Avoid This New Travel Site Scam
Wherever we go, scammers follow. The latter example exploits our booming post-blocking travel interest as scammers have created fake travel sites to steal your personal information and money. Here’s how to avoid being scammed.
How the scam works
The scams target sites that accelerate the safety of travelers through airport security, such as TSA Precheck , Global Entry, and the Canadian version of Global Entry, NEXUS . Fake versions of these sites, as well as fake third party sites offering to process your documents, will try to trick you into providing personal information. These sites may try to charge you a “registration fee” or “service charge”, which of course simply transfers your money and credit card information to the scammer.
Current versions of these sites usually require you to provide detailed personal information, including your passport number. Since fake sites can be just as thorough, you may not notice that it is a scam until much later, either because your money was stolen or because your actual application was never processed by these government agencies.
How to protect yourself
Awareness is half the battle, so you always need to be vigilant about where you find the URLs for the sites you use and whether they might be fake. Sketchy Facebook ads that link to the official TSA pre-scrutiny are probably illegal, and you would expect to find the actual government site at the very top of the search results, not the very bottom.
The Better Business Bureau has reported this scam and recommends the following tips:
- Double check the URL before entering your personal and billing information. Always double check that you are on the correct website and that the link is safe. Secure links start with ” https: //” and include a padlock icon on the purchase page . In the United States, all government websites end in .gov. In Canada, government agency websites are located under gc.ca.
- Shop online with your credit card. Fraudulent payments made with a credit card can usually be disputed. Unfortunately, it is not possible to return personal information that you may have shared.
If you encounter a fake website scam, please report your experience at BBB.org/Connect .