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 3rd, 2006 at 3:26 pm
Hello more from owsley…
On Friday the 29th of September BestUSAVacations (aka-SunshineTravelEscapes - Black diamond marketing etc.) did not pay any of their employees (sales agents). [source required]
The excuse (sic) was that they lost another Merchant account i.e. the people that they process your credit cards through. Credit card processors drop them becaause they have too many charge backs, disputes, cancellations etc.
Basically irate purchasers that call their credit card companies and want their money back (and legally, as the credit provider, the credit card comany must oblige if the product or service has been missold). It’s the most surefireway to get a refund.
So keep up the good work!
Sometimes the company in question will refund money to the consumer if they think they might lose a dispute, in an effort to keep their mercant account active. Many people never get their money back at all. Different tricks include changing the name of the company and stating that the previous company is “no longer in business” or “went bankrupt” and that they are “just the fufillment company”. None of which is true.
Ok back to the original premise. If a company does not pay it’s employees would you the consumer want anything to do with them?
October 3rd, 2006 at 10:25 pm
We fell into the trap about 3.5 years ago with Funpak Vacations - we signed up for a package visiting Cancun, Ft Lauderdale, etc. but couldn’t take it within the allocated window due to us falling pregnant. We’d kissed goodbye to the money but then received a call from ‘Ryan at Calypso Cay’ informing me Funpak had gone bust, they’d recently bought out all their information and we had around $1100 on record as we hadn’t taken up the offer. Seemed a little weird to me. I was then told they’d spent the last 8 months since improving the packages since taking over Funpak and they could now offer me a better package than the original, all for an additional cost of just $399, but still having to attend a 90 minute timeshare presentation. This would be for a 3 night stay at the Calypso Cay resort (including 2 day passes to Universal Studios), a 2 night stay in Miami at a Sheraton/Radisson/Weston Hotel, a 6-hour cruise to the Bahamas from Fort Lauderdale, and a 3 night stay at the Island Resort (?) in the Bahamas, all to be taken in any order we preferred. All sounded a little bizarre. When asked if they were anything to do with AmeriVacations the response was “not anymore”. didn’t fill me with confidence. When asked for credit card details I declined, stating I needed to discuss it with my wife - as well as doing some surfing. They said they could only hold it for 48 hours but I got them to call me back after a few days. When they called back I asked more questions and they are due to phone me back in a couple of days, as they “can only hold it for another 48 hours”. I asked why, as they weren’t travel agents (nor were they agents trying to sell pre-bought weeks at Calypso Cay, apparently…) and was told they only had a limited number of packages left to offer.
Is this yet another scam? - I’d never heard of Calypso Cay, but would love to take my wife and kids to Florida. Does anyone have any positive feedback, or any other warnings? I’m thinking of giving it a miss, but don’t want to miss anything genuine… ;o)
October 5th, 2006 at 4:08 pm
Thanks for the information on this site. Yes, the scum are still at work. My mother just got a call yesterday. We are going to cancel it through the credit card company. It is sad that theives can be jailed but phone thieves can hide behind dumb rules and operate with impunity. One of these days they are going to piss off the wrong people ….. and then we can all rejoice in justice being done :).
In Canada, report them to PhoneBusters ( http://www.phonebusters.com/english/reportit.html ). But if you are in US, I guess you have to track them in the local BBB of Orlando.
I guess in the meantime, do NOT trust anyone who calls you and wants to sell you something.
October 5th, 2006 at 4:14 pm
The BEST USA VACATION is a scam. Their phone number is 407-843-0336. It is a total scam. They tell you you have won, and all you have to pay is about $600. But of course, the package is a lie, and the trip will not happen. but by the time you try to claim it, the company will have gone out of business, and a new one will have been setup.
Try to file a complaint with Florida State Attorney’s office. You can also file a complaint with the US Post Office, because they are using MAIL to perpetrate their fraud. US Post Office is very good about following up on scams.
October 6th, 2006 at 4:31 am
Best USA Vacations is a scam! THe same thing happened to my father. They offered a vacation package worth $10,000 for $600 US - we’re in Canada. THey told him that he didn’t have to take it, but they would send an informational package - although they needed his credit card number, although they would not charge it untill/if he decided to take the incredible deal!
Mastercard was of no help. They did the investigation thing, but Best USA Vacations - but it was their word against ours.
Here is some info so Googlers could find this posting
Website : http://www.bestusavacations.com
Best USA Vacations
851 E State Rd, 434 Suite 180,
Longwood, Fl. 32750-5366
Telephone #: 407-843-0336
Fax # : 407-843-1838
E-mail : info@bestusavacations.com
reservations@bestusavacations.com
FOR THE PHILIPPINES AND ALL OF ASIA
Good News Campaigns Inc.
Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines
Telephone #: 63-9062337117
E-mail : goodnewscampaigns@yahoo.com
as authorized by Lewellen Enterprises International, LLC
October 6th, 2006 at 10:04 am
Hi Rich, i cannot beleive these scammers are still going, i myself got scammed in May 2005 and have posted several times on this site and thanks to it, i received a full refund, not from the theiving morons but from my credit card company.
As mentioned on my posting on October 21st 2005 (page 39) your credit card company know of these dodgy characters and they are already under investigation, all you need to do is make a note of all your calls and emails to them, every single bit of info you can get, this site will provide you with more than enough info to prove that these companies are scammers.
Eat humble pie, tell your credit card company you have been scammed and supply them with all the details and chances are they will refund you, after all you bought the holiday in good faith. As mentioned earlier the credit card companies know of these scams but they will not refund your money unless you approach them.
Be also aware that some people who have been scammed are still trying to pass these “holidays” off to unsuspecting people via certain internet auction sites.
summerbayresort.com and summerbaygetaways.com seem to be doing the rounds at the moment, along with summerbayvacations.com who keep disappearing and reappearing on the internet.
Oh and by the way i still keep getting emails from “my friends at calypsocay”, friends, yeah right!
October 10th, 2006 at 10:55 am
hi everyone, I visited the website of Calypsocay and I was told that I had won some 4 person vacation to U.S. (florida, Bahamas) and was given a special 4 digit number to verify it and then made a call and the person whose name was (407) Mr. John Moore said, that I had won it,but I needed to pay some 500 euros, receive a package and after arriving get some 2000$ coupon. so can anyone tell me how real it is? thank you.
October 10th, 2006 at 1:37 pm
Here’s one that will cost them! These guys are currently running a scam where they make outbound calls that tell you that you have won a contest, and to press 9 to collect. Of course their “free” trip is only $600.
But try this: press 9, then mute your phone. An agent comes on the line, says “Best USA travel…” When he or she figures out that the line is dead, they disconnect. Hold the line. After a few minutes, you get ringing again and another agent. This repeats for a while. You may get various tones designed to make you think the line has dropped, but keep holding. At some point, you wind up with the agent side of conversations, where you can listen to their whole script without hearing what the victim says. Some of you may want to call the victim after their phone number has been read back to them, so you can let them know that they should put a chargeback in at the bank.
The really fun part of this is that for everyone who hangs on the line, you tie up an outbound line. They probably have 24 or fewer outbound lines, so it doesn’t take much before their system is locked up and unable to call out. They’ll have to restart it to get rid of you.
I’ve held the line for two hours at a time. I kind of hope they keep calling!
October 10th, 2006 at 10:58 pm
I purchased one of the YourVIPholiday so called packages. Never used it but have tried to ring up to book it and no answer and the email address is no longer of use. Their street address for anyone who may want it is 600 North Highway 17-92 Suite#120 Longwood. FL.32750 Don’t fooled like we were obviously.
October 13th, 2006 at 7:31 am
I have information regarding an emerging operation being setup as I type this response by actual individuals who claim to be working under the website (URL provided but withheld). I reside in an asian country and cannot disclose this information yet. If any of you have information on how to report these people, your suggestions woudl be appreciated . The information I have shared is valid and we have to act ASAP so that we can put this people where they belong.