Man Scammed Out Of $17,000 After Calling United Airlines Customer Service

Ceri Breeze/Getty Images

Calls to customer work seldom statesman happily and are typically a frustrating struggle against an automated strategy to get a quality typical connected nan line. One Denver man recovered retired nan difficult measurement that sometimes nan personification connected nan different extremity of nan statement isn't ever who they declare to be. He mislaid $17,000 while rebooking a family travel to Europe pinch United Airlines. It mightiness sound for illustration a acquainted phishing scam, but nan unfortunate called United's charismatic customer work number.

Dan Smoker astir had an 18-day picnic derailed aft his family's first formation from Denver to London was canceled. According to KUSA, he called 1-800-UNITED-1 nan adjacent day. Smoker said pinch a female customer work typical earlier being transferred to personification named David. He promised to rebook Smoker, but nan flight's $17,000 costs would person to beryllium charged to his paper earlier being refunded later. The caller itinerary was booked, and he received a confirmation email that it could return up to 50 business days to process nan refund.

Michael Derrer Fuchs/Getty Images

The picnic came and went, but nan refund ne'er arrived. It quickly became clear that Smoker was scammed, but really nan strategy was pulled remains a mystery. Reviewing nan telephone logs, United noted that nan hose had a 12-minute telephone pinch Smoker. However, he says he was connected nan telephone for 3 hours pinch nan Chicago-based carrier. David's existent personality is besides a enigma arsenic his interaction telephone number connected nan confirmation email is simply a dormant end. David's number besides called United connected nan time of nan incident. It seems for illustration David pretended to beryllium a United rep to Smoker and Smoker to nan airline. This does raise nan eventual question: really did Smoker get transferred from United's customer work halfway to an alleged scammer?

United Airlines is investigating nan incident, and Smoker hopes that nan hose will screen nan mislaid $17,000. While this is nan first known lawsuit of United putting nan financial information of its customers astatine risk, CEO Scott Kirby had to publish an unfastened missive to its customers reassuring their information successful nan skies past twelvemonth aft a spate of incidents. One incident featured a instrumentality falling disconnected a Boeing 777 taking disconnected from San Francisco and bouncing a way of demolition done nan worker parking lot. Running an world hose isn't easy, but it shouldn't beryllium this eventful.