Tags: Scams
Ameri-scam.
May 23rd, 2005, by Rich.
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 5th, 2005 at 11:41 am
I too have been conned by Sunkissed Travel. I just had a buyer for my package, and upon trying to confirm that the flights booked from South Africa would suit the accommodation arrangements, their website has gone blank, they do not return e-mail or phone messages.
Fortunately lawyers wanted to buy this package and would be more than happy to sue Sunkissed or the General Manager in a personal capacity by way of edictal citation, and as the owner of this pile of bullocks called Sunkissed. You give the USA and online travel a bad name!
My whole purchase experience was the same as those stated above in this forum. However, they initially referred me to a site called “travasaurus.com”. I have attempted to access Sunkissed and Travasaurus but both site contents were WIPED CLEAN. I’ve alerted every authority in Florida that seems worthwhile. I will pursue this woman/her fraudulent company ad infinitum.
July 5th, 2005 at 6:47 pm
I suspect that frequesnt phone calls I have been receiving are connected. We get calls (all identical automated calls) from an American sounding female voice advising us to pack our bags because we have won a cruise to the Bahamas, to speak to a representative I must press 9 now. Thus far I have resisted the tempation to press 9, but early this morning (02:14 if you really want to know!) we were woken with another of these calls. Now I am REALLY mad and need to get this stopped. I have managed to capture 2 phone numbers 1-309-420-0582 (to which I faxed a cease and desist notice) and a weird number - 1-616-9802, this was today at 6:11pm, our second call of the day. Can anybody confirm if these numbers are connected to Amerivacation or it’s many siblings?
July 5th, 2005 at 8:27 pm
This lot have phoned us four times including at four in the morning. BT told me that Oftel were on the case. Fat chance that’ll be of any help.
I suggest that we all e-mail all of those legitimate cruise companies and people who sell holidays to the States and say we are not going because of the antics of Amerivacation. I bet if they get a thousand calls, the other calls will stop.
We shouldn’t go to the States anyway, because of global warming, the death penalty, Bush etc. etc.
July 5th, 2005 at 9:56 pm
James
BT are totally disinterested , likewise any carrier and the FCC and the Infrormation Commisioner’s Office. OFTEL likewise. We have an EC Directive which makes this stuf illegal, the US have a 1991 law which makes this stuff illegal but because the ‘laws’ are badly drafted they do not seem to apply to inter-country traffic. In the US if the calls were intra-state they’d be illegal, in Europe if they derived from a European number they’d be illegal… as far as I can see because they originate in the US and wake us up at 2:14 or 4:00 they are legal; how crazy is that?
July 6th, 2005 at 8:30 pm
Guess what - they are still doing it. Automated phone call saying press 9 to receive your free holiday. If you do you end up getting a nice introduction from one and if you are lucky two member sof there staff and then lots of pressure if you dont part with just under £600.
Exactly the same holiday details above with loads of pressure to buy there and then. My wife told them we were not interested six times, and even then they continue to use prolomged silences on the phone and then other verbal tricks to make you feel stupid. If it’s that good a deal why dont htey let ‘customers’ think about it and consider it over time!!! Everything about this smells of a con. they refer you on line to a web site as follows: http://www.cwrflorida.com/
July 6th, 2005 at 8:42 pm
Hi Russell, are you TPS registered as well?
July 6th, 2005 at 11:13 pm
DENMARK:
I’ve got the message today, that I’ve won a free Vacation for a Caribbian cruise. All I’d had to do, was to call a number: 80882837. This is a danish number.
I called it up, just to hear, what it is all about, and to my surprise, i’ve got an american, called Kerry on the line, located i Florida.
Sure enough, I had won the grand prize of today an so on. I didn’t have the time to continue to talk to the guy, Who claims to be from Amerisuite Vacationclub. he gave me the reg. number for the comagny: ST 35 765, and told me to look at the site http://www.AmeriVacation.com. And so I did, and glad I did a search on the name, and found this great site.
There’s more to come, because the guy will call me tomorrow. He didn’t get through his whole sales-talk, when talking to me the first time, so I’ll guess He’ll tell me tomorrow that he just need my creditcard number, and I’ll be on my way to at glorious holiday!
My plan is to report it to the police here in Denmark. Such a way of marketing is not allowed here. We’ll se what happens…
No need to say that there’s no way in H*** I’ll give up my cardinformation!
July 7th, 2005 at 12:16 pm
I have reported Sunkissed Travel to the Internet Fraud Complaints Commission at the FBI. You can do the same at https://www.ifccfbi.gov It is nothing short of fraudulent misrepresentation. I can kiss the December holidays and my $925,00 (x 6,25 in our currency!!!) good bye! Jacqui, South Africa
[Update by Rich: The sunkissedtravel website [sunkissedtravel.com] is still visible to me, but travasaurus.com has gone blank, as Jacqui previously mentioned. I’ve heard from the owner of SunkissedTravel two days ago; she appears keen to ensure that their reputation is upheld (which is fair enough if they are a legitimate business). I’ve offered her the opportunity to respond adjacent to each mention of her company, or to remove the content if that is appropriate. The fact that Sunkissed are taking an interest is good news IMO, and differentiates them from the other “you’ve won a cruise operators”. I’m waiting to hear from them again.]
July 8th, 2005 at 9:45 am
July 8th, 2005 at 5:09 pm
I just got the press 9 call. First I thought that some friends made fun with me, but nobody said anithing when I laughed. I live in Denmark. This is somthing new in this part of the world. I still love when my phone ringes, but how long is that goingt to last?