I typed in Turkish Airlines on the Google search and a number popped up on the screen. The phone number in question was 1-877-287-1365 (Be Aware this is a SCAM phone number). The search said that it was a Turkish Airlines Reservations and Customer Service line. They even had a web site dedicated to the number and the Turkish airlines. I called this number assuming it was Turkish Airlines and the agent on the other side pretended to be Turkish Airlines. My biggest mistake in all this was that I should have gone directly to www.turkishairlines.com or gone there from the the Google Search results.
Hence I want to let the other people on the Internet of their scam. This company is running many web sites in an attempt to fool the public. They are also running multiple travel sites as well. There are a number of re-redirects when you try to book online. However, the main travel sites are for the companies Traveloes, Travomint and Flightszoom. All these companies are based out of Noida, India. A tech suburb outside of New Delhi. These companies are also registered in the US and UK. BUT they is no actual physical presence in US or UK. They list 205 Van Buren Street
Suite 140, Herndon, VA 20170 as there address but there is no one to be found. However, if you actually do a search on the address, then you will see over 10 companies listed under the same suite. I wonder how many people they can pack into one suite. They are using US and UK toll free numbers to route all calls to the call centers in India.
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| Multiple people at same address |
The people behind this scam are Alok Kumar Singh and Vivek Kumar Singh. The companies in the US, UK and India are registered under their name. Besides travel they have fake training schools with fake degrees. Here is a link to the Indian corporate registration.
https://www.tofler.in/traveloes-online-private-limited/company/U63030UP2017PTC089611
When a person is online line a they do a search for any of these companies they will see a number to site touting them. A lot o site also have fake reviews for them. Traveloes, Travomint and Flightszoom are using the links on the following sites to fool the public to call them. They have also created a number of fraudulent images to fool the public. The following sites try to show legitimacy to these clowns.
http://www.vsupportservices.com
http://www.iteraa.com
http://www.itfixtech.com
http://www.referenceitpro.com
http://www.ithelpnumber.com
http://www.wikiamonks.com
http://www.dialforinfo.com
http://www.vikuhelp.com
http://www.buzzmeweb.com
http://www.instasupports.com
http://www.helpquicky.com
http://www.ebiztown.com
http://www.rapidhelpline.com
http://www.oceanhelpline.com
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| This site supporting Travaloes, Travomint, Flightszoom |
Any internet search for following URLs will land you on the sites listed above.
www.traveloes.com
www.travomint.com
www.flightszoom.com
www.flightszoom.co.uk
www.flightszoom.us
www.faretrust.com
www.travomint.co.uk
www.traveloes.co.uk
www.cheapflightinfo.com
www.expatriates.com
If you are to do a phone number search on the web for the following numbers, then you will also end up at the sites listed on top.
1-888-266-1699
1-888-868-0095
1-877-294-2894
1-888-202-5328
1-888-286-3422
However, the biggest scam of all is at the Toll-Free number 1-877-287-1365. A search of this number will bring up a lot of images on Google and misrepresentation by this company of the airlines reservations and customer number for various airlines.
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| Wrong Number being advertised |
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| Wrong Number being advertised |
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| Wrong Number being advertised |
I have just listed a few of the toll free numbers. If any of the toll free numbers are called, the person is routed to the same call center. There you will be greeted by John, Maverick etc. By the way these are not their real names. The agents will also refuse to give you their real name. Even their email addresses do not have real names. Hence, who are they try to hide from. We usually see this type of call center setup for the CRA and IRS scams.
I was scammed by the agent when I called them. The agent charged me over $3000 above my flight tickets cost. However, he never once told me that $3000 was their agency fee. He just kept saying airline consolidation and airline imposed fee. They got be to fraudulently do an authorization. I would have never agreed to those charges. When I asked for a breakdown of the cost the provided a blank invoice with no invoice number, company name, address, tax id. On top of that I was charged by a company which I never gave authorization for. It seems like they using multiple shell companies. It is similar to bait and switch. Anyone charged by them from an unauthorized company should put a dispute with the credit card company.
Another thing that should raise red flags is that they want everyone to book over the phone. They actually offer a discount over the phone order rather than website booking. It is actually harder to con people via automated online website booking. The agents talk people into over paying. This is not possible on the website because all the travel agencies us the same back booking systems.
Do not believe any of their five star reviews. If you do see a review, then look at the profile of the reviewers and you will see that they are reviewing their own companies; which is a clear conflict of interest.
I have also seen a lot or the reviewer stating that the agency cancelled their booking and then only to charge them more to re-book the same flights. Some of the people didn't know that their booking were cancelled by the agency until they were at the airport counter.
Finally the last red flag is their payment verification department. They want a copy of your credit card, and IDs. Who today actually requests those. Do you trust the people sitting in the Indian call center with your information? You are actually putting yourselves at risk. On top of that this is against the credit card PCI compliance. Do they provide you proof that your data in destroyed afterwards.
Here is there hiring blitz to hire more agents to scam more people.
https://www.wisdomjobs.com/job-for-bulk-hiring-sr-dot-travel-sales-cons-noida-1-to-6-years-6904532
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| Hiring add in India |
The bottom line is to be aware of a number of scams online. This can be travel, computer support and the IRS scam. If you have any doubts about the online vendor then do not deal with them. If you see mostly 5 star reviews and 1 star review then be careful. The 5 star reviews are most likely from the vendor. You will get piece of mind by dealing with the airlines directly rather than via 3rd party. They will over charge you under the disguise of airline fees. They will over charge you for cancellation. I just wanted to bring our the truth about Traveloes, Travomint and Flightszoom.(the main ones that I know so far). This blog will be updated as I get more and more information.
