Beware Of This New Airline Customer Support Scam That’s Fooling Travelers – SlashGear

When he searched on Google for Delta’s customer support, Evers found a toll-free 888 number that looked legit. He dialed it, but the call quickly broke up. He was then called back from a number with a French area code, with DTI Publishing listed as the Caller ID. Considering most people calling an airline’s customer support, especially from the airport, are already dealing with the stress and anxiety of a canceled flight, it’s no surprise that scammers are counting on people like Shmuli Evers not to get distracted by red flags like phone numbers that don’t quite make sense. Evers, eager to book a new flight, quickly gave his information to the caller, which included his name and flight confirmation number.

The scammer was able to use this information to then look up Evers’ flight and continue posing as customer support, offering him an alternative flight departing out of nearby Newark Liberty International Airport. This was conducted through SMS, which was another red flag, but Evers confirmed that he’d take the alternate flight. The scammer said he would cancel the original flight, charge him five times the original cost for the new one, and would need his payment information. Fortunately, Evers had his guard up and asked where the caller was located. 

The caller responded that he was from Rochester, New York, “two hours south of New York City.” Evers finally confirmed he was speaking with a fraud because Rochester is actually several hours northwest of New York City. Evers refused to give his payment information to the scammer, who tried in vain to continue the grift through text, before eventually giving up. Evers’ Twitter thread continues, however, because he quickly realized this particular scam wasn’t limited to targeting just Delta customers.