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.
June 23rd, 2005 at 6:18 am
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.
June 23rd, 2005 at 7:20 am
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?]
June 24th, 2005 at 3:27 pm
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.
June 24th, 2005 at 6:15 pm
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..
June 25th, 2005 at 7:18 am
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).
June 26th, 2005 at 12:30 pm
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 ín the USA. There a lady was very enthusiastic about the holiday I had won and asked me to open the website “www.sunkíssedtravel.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
June 27th, 2005 at 6:09 am
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.
June 28th, 2005 at 11:47 am
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.
June 28th, 2005 at 1:09 pm
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
June 29th, 2005 at 9:08 pm
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!