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Cheap Tickets Vacation Scam
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About a week ago, my father in law received a very strange letter in the mail. It read:
Dear <name here>,
I am pleased to inform you that our promotional department has authorized us to offer you two (2) round-trip airline tickets. These tickets are valid for travel anywhere within the Continental United States departing from any major international airport. In addition, you will receive two (2) nights First Class Accomodations at any one of over 1000 Deluxe Hotel locations. The retail value of this offer is up to $1,398.00.
Because previous attempts to reach you have been unsuccessful, this correspondence will serve as your final notification. If I do not hear from you within 10-days these travel vouchers will be given to an alternate recipient.
This letter immediately struck me as odd. My father in law didn’t sign-up for any contest or promotion, so it seemed very fishy. Let’s dissect this letter…
The Sponsor
I looked up Cheap Tickets to see if they were a legitimate company or not, because I’ve never hear of them. To my surprise, they are. That’s well and good, however, on the back of the letter it’s mentioned that Cheap Tickets is in no way affiliated with this promotion.
What? There are three Cheap Tickets logos on this letter. How could they not be affiliated?
Strike one.
The writing almost seemed like it was translated or written by someone who knew nothing about travel. “you will receive two (2) nights First Class Accomodations at any one of over 1000 Deluxe Hotel locations.” First, accommodations is spelled wrong. C’mon people, every writing program has spell check these days! Second, what’s with the random Capitals? (Yes, I capitalized that one purpose). There is no reason to capitalize anything in that sentence. Finally, the sentence that reads, “These tickets are valid for travel anywhere within the Continental United States departing from any major international airport.” So, to use these tickets you have to fly into the US from an international airport.
Strike two.
The Check
Oh, the check. There are so many things wrong with it. First, there is no such thing as USA Airlines. I’m guessing they were trying to combine US Airways with American Airlines, or they could be starting their own airline – who knows. Second, the signature is literally a squiggle. There are no letters there, it’s just a squiggle. Take a look:
Finally to top it all off, they spelled my father in law’s name wrong on every part of this letter. You would think a check written to him and a promotion won by him, would have his name correctly spelled. I guess not.
If you receive anything like this in the mail, I’m sorry, but you didn’t just win a paid vacation. Instead, they are trying to phish for your information and will spam you relentlessly if you give it to them.
P.S. I called the number on the letter for kicks and giggles, after writing this post. The customer service rep gave me a very long spiel that sounded as if he was reading straight out of a handbook (he probably was). Then when I told him I couldn’t make the presentation I was required to go to, so he immediately changed the vacation he was offering and said I could get a free cruise instead. All I have to do is give him my name, address, and credit card number! So, I asked him what cruise line this would be with. He said, “Caribbean Cruise Line”. Have you ever heard of that? I hadn’t, but I did look it up. I’ll let the reviews speak for themselves. Needless to say, I told him I wasn’t going to give away any of that information and hung up.
