A cautionary tale: be careful when you search Google for an airline’s telephone number.
One of my Award Expert clients just got ripped off, big time. We had booked a trip for her in American Airlines + British Airways business class using her AA miles.
As you may know, advance seat assignments on British Airways are not free in business class. We had advised her this, but she must have wanted to double check directly with British Airways. Her only BA segments were intra-Europe segments.
Somehow, she called a “travel agency” named Air O Fly, thinking it was British Airways.
Looking up her reservation, they said:
“Oh madam, you are booked in economy class. I can upgrade you to business class and get you a seat for $500.”
She freaked out, thought Award Expert had ripped her off, and agreed to pay.
The agent emailed her a credit card authorization form via DocuSign, which she promptly signed. Her credit card was charged $500.
Look at this document:
She later received an email directly from British Airways with her business class seat assignments…and a charge of $136 for two seats from London to Warsaw and Prague to London.
The remaining $364 was charged in two transactions: one for $200, the other for $164.
Following Up with the Scam Artists
As near as I can tell, Air O Fly (or Airofly LCC) is/was a California-based company. The DocuSign document, listed a Bellflower, CA address:
The IP address the DocuSign document is inconclusive:
I looked up the business and found it was allegedly dissolved in late 2016. The owner’s name is/was Rene Tolentino.
A man named Steven Christopher Strawbridge, in his 20s, is currently at the business address according to the White Pages.
But the Facebook page (same logo and telephone number) gives the impression this is an Indian company still in operation.
I called them back immediately at the number above.
ME: Is this British Airways?
AGENT (after a pause…): Yes.
[the agent had a strong Indian accent]
ME: You scammed a friend of mine earlier today with seat assignments on British Airways.
AGENT: What?
ME: You represented yourself as British Airways, as you just did now, lied to her about being seated in coach, then charged her credit card $500 for an “upgrade” she already had. You will be shutdown.
AGENT: Oh sir, we will refund her money. Don’t worry. Do you have a reference number?
ME: Yes [the DocuSign document had an Airofly reference number, which I provided to the agent].
AGENT: Thank you sir. Please do not call the police. We will refund the money.
ME: I expect to see the refund tomorrow.
AGENT: Don’t worry sir.
The Scam
The fraud is not (necessarily) in the exorbitant “service fee” for assigning a seat on British Airways. The fraud is that this company represented itself as British Airways and preyed upon a gullible senior citizen. This company lied to her that she was seated in economy class.
If you wonder how someone can be so stupid, don’t be: this sort of thing happens all the time.
CONCLUSION
This issue is beyond my expertise of the law. Any suggestions on what to do next? Call the LA County Sheriff’s Department?
I’ll keep you updated you on whether the client receives a credit card refund.
UPDATE: The client received her money back.
10/8 is private IP address space (RFC1918), it’s not anyone in Los Angeles. It’s just registered to IANA’s address in LA but anyone can use any 10.x.x.x address as they please.
That IP Address lookup isn’t showing what you think it is, FYI. Look closely at the organization and name that it shows in the screenshot.
Shows I am no IP address expert…
They are definitely in India, so not sure what you can do. There was a “Reply All” podcast all about these kind of scams to which you should listen.
Not the Sheriff but the LAPD, local District Attorney or Attorney General. Tell them you want to make a complaint for violation of California Penal Code sections 368(d) and 368(e). It is Elder Abuse to fraudulently obtain a credit card charge.
Dispute the CC charge immediately.
I agree with the credit card dispute, either immediate or within the issuer’s guidelines.
Our office manager ran into similar “bait and switch” for lack of a better term with hotel bookings and changes.
Every dispute was resolved in our favor.
I would notify the BA legal team of what you found. They would be most interested in this.
Equally, perhaps your client can consult a solicitor working with an international firm to peruse civil action in India, or the USA, depending on the recommendations of said solicitor.
I would be most happy to do so. I’ve reached out to BA via Twitter earlier today. Let’s see if they respond…
Did refund actually happened?
No, but it was disputed.
Please keep us posted on this!
Why don’t you post something on their FB page? A link to this article perhaps?
I’m curious how your client ended up with Air O Fly’s phone number? I just googled “British Airways contact number ” and immediately got their phone number listed first in the results.
The exact thing happened to me by a company called TheFlyTeam. In trying to upgrade my seats I had asked if I was talking directly to United Airlines and was told “YES”. They then charged me $380.00 for seat upgrades which I never received. After several atttempts and then being assured a full refund, I received neither. My credit card company is on the case.
When are old people going to take their own advice and stop believing everything on the Internet?? It is almost exclusively seniors who get scammed via Internet or phone… the supposed greatest generation is so gullible it hurts.
Wouldn’t you expect people who grew up in such “hard times” to be a little more careful with their money?
Their existence is an externalized cost that society bears way too heavily. And it’s funny… they so rarely take responsibility for these careless acts, but somehow millennials are what’s wrong with the world. Let me know when a 20-something gets scammed by an African prince. Happens to seniors every day. End rant.
what search terms did they use?
So while what they did is slimy, on the surface they seem to have provided a service by acting as a booking service and actually getting her those seats. All of the websites you listed made no reference to being affiliated with British Air. Let’s assume they aren’t in India but completely operating in California. Seems like the only way you have a real case (possibly only civil at that) is if you have clear evidence (audio recording) of them representing themselves as BA. Based on what you showed they seem to be trying to do it as legally as they can which opens another question that i’m curious about now. If you have a company that farms out customer service to a foreign company and that company accidentally misrepresents something like “are you BA” or “can you help me with BA” I dunno how the fraud argument easily is transferred to the company that contracted out unless obviously you have some secret internal memo that conspires to misrepresent themselves as BA…