(June 3, 2008)

Q – Too good to be true vacation offers have been around for years. What are the catches?

A- The promotions continue and you really have to be careful. Here are two recent examples:

1) Local consumers are reporting the receipt of promotional material from Imperial Majesty Cruise Line Vacations of Florida. This is a DBA for a company by the name of Ramada Plaza Resort, not to be confused with the Ramada Inn. The mailing resembles cruise line boarding passes.

Basically, the company offers consumers a cruise to Nassau from Miami. One should note that Nassau is about 180 miles from Miami. This is not a Carnival cruise line type trip. In fact, reliable sources informed the BBB that this “cruise” can be purchased in Miami for around $180. The purpose of the offer is to get consumers to listen to a timeshare presentation.

The company has been the subject of 1,100+ complaints to the West Palm Beach BBB. They have earned themselves a BBB rating of “F”. That’s right, that BBB issues ratings. Something the Coastal Bend BBB will be doing in the near future. The company has also been in trouble with the Florida Attorney General having entered into an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance in August of 2006. Here is the link to the full BBB report.

http://www.bbbsoutheastflorida.org/BBBWeb/Forms/Business/CompanyReportPage_Expository.aspx?CompanyID=27000137

2) Our second example may be closer to home and illustrates that authorities do take action.

The Texas Attorney General has charged a North Texas travel club with defrauding its unsuspecting customers. The Attorney General enforcement action names three firms: Horizon Travel, Travel Club International and VIP Travel Incentives Inc. All defendants are charged with conspiring to hide assets from authorities and failing to deliver legitimate travel discounts or free trips to dues-paying travel club members.

Although seminar attendees were promised “free vacations”, the defendants actually required a $100 deposit to secure purchasers’ travel plans. Customers who attempted to schedule their “free trip” were consistently told that the requested travel dates were unavailable. Because the “free trips” frequently never materialized before customers’ vouchers expired, many lost their $100 deposits.

Q - What’s our scheme of the week?

A- A local business reported receiving an unsolicited e-mail requesting quotes for a large number of expensive items. The request was from an unknown overseas entity. We have received MANY calls from businesses who have received such requests. Unfortunately, several businesses called after they fell for the scam. The elements of the scam are:

Scheme will originate from a foreign country.
- Schemer will ask for quote on expensive items(s)
- Items purchased are to be sent to another country
- Schemer asks victim to directly pay shipping company who supposedly transport items to buyer
- Schemer pays victim by counterfeit check or stolen credit card
- The victim losses the money that was sent to the phony shipping company.

The lesson is simple. Businesses really need to verify the truthfulness of requests from unknown “customers”. They need to make sure that ALL employees know about these schemes, especially the sales force.