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United Airlines Scam: How a Phone Call Cost $17,000! #shorts
Aug 28, 2025
A family's vacation was ruined when a United Airlines agent accidentally connected them with scammers. Learn how a rebooking attempt turned into a $17,000 nightmare and how to protect yourself from fake customer service numbers. #scam #travel #fraud #airlines #UnitedAirlines
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0:00
A scam story with a twist after a call
0:02
to United Airlines ended up in the hands
0:05
of a scammer. Dan Smoker says it all
0:07
started when a big summer vacation to
0:09
Europe was cancelled due to engine
0:10
issues and he called United directly to
0:13
try and rebook six tickets.
0:15
I was on with one person uh for a bit
0:17
and kind of explained the situation.
0:19
Dan says after a few minutes on the
0:21
line, he was transferred to another
0:22
representative, David, who offered to
0:24
rebook their flights on another airline
0:26
for $17,000.
0:29
He says at the end of the more than
0:30
threehour phone call, this new
0:32
reservation didn't go through and that
0:35
big charge was still on his credit card.
0:37
He sent a whole email afterwards that
0:39
that described the refund.
0:41
They were able to rebook on another
0:43
flight. But when the refund still didn't
0:45
process weeks later, Dan reached out to
0:48
United.
0:48
At that point, I still didn't realize
0:51
that it was a scam. Turns out United
0:53
confirmed to ABC that their
0:54
investigation found the initial United
0:57
agent helping to rebook the flight
0:59
googled the other airlines number and
1:01
ended up transferring him to a scammer
1:03
by accident. United tells us they're
1:06
currently working with Dan's credit card
1:08
company to make it right.
1:09
It's one thing to call call the wrong
1:11
number entirely and get scammed. It's
1:14
another thing to call a trusted source
1:16
or what you think is a trusted source
1:18
and get scammed. The FTC warning that
1:20
scammers post fake customer service
1:22
numbers for airlines online in order to
1:24
deceive customers.
1:26
Scammers will place paid advertisements
1:29
and try to trick people into thinking
1:31
that that's the real contact information
1:34
for a business.
1:35
With scams so prolific these days, it's
1:38
easy to see how Americans continue to
1:40
lose a lot of money to impostor scams.
1:42
In the first half of 2025, there have
1:45
already been more than 500,000 reports
1:47
to the FTC with $1.6 billion dollars in
1:51
reported losses.
1:53
We know that that's only the tip of the
1:54
iceberg because not everyone reports
1:56
when they encounter a fraud.
1:58
They're becoming more and more
1:59
sophisticated and we all have to be
2:02
extra cautious. United stay saying in a
2:05
statement, quote, "We have been in
2:06
direct contact with the customer to
2:08
understand what happened in this case
2:10
and we are reviewing this matter
2:12
thoroughly and we are committed to
2:14
finding a fair resolution for him." But
2:16
what a debacle to go.
2:18
He has to get his money back. I imagine
2:20
he'll get that a little bit more.
2:21
Yeah. And and he should also Another
2:23
thing to think about here is use a
2:24
credit card when you're booking because
2:26
if it's a debit card, it comes out of
2:27
your account,
2:27
right? The text.
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