FOX 2 – Online travel scams can happen to anyone, even FOX 2 meteorologist Derek Kevra. When he tried to cancel his family’s vacation plans, it turned out that he had inadvertently brought himself into contact with the criminals.

Derek and his wife had booked a vacation to Mackinac Island. But life happened and they decided it wasn’t the best time – so they canceled their trip – or at least, they thought they did.

In reality, they simply passed on important financial information to what they now view as scammers.

A meteorologist by training, Derek makes his living predicting the future, but he didn’t see it coming.

“I’m the technician at FOX 2, it just feels like it’s not going to happen to me,” he said.

But it happens all the time to pretty much everyone — and for Derek, it happened when he tried to cancel a summer trip.

“We looked at our schedules and realized we were too busy, it wasn’t going to work,” he said.

Their first call was made directly to the hotel.

“(They said) ‘You booked it through Expedia, so we can’t see your reservation, you’re going to have to cancel it through Expedia,'” Kevra said.

Okay, no problem, right?

“My wife Googles Expedia’s cancellation number, a number pops up, (she) calls the number, and it was a completely normal conversation,” Derek said.

He later learned they weren’t talking to Expedia. According to cybersecurity expert David Derigiotis, they were most likely talking with someone trying to take advantage of the convenience.

“Scammers and criminals try to work their way to the top of search results – many eyes always turn to that first page,” Derigiotis said.

In this case, Derek was told he would get a full refund minus a small cancellation fee. He even received a confirmation email from who he thought was an Expedia representative.

“It looks as legit as possible, there’s a photo of the property,” he said.

Two days before the trip, the Kevras double-checked to make sure everything was set up.

“(My wife) is going on Expedia and the trip was not canceled,” Derek said.

This time, they participated in an online chat directly on the Expedia website.

“This representative confirmed that the trip was not canceled and that the service we used to cancel the trip was a scam,” he said.

Derigiotis said the person behind the scam used the guise of several travel sites.

“The website wasn’t Expedia, and I dug a little deeper and saw that the person who created this website also owns 30 other websites related to things like Travel and Expedia,” said Derigiotis. “He’s hitching his wagon to a big, reputable name like Expedia.”

The website Derek inadvertently used was Speedtrip.US, found in the fine print at the bottom of his email. So we called them.

Derek: “Hi Manpree with Speedtrip.US?

“All right.”

Derek: “Is that correct?”

“Yes.”

After some questioning, the person on the phone changed course, saying they were not familiar with Speedtrip.US – or any of the other websites allegedly licensed to it.

Derek: “We booked a trip through Expedia and were charged money to cancel it, and that never happened. So I was curious if you could explain to me what was going on with that?”

“Like I said, I don’t even know what company,” the voice said. “If you have anything you can show me, because I own it.”

Derigiotis: “What about Expedia-Booking.US which is also registered under your name, along with 30 other websites. »

“No, it’s not even my…”

FOX 2 reached out to Expedia directly. In a statement, they wrote:

“This appears to be a case of fraud. We take fraudulent use of our brand very seriously and are investigating this incident carefully. If a traveler needs assistance, they should always obtain our contact directly from our official Expedia website. com and not through a general Google search service.

“We fell into it,” Derek said.

“Exactly, they’re hoping you’re going to look for these things,” Derigiotis said. “That’s what they want, the trapdoor that they open that they want people to walk straight into.”

“And it didn’t help that we were in a hurry,” Derek said.

Most scammers rely on impulsive decision-making. They are also counting on you not to report it to anyone, either because you detected it in time.

“Sort of, okay, we solved it, let’s move on,” Derek said.

Or, because you think it won’t make any difference:

“You feel stupid for being taken advantage of and you feel helpless,” Derek said.

Derigiotis agrees.

“Of course, you’re one person. But that’s the principle of the game, one person here, one person there,” he said. “It’s a game of whack-a-mole, it takes time and effort and there’s a bit of shame – but you shouldn’t be ashamed.

“It’s very widespread and we need to do everything we can to make sure the next person doesn’t become a victim.”

Luckily, Derek and his wife were still able to take this trip, once they learned it was never canceled.

As for who you should contact, there are resources on the FTC and FBI Internet crime reporting sites. Even though it’s difficult to get your money back, it could prevent the next person from falling victim to the same scam.

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