In October, Sam Salam said he searched on Google for travel companies when he booked his trip to Brazil to visit his girlfriend. After paying for his ticket, Mr Salam suspected something was wrong when he called the company’s phone number.
This text is a translation of an article from CTV News.
“They sent me a ticket, but it was a strange ticket, and they said they would send me the real ticket later,” Salam, a Vancouver resident, told CTV News.
Mr. Salam booked his ticket through the Canadian Aviation Centre. At least, that’s what he thought. He decided to visit the Flight Center office in person when his ticket did not arrive, and that’s when he discovered he had booked his flight with a fraudulent company.
“When I entered the office, they already knew about this problem and said it was a scam,” the traveler lamented.
Mr Salam was defrauded of $2,280. Flight Center Canada is now warning its customers to be careful when booking a flight to avoid ending up on a fake website imitating their company.
“We are seeing the emergence of many fraudulent sites imitating Flight Center Canada,” said Chris Lenz, general manager of Flight Center Canada. “A lot of times people come to the airport without realizing they don’t have real tickets.”
According to the company, a fraudulent version of the Flight Center Canada website displays the word “center” in the URL, not the word “centre.” The company says it has heard of several victims who have lost thousands of dollars, and wants to warn customers to be careful when booking travel.
“We are in contact with Google, and our legal team is working on this issue to remove these sites, but as soon as one site is closed, another site seems to appear,” Lenz noted.
Mr Salam had to buy another ticket to travel to Brazil, and despite being cheated, he said he had a good trip with his girlfriend and is trying to maintain a positive attitude.
He said: “Thank God I stay safe and happy, and as they say in French, C’est la vie.”
Mr Salam was unable to receive a refund because he paid for his ticket with a debit card. When booking travel, you should always use a credit card because if something goes wrong, you have a better chance of getting your money back if something goes wrong.
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