Crew Insider is our series of informative articles that answer some of the most common and less common questions about the aviation industry from the point of view of an industry insider. Our question answerer-in-chief is Mateusz Maszczynski, who has worked in the airline industry for nearly two decades and has honed his expertise in the field through this blog since 2015.
Getting in touch with an airline when things don’t go to plan can be a pretty frustrating experience, especially when you’re left waiting on hold to get through to a call center for hours on end only to get disconnected or passed through to another department in what can feel like an endless loop.
That’s probably why more and more passengers are turning to social media to get help from airlines, especially on Elon Musk’s X (previously Twitter), which travel experts once lauded as a sort of travel hack to beat the long hold times.
Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for scammers to realize that they could take advantage of these social media platforms to target unsuspecting airline passengers desperate to get help as quickly as possible.
And ever since Musk made changes to X’s verification system, allowing anyone to buy an official-looking blue tick symbol against their username, it’s now easier than ever for con artists to masquerade as an official airline customer service account to swindle vulnerable consumers out of their hard-earned money.
One victim of this scam recently shared their story on Reddit after booking a flight with American Airlines. Several hours later, however, they received an email telling them that the flight departure date had been changed.
The booking and email were genuine, but when the victim couldn’t stand the wait to get through to a call center customer service rep, they decided to reach out to American Airlines on X in the hope of getting assistance a little quicker.
The travel hack appeared to work like magic. Within minutes, they received a reply from an account that seemed to be from American Airlines.
The account asked the customer to share their name, reservation number, and WhatsApp number, and a short time later, they received a call via WhatsApp offering to assist them with their booking.
The person on the other end of the line seemed “very helpful and kind” and even offered to provide compensation for the inconvenience of the passenger having their flight changed.
When the customer asked whether they would have to provide their credit card details over the phone, the scammer even reassured them that they couldn’t do this as it wasn’t secure. Instead, they would be required to send their credit card details via WhatsApp.
At this point, however, the victim realized something was amiss. They challenged the scammer, who quickly hung up when they worked out they had been caught out.
Unfortunately, not everyone is so lucky, and there are countless tales of customers being swindled out of their hard-earned money in similar scams.
The scam works by thieves monitoring X for any mentions of an airline’s official ‘handle’ from customers desperate to get help. They then quickly respond with an offer of assistance before the official airline account even has a chance to reply.
They use similar-looking account names, blue ticks, and official logos to deceive vulnerable passengers who don’t notice or don’t think to look for the telltale signs that the message has come from a fake account.
Most consumers aren’t deceived, but once a scammer gets a reply from an unsuspecting passenger, their game plan is to get them off X as quickly as possible and onto other platforms like WhatsApp.
Using X and other social media sites to get help from an airline can still be worthwhile, but it’s essential to verify that the person you are talking to actually represents the airline you are trying to get in touch with.
One of the easiest ways to do this is to closely examine the account ‘handle’ or name, as this will normally be a variant of the official airline name. Look closely, however, and you may notice a misspelling, a number, or random underscore that differentiates it from the real airline account.
Even after you’ve verified that the reply has come from the official airline account, you still shouldn’t let your guard down. In this case, American Airlines doesn’t use WhatsApp for customer service issues, so that would be a major red flag, but many airlines do utilize WhatsApp to communicate with customers.
If you get asked to move your conversation onto WhatsApp, verify that the number contacting you matches the WhatsApp number used by the airline. To do this, check the official airline website rather than Googling the number, as scammers have learned how to plant fake telephone numbers on popular search engines.
Even at this point, you shouldn’t believe that the person you are talking to is genuine. They should know details about your booking, whereas a scammer won’t have access to any of this information.
Their primary goal is to get hold of your credit card information – either by offering compensation or asking you to pay a small fee. An airline should already have your card details from your booking and won’t need to ask you to share these personal details in a WhatsApp message.
If you are unsure, the best course of action is to hang up and contact the airline via methods listed on their official website. Again, don’t rely on a telephone number listed on a Google search, as these aren’t always genuine.
This scam has become so prevalent that some airlines have even stopped offering assistance via X in a bid to prevent their customers from falling victim, and you’ll often see airlines warning passengers to be especially cautious while using X for customer service.
Yes, it can be frustrating to wait on hold to get in touch with an airline, but sometimes, a little extra patience can save you from being preyed upon by a scammer.
