Scam Alert!

A Los Angeles agency has alerted us to a new scam that agents should be aware of. The victim of the scam wished to remain anonymous.

An L.A. agency was contacted by travel agent claiming to be affiliated with an ASTA agency in Ireland. The Irish agency had clients coming to L.A., and they asked if the L.A. agency would be able to set them up with hotels, transfers, sightseeing and more. The L.A. agency was happy to comply.

After everything was set up, the L.A agency asked how the Irish agency would like to pay, and the Irish agency said they would pay via wire transfer. The L.A. agency provided their transfer information and then waited to receive payment. After several excuses, the Irish agency lost contact and the trip was off.

About a month later, the L.A. agency received a call from a woman in Connecticut who had used an online job site and had subsequently received a package from a company containing a check for $1,850 from the L.A. agency. The Connecticut woman was told to cash the agency check, keep 10 percent and send the rest of the money back to the company. Suspicious, the Connecticut woman phoned the L.A. agency to let them know about the bogus check.

Shocked, the L.A. agency alerted the bank, only to find out that two more checks for the same amount had been issued. The checks, which were out of sequence and didn’t match proper handwriting, were obviously fraudulent and the agency was not out any money as a result of the scam, but the bank has opened a fraud investigation, and matters have not yet been resolved.

The L.A. agency wanted to share their story so that no one else is a victim of this wire-transfer fraud.

If you have any questions or have been a victim of a similar scam, please let us know by leaving a comment or e-mailing us at letters@travelagewest.com.