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 21st, 2005 at 9:51 am
To Jose
I feel for the poor unsuspecting people who have lost their money to these crooks. My frustration is similar albeit due to a quasi-ripoff (poorly informed).
However, adopting a vigilanti attitude is no means of dealing with white-collar crime or any crime for that matter.
Do you lads plan on having a kangaroo court hearing and bringing these thugs to justice? Your families would hate to see you involved in such illegal activities, which really makes you no better than the Hemani dude. And your “heroic deed” could land your backside behind bars.
Just a thought. Use it… don’t use it.
October 21st, 2005 at 1:55 pm
Hi Rich, since my earlier postings a vast amount of research has been carried out and information gathered, a lot of which has just got me a full refund of £718, not from Amerivacation or whoever but from the guys down at HSBC, thanks fellas. You will be pleased to hear they are investigating into the affairs of Arif Rajan, Alex Hermani and Eastern Pacific Holdings and Holiday Florida Ltd.
I personally had not received any reply from the DOACS, probably swamped with complaints from the very same or similar companies but certainly the information provided on this site by yourself has without doubt led to my refund from my credit card company.
I would advise anybody else to supply their CC company with all relevant details ie, cancellation date, letters sent, calls made, emails sent and received etc, as they know these companies are fraudsters but wont reimburse you if you dont approach them.
The only down side to this fiasco is that i didn’t get my money back directly from the thief himself.
Keep up the good work Rich and a big thanks for all your help, oh and a company called funpakvacations are offering “free holidays” for £598 to Orlando, Ft Lauderdale etc at the moment.
It’s not over yet Arif Rajan,can you feel the web closing in !!!
October 21st, 2005 at 4:50 pm
Jose: Did you contact the DOACS yet? What did they say?
October 21st, 2005 at 5:15 pm
I haven’t contacted the DOACS yet, is that something that I should consider? What if any actions could they take to help us.
October 22nd, 2005 at 11:09 am
Yes I fell for the telephone call from Royalty Holidays regarding a Florida holiday, I also returned the holiday pack and was told that I would get a full refund within 21 days.
Following a number of telephone calls and a number of dead phone numbers I found the information on your site. I submitted a complaint to the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services via your link.
I have now obtained a full refund of $825.00, I would like to say a big THANK YOU for your article, it was a great help.
October 22nd, 2005 at 3:34 pm
I had a cold call from CWRFlorida, who told me that I had won this amazing holiday! (how can you win something if you haven’t entered a competition, alarm bells already ringing!), they wouldn’t take no for an answer, I told them that I didn’t have a credit card, so they told me to just give them my husbands card number, even though I am not an authorised user! Major alarm bells ringing!, they then told me to look at their website, to confirm what a ‘good company’ they are, but told me not to search engine their name!, by this time I was 100% convinced it was a scam! Please do not hand money over to this company!
November 1st, 2005 at 8:43 pm
I live in the Netherlands and received a phone call from Sunshine Travel Escapes today stating that I and my family had won a trip to Florida; 80% paid for and only 20% for our own account. They indeed claim to be doing a promotion for Visa/Mastercard. Calling all the way from Florida did put questionmarks in my head and after 3/4 hour conversation I am pleased I refused to give them my creditcard no. The guy I was talking to even put me through to his manager to try to convince me they were ligitimate.
November 2nd, 2005 at 8:05 am
Just a few words the bad press given to some of these companies
is un called for. I know from personal expreiance that not all
these companies are in fact a scam.And Neil I personaly processed
your refund and my supervisor John Miller in fact called you
right after he finished.You were scheduled for the previous day
bet the money is on your account but I havn’t seen your comment
about that.If you people are going to gossip then tell the whole
story not just the misfortunate mis haps .And the slanderus
remarks should be watched .Any comments post them here or email
me [addresses withheld because I don't believe they're real-Rich]
November 2nd, 2005 at 10:03 am
Nick appears to be associating himself with Royalty Holidays (a deduction based on Neil previously mentioning both Royalty Holidays and John Miller). I have no reason to disbelieve that Nick is in some way associated with this company, but he is not speaking in any official capacity.
I am also in total agreement that “slanderous comments should be watched”, and refer to my previous words on what can be discussed.
Peronally I’m interested in clearing up any uncertainly about any of these companies and I hope they all make pots of cash, legally, by giving people great holidays.
So with that in mind, Nick: when Royalty Holidays were first mentioned I noted that some of their testimonials appear on other websites.
Specifically, Royalty Holidays appear to be republishing testimonials from one particular hotel group, can you confirm whether these hotel customers were also customers of Royalty Holidays?
The same testimonials are used here, here, here, here, here, here and here
November 2nd, 2005 at 2:28 pm
well I just got one of those travasaurus you won 2100 travel dollars thingy and I thought well this must be a scam but I called anyways. I was looking up scam reports before calling but couldn’t find anything regarding any prizes so I called and they said they had a great package for me then told me they needed to be sure I had a credit card (which I don’t thankfully cause I would have given the number) because I needed it to be able to get the rental car that they would give me. I got it because it said I was the millionth visitor to some website so I decided to go back to the website and see if it would pop up again but it didn’t so I thought ok then it’s true but then I decided to change profiles and try again and what do you know? I’m the millionth visitor again and it’s the same confirmation number so I just said screw it and I’m not calling back…although they do have my number now.