Imposter websites posing as Flight Centre are using a trusted brand to scam consumers. The travel agency group is working with search engines including Google to try to shut them down, but as fast as they are removed, new fakes are popping up.
Flight Centre told Canadian Press that is has been successful in having more than 200 fraudulent listings removed since last summer.
“But it does seem just as quickly as we flag new listings that there are new ones popping up,” Chadd Andre, EVP of Flight Centre Canada told CP.
Even loyal customers are falling victim to the scam. Ihsan Abdul Salam told Canadian Press that he has been buying airline tickets with the international travel company since 1995.
Salam Googled Flight Centre to book tickets to Sao Paulo. He said he clicked on the first site that appeared, then spoke to a “travel consultant” on the phone, who took his booking and payment. But when he went to a Vancouver FCTG branch to pick up tickets to Brazil he had booked through a consultant online, he learned that the $2,280 booking didn't exist.
Flight Centre Travel Group Canada EVP Chadd Andre. (Photo Credit: Chadd Andre)
Flight Centre’s Andre happened to be at the Kitsilano branch to discuss educating customers about fraudulent sites when he noticed Salam walk in to seek help last year, putting a human face on the problem.
In examples Flight Centre shared with CP, there are warning flags: one is labelled “Flight Center,” not “Flight Centre,” and features a blue and white colour scheme instead of FCTG’s familiar red and white. The authentic Flight Centre website now carries a prominent warning about fakes.
Salam said he had to “swallow the pain” of paying for fake tickets, but still plans to book with Flight Centre in future. “This time I will go to the office and I will see the people there,” Salam said.
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