Top 10 ways to avoid travel scams
2009 by Melissa Wiley
These days most everything happens online, and that includes booking your summer vacation. With Fido in the picture, sometimes the small print can be a little elusive. And even without your furry friend along for the ride, some online travel deals might be too good to be true. Undercover Tourist (UndercoverTourist.com), a licensed discount seller for Walt Disney World, offers up its top 10 tips to avoid a scam:
- Check to see if the vendor is an officially authorized ticket vendor.
- Do a little research about the organization online. Online forums, blogs and other groups are good sources of information.
- Find out if the contact information on the organization's website available and accurate.
- Always ask what's not included in a travel offer. Sometimes travel deals may appear to be great until you find the hidden costs of that deal.
- Ensure there is a refund policy. If not, buyer beware.
- Avoid unsolicited offers. More often than not, if you receive a travel offer you haven't asked for it is fraudulent.
- Use a credit card. This ensures you can dispute any charges if you do get scammed.
- Ask yourself if the organization's website has a professional appearance. If there are grammar errors on the page or if the site has not been updated recently you should probably avoid the offer.
- Check the website's payment page. Be sure the payment page looks like part of the website, allows you to use major credit cards and uses a VeriSign or an equivalent web security certificate.
- If the deal or travel package sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.
Undercover Tourist (UndercoverTourist.com), a licensed discount seller for Walt Disney World, offers up its top 10 tips to avoid a scam
