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.
January 21st, 2007 at 11:33 pm
Hi Kat,
You can write to me at novascotia_m30ATyahooDOTcom, we can speak as we both live
in Vancouver.
RIZ
January 21st, 2007 at 11:46 pm
Hi Kat, more about my experience, you would see at HOW TO CANCEL SECTION,
which is given in the section 31. You might want to read it.
Regarding these names, they sound different. Did you get any confirmation of email?
You can reach me at novascotia_m30 in the US yahoo. Riz
January 28th, 2007 at 9:41 am
THIS IS A BUNCH OF BULLSHIT. AND REMEMBER YUO CANT SEE ME
January 31st, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Hello,
My brother was also scammed into a Royalty Holiday now Holiday Fulfillment package in June 2006. In agreeing to accept further information about the packages before deciding, they charged his credit card instead.
We live in Toronto, Canada. The 1-800 numbers they advertise for Canadian customers are not accessible in the Canadian calling area. We have spoken to the credit card company - VISA - and they refused to reverse the charge because my brother provided
them with the credit card expiration number.
I had to ask a friend who lives in the USA to contact the company for us to get a refund. Instead of a refund, they extended the
deadline for taking the trips. Ironically, we cannot take any of the trips since we cannot get a hold of the company to book one.
Our friend has since attempted to contact the company on numerous occasions - but of course - no answer. If any one has any tips or approaches to pass on to obtain money back or an address I send a letter to etc, it would be greatly appreciated.
February 3rd, 2007 at 3:54 pm
I just received a phone call myself from fantasy tours and travel and they were very convincing and I thought WOW i won a holiday for my family and I. When it came to the part about the credit card bit I told them I didn’t have one. So they asked me to borrow from a relative or a friend and I said i was uncomfortable with that. Therefore I said thanks but no thanks. Then the rep came on the phone and lowered the price to half which was originally $689.00 and then lowered it to $349.00.Even better right, wrong, because I told them I still didn’t feel right about using someone else’s credit card so he told me he would leave me on the list. THIS IS THE STATES CALLING PEOPLE IN CANADA. DISGRACEFUL… JUST BE VERY CAREFUL OF THIS CALL.. MY KIDS WERE VERY DISAPPOINTED BECAUSE THEY TOLD US that we had WON A TRIP TO DISNEY LAND AND A CRUISE AND A TRIP TO CANCUN,MEXICO all this for $349.00 yeah right!!!! this is one of the websites they gave me to look on http://www.fantasytoursandtravel.com and the other one was the resort they were calling from http://www.calypsocay.com Buyer beware… shelley ann welsh
February 3rd, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Thanks Shelly - a response is here.
February 4th, 2007 at 7:53 am
Hi, just see, what had happened to “Shelly ann Welsh”. Some one named FFGGFHGHGH has said all about this as a “bullshit” but seems that and as you can understand, that person is seriously in a very terrified mood due to all these kinds of real discussion. The kind of messeage you got from “shelley ann welsh” is a proof, exactly the kind of messegae that I posted earlier. So, its a real scam. I have already formally started working with FODAS and I would not give up this until all these culprits are punished, which I am doing my best. Because I know that AMERICA is a wonderful place, and all these criminal people who are working against the USA interest have to punished according to Florida law.I just can not see the USA suffer from its own pople living and enjoying inside USA. Thanks alot. Hey FFGGFHGHGH, now I can see where you are hiding… Wait, until a law enforcement agency grab you and put you into a hell..RIZ/Vancouver/The Beautiful British Columbia/Canada
February 7th, 2007 at 12:37 am
I am very interested to learn more about Summerbay Vacations. I have just paid for 6/5 nights Orlando, 4/3nights Daytona 3/2 Cruise
Bahamas, on the Imperial Majesty, Car Rental, Travel Insurance,
5/4 night Cancun including all food and drink.
I am due to leave 27th April. I am currently looking into my
international and connecting flights.
What am I to expect from this group?
I dont have trouble getting on to their website. They have listed what I have paid however yesterday I couldnt access the confirmation letter detailing my itinery.
Please advise
Lynden Barry
Australia
February 7th, 2007 at 2:05 am
On summer Bay Resorts:
Source:TripAdvisor
February 7th, 2007 at 11:12 pm
Hi,
I would like to post an update on my previous message.
I’m still in disbelief, but I just called my VISA and they said that I have been reimbursed the full $717.26 CND to my card. Finally, after a month of confusion, my credit card company, CIBC, labeled the transaction as fraud and credited it back to my card.
To clear up the confusion in my last post, here is what happened:
As soon as I saw the charges going through on my card (for what was explained over the phone as a free vacation that I had won), I cancelled that card and filed a dispute for the charges. My VISA Company, CIBC, told me that they are not sure what they could do, since I gave them my credit card information, but nonetheless they said that the fraud department will do an investigation.
The next day I filled a complained with the Florida DOACS, I told them all the details that I could, including any phone numbers that I was given during the initial call.
While I was waiting for the DOACS and my visa company to get back to me (which took about 2 weeks), I followed the instructions given on this site in the ‘How to cancel section’. I wrote emails and called Fun Time Getaway Inc and told them that I would like a refund. They said that I should return the package they sent me, I make copies and sent it back registered mail.
Then, I received a phone call from Fun Time Getaway stating that they got my package. Just when I thought that they would actually give me a refund, they notified me that they will keep a $100 USD fee for shipping and handling, and that I would have to sign a waiver promising that I will not file a dispute with my credit card company. Also this waiver stated that if I file charges against them with my credit card company that they would charge me another $175USD!!!!
I wrote them back stating that I have a right to a full refund under section 559.933 of Florida State statutes and that I have already filled a compliant with my company, which I refuse to cancel. Before I sent this letter out to Fun Time Getaway, I found out that my credit card company already reversed the charges. Guess they really had no right to ask me to sign that in the first place.
In my last post, I expressed my confusion as to which company I was even dealing with. Well, thanks to the DOACS, I found out that I was contacted by BLACK DIAMOND MARKETING (1-407-879-4379), who was calling on behalf of FUN TIME GETAWAY INC, who charged me for a vacation with SUN HOLIDAYS. ( I’m still not sure how BEST USA VACATIONS fits into this, but oh well).
Sorry for this very long post, but I just wanted to say thanks to everyone on this site for sharing their stories, which helped me a lot in my situation, and thank you to the creator of this site for the very informative ‘how to cancel section’.
To all of you out there trying to get your money back from these thieves, I suggest calling your credit card company right away and explaining that even though they have your card information, you did not authorize any charges.
Complain to the Florida DOACS, make sure to give them all the details no matter how small. And of course follow the How to Cancel instructions given on this site. Finally, never sign anything they send you, unless you actually ordered a vacation from them.
Thanks,
Good luck to you all.
Kat