BEWARE Travel Scams! How to Spot a Con Artist

Today I read yet another story about someone who'd posed as a travel agent, and stole/scammed people who were making plans to visit Disney World. According to the story (you can read it here), a woman posed as a travel agent and stole over $100,000 from families who were planning trips. She has pled guilty and is paying restitution to her victims.

It makes my blood BOIL when I read these stories - and unfortunately, they aren't rare. I read one article about a year ago where a school band or choir was heading to Disney World to preform, drove all the way there, showed up to their hotel and were told they had no reservations. The person who booked their trip took all the money, instead, and they were never booked! How heartbreaking.

In light of this, I wanted to share with you some ways to spot a crook when it comes to travel. This is by no means an exhaustive list but hopefully this will give you something to think about as you look for a travel agent.

* Work with someone you trust, or with someone who's worked with a friend/family member so you can ask about their vacation, working with that person, etc.  

Word of mouth is one of the ways that many travel agents grow their businesses. Referrals are the backbone of our business and nothing makes us happier than when you pass along our information to your friends and family. (This is how most of my clients find out about me!) Ask your friend how the agent was to work with, how responsive they are, trustworthy, etc. And most importantly, did they have a successful trip (such as the ever-important, did they had a reservation when they showed up!?).

You won't always find a travel agent via acquaintances, of course. You might see a billboard, or an ad on Google. If you have no personal knowledge of them, ask if you can speak with or email a few of their past customers and ask questions to make sure they're on the up-and-up. Any legitimate business person won't balk at this.

* NEVER give someone cash or write them a personal check for the the entirety of your trip cost.

If a "travel agent" asks you to write them a personal check, or give them cash, in payment for a trip - RUN, don't walk. Anyone who says "Just give me the cash/make the check out to me and I will take care of it" is not to be trusted. Deposits and final payments are processed by the vendor and money should not change hands via the agent. Your TA will ask for your credit or debit card information to process the reservation on the vendor's website, and will be able to provide you with documentation of this every step of the way (deposits, final payment receipt, etc).

The exception to the "don't give cash or check to your TA" are agents who have a booking free or travel planning fee, which is completely normal and above-board. This should be spelled out clearly for you when you're looking to book a vacation with an agent who has fees.

* If it sounds too good to be true - it probably is.

Keep your antenna up for things that seem just TOO good to be true. If you see someone advertising a $1,000 Walt Disney World vacation for a family of four during Christmas, for example, that should set off all sorts of alarm bells. OR, if someone says something along the lines of, "Book your vacation with me because Disney lets me offer special deals that no one else can" - RUN RUN RUN.

* Confirmation numbers and receipts should be available on official letterhead/email from the destination and ready to send to you at any time.

Once your vacation is deposited and/or paid for, your TA will be able to get your a confirmation number, and also email you receipts showing what was paid, on what date, for your files. With Disney, for example, you now enter that number into MyDisneyExperience.com and can see your reservation information yourself, on their official website. Agents also have the ability to email you the payment history and final receipt for your vacation.

If a TA cannot give you confirmation from the vendor that your trip is booked, or hesitates giving you that information - FLASHING RED SIGN! Beware!

It's sad that we live in a world where people scam families out of their hard-earned vacation dollars, but unfortunately they're out there.