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Contact Us
Need to report fraud? Have questions about fraud?
Phone: 703-816-8137
Fax: 703-816-8138
Email: FIFP@ARCcorp.com
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Fraud Prevention
ARC is dedicated to preventing fraud. Learn more
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MY GRANDCHILD WAS JUST BORN AND TICKETS ARE NEEDED NOW!
ANOTHER TWIST ON CREDIT CARD FRAUD
Who can resist helping out a family with a newborn? You had better think twice as this request is also the newest variation on the Doctor, Moving Company, Missionary scam. In the past week, several agents reported to ARC of calls from unfamiliar customers requesting immediate ticketing, supposedly because a grandchild had just been born and family members from various cities needed to travel right away to see this latest addition to the family.
Similarities were:
- Agents were not located in metropolitan areas
- Unfamiliar customer claiming to be from a neighboring town
- Local addresses and phone numbers were given
- Relatives (grandparents, parents, cousins, etc.) needing to travel were not in any town near the travel agency
- Travel was needed for today or the next day
- Travel was all domestic
- Travel was not for the “caller” or the “cardholder” (3rd party transaction)
- Caller indicated they had previously purchased tickets from the agency
Some travel agents became wise to the scheme by:
- Calling the phone number – it was disconnected
- Verifying the address – it did not exist
- Asking the caller to come to the agency with the credit card – caller never appeared
- Checking the agency’s records for prior purchases by the caller – not a known client
Do not fall for a sympathy ploy from someone you don’t know! Check it out and verify the information given to you.
Similar ploys have included:
- death in the family
- grandparents needing to fly
- medical students needing to fly
- missionaries needing to fly
- hearing impaired operator (TTY)
. . . the list goes on and on.
How can you further help yourself and others prevent fraud? Adopt a company policy on unknown customers that requires a manual credit card imprint and original cardholder signature, along with personally verifying the cardholder’s valid identification (See Section 8 of the online Industry Agents’ Handbook at www.arccorp.com).
If you receive a call, email or fax resembling a scheme (combinations of first time client, TTY, Lagos, 3rd party transactions, full fare tickets, faxes or emails with misspellings and references to city or airport codes, etc.), be sure to verify the information through all sources before you take the risk to ticket and/or release ticket numbers to the requestor.
ARC is always following-up in ways that will help other agents. If you determine that a credit card has been compromised, please call ARC's Fraud Prevention & Field Investigation Department at 703-816-8137 to provide the passenger names and credit card details.
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