where on website could I enter my code and check progress. I had asked Nadia to also send me a confirmation of our conversation about the extension. She advised she would send immediately she put the phone done. Guess what, still no email. Just thought this morning to check previous company sohovacations and picked up these links. Thank God for the person who took time out to research this matter further as I was thinking of actuall spending more money to book my flight. Something I was not advised was not included when package sold. This matter needs serious intervention and I will be pursuing this end with our Trading Standards for advice. There must be some recourse in dealing with such scum.