FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – While spring break travelers may think they found a steal for their vacation this year, those prices may actually be too good to be true.
Pop-up ads are a type of travel scam used to target consumers into booking on an untrustworthy site.
“Normally it shouldn’t do that, so if you think it’s strange, I wouldn’t put your credit card or something in there,” said Cindy Tyo, owner of Travel Travel.
A site may also promise on-site excursions, a beautiful view, all at a low-cost upfront, “And then when you arrive all of a sudden it’s not what you intended or the pictures just don’t match what your reality is,” said Bao Vang, vice president of communications for the Better Business Bureau.
Vang categorizes that as a vacation rental con, another travel scam.
Other scams include sites claiming free vacations but with a small processing fee or hotel scams where scammers can con money by fake front desk calls, free wifi logins, and even fake food deliveries.
Better Business Bureau says that last March, travelers lost $160,000 to travel scams.
“Trust me, I believe traveling is the best thing in the whole wide world but make sure you know who you’re booking through, I mean with everything going on now, you should be able to have a phone number to contact them, if there’s no phone number that should be a sign right there,” said Tyo.
Tyo and Vang say to verify every detail of the trip and to avoid wiring money and using a prepaid debit…
