- Report: #205200
Complaint Review: Travel Agents Direct - Suntasia - Tampa Florida
-
Author Confirmed
Why?
Travel Agents Direct - Suntasia
www.suntasia.com Tampa, Florida, U.S.A.
Phone:
727-683-1112
Web:
N/A
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Travel Agents Direct - Suntasia Phone Scam, Caller claims you've won a free vacation because you used your checking account ripoff Tampa Florida
So here it goes...
I'm on my way home from work for lunch and I receive a call from 727-683-1112, unsure of who it is, I answer. The caller states that they are affiliated with my bank, Florida Telco Credit Union and that they are contacting me to notify me of a prize I've won. Curious, I listen to the 'speech'.
The caller says that because I am a "Valued Florida Telco Member" and I recently (within the last 6 mths) made a purchase online using my checking account, I have one a 3 night, 2 day vacation PLUS $400 in airfair to the LOVELY Orlando/Disney Resort. Nice right?
The caller then says I just need to verify some of your information to confirm that we have the right "Valued Member". This is when my couriosity really peaked. I thought to myself, ok what kind of information does he need to verify. So he starts out by stating the 9 digit bank routing number to me. Knowing that this information is available to virtually anyone this does not peak my concern until...
He then recites my checking account number EXACTLY to me. Now I know this is a scam because I've had to call my bank and ask for this information and they would not provide it to me. Trying to dig deeper and get some more information I say "ok so now what" the 'ripoff artist' then proceeds to inform me that I needed to go onto a recorded call in order to verify and confirm my acceptance of the prize. When he places me on hold I immediately hung up.
I redialed the number from which the call originated. My call was answered by a recording and the very first thing that caught my attention is there was no 'Thank you for calling Travel Agents Direct' or anything that stated the name of the company. The greeting simply said 'Thank you for calling'.
It then went in to the automated options. Press 1 to discontinue receiving calls, Press 2 continue receiving calls and Press 3 to cancel a previous order (I'm pretty sure that's what they were). I pressed 2 and then returned to eating my lunch.
About an hr later I received a 2nd call originating from the same area code, although the number was slightly different 727-683-1118. I thought boy are these people relentless. I answered the phone and a young lady politely informed me that my call had been previously disconnected and the only thing left for me to do to claim my prize was the recorded confirmation. I nicely told her that I was not interested and she refused to take no for an answer.
After about the 3rd contest of her offer I said "Ma'am I've politely told you 3 times, I'm going to tell you once again, I am not interested in your offer. I'm also going to ask you to please remove all of my contact and banking information from your system." I then warned her that if there were any erroneous charges or activity on my account I would file a law suit.
After she spit out about 100 words in 2.5 seconds (the only thing I caught was something about a customer service number) she hung up on me.
Now, as a former victim of Identity Fraud and a former employee of CitiBank's Credit Card division. My concern grew. I immediatly called my bank, transferred all of my funds to another account, and closed the account that "Travel Agents Direct" had recited to me.
Here's the most amazing part - "Travel Agents Direct" called me AGAIN this morning to inform me that my order had not been processed due to an invalid account number.
HEED THIS WARNING! No one that you hold any sort of financial account with will ever solicit you via phone, mail, or internet, requesting your banking information.
Sam
Jacksonville, Florida
U.S.A.
I'm on my way home from work for lunch and I receive a call from 727-683-1112, unsure of who it is, I answer. The caller states that they are affiliated with my bank, Florida Telco Credit Union and that they are contacting me to notify me of a prize I've won. Curious, I listen to the 'speech'.
The caller says that because I am a "Valued Florida Telco Member" and I recently (within the last 6 mths) made a purchase online using my checking account, I have one a 3 night, 2 day vacation PLUS $400 in airfair to the LOVELY Orlando/Disney Resort. Nice right?
The caller then says I just need to verify some of your information to confirm that we have the right "Valued Member". This is when my couriosity really peaked. I thought to myself, ok what kind of information does he need to verify. So he starts out by stating the 9 digit bank routing number to me. Knowing that this information is available to virtually anyone this does not peak my concern until...
He then recites my checking account number EXACTLY to me. Now I know this is a scam because I've had to call my bank and ask for this information and they would not provide it to me. Trying to dig deeper and get some more information I say "ok so now what" the 'ripoff artist' then proceeds to inform me that I needed to go onto a recorded call in order to verify and confirm my acceptance of the prize. When he places me on hold I immediately hung up.
I redialed the number from which the call originated. My call was answered by a recording and the very first thing that caught my attention is there was no 'Thank you for calling Travel Agents Direct' or anything that stated the name of the company. The greeting simply said 'Thank you for calling'.
It then went in to the automated options. Press 1 to discontinue receiving calls, Press 2 continue receiving calls and Press 3 to cancel a previous order (I'm pretty sure that's what they were). I pressed 2 and then returned to eating my lunch.
About an hr later I received a 2nd call originating from the same area code, although the number was slightly different 727-683-1118. I thought boy are these people relentless. I answered the phone and a young lady politely informed me that my call had been previously disconnected and the only thing left for me to do to claim my prize was the recorded confirmation. I nicely told her that I was not interested and she refused to take no for an answer.
After about the 3rd contest of her offer I said "Ma'am I've politely told you 3 times, I'm going to tell you once again, I am not interested in your offer. I'm also going to ask you to please remove all of my contact and banking information from your system." I then warned her that if there were any erroneous charges or activity on my account I would file a law suit.
After she spit out about 100 words in 2.5 seconds (the only thing I caught was something about a customer service number) she hung up on me.
Now, as a former victim of Identity Fraud and a former employee of CitiBank's Credit Card division. My concern grew. I immediatly called my bank, transferred all of my funds to another account, and closed the account that "Travel Agents Direct" had recited to me.
Here's the most amazing part - "Travel Agents Direct" called me AGAIN this morning to inform me that my order had not been processed due to an invalid account number.
HEED THIS WARNING! No one that you hold any sort of financial account with will ever solicit you via phone, mail, or internet, requesting your banking information.
Sam
Jacksonville, Florida
U.S.A.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Joe
Here,Florida,
U.S.A.
YOU'RE WELCOME!!
#2UPDATE EX-employee responds
Thu, August 10, 2006
Sam I'm glad I was able to help. The internet is definitely a great tool in spreading important information about crooks like these. I hope everyone that reads these posts will follow the suggestions on how to stand up to these people like Suntasia. There are strength in numbers. Make sure you let everyone know about the Channel 4 news investigation link so that people can see for themselves how the scam is done. http://komotv.com/buyerbeware/story.asp?ID=44298
Sam
Jacksonville,Florida,
U.S.A.
Every one wants to make money... Can't they do it legally!?!
#3Author of original report
Wed, August 09, 2006
Joe, I was able to protect myself from any activity. I have formally notified Suntasia via a certified and notarized letter that they should cease any and all contact with me including but limited to removing all of my contact and banking information from their databases. Its truely a shame that people have nothing better to do but spend thier time trying to STEAL the money of hard working individuals but as long as there are gullable people out there falling for these scams crooks will continue to develop them. None the less, I've protected myself and wanted to make sure that others were made aware so that they could protect themselves as well. I sent the exact same information as posted here via email to my co-workers, friends, and family and to my surprise I encountered not 1 but 2 other people who had been victims as well. With websites such as this one and the power of internet perhaps us 'little people' can stick to the criminals. Thank you for your opinion and information! Sincerely,
Joe
Here,Florida,
U.S.A.
WHAT A SURPRISE! SUNTASIA DID IT AGAIN!!
#4UPDATE EX-employee responds
Wed, August 09, 2006
Hey Sam, you need to know that the reason they called you back was b/c you hung up on them and didn't tell them to take you off their list. Also the "woman" who called you back is someone who sits in the back of the office and does what's termed, "Genie" calls. Those are calls made back to the original customer who either hung up before or during the recording of the sale. Their job is to confirm the sale and make their commission off of you. The original agent who called you loses out. Another thing is that agents are TOLD constantly that they cannot say you've "won" this free trip b/c this leads people to believe it's a sweepstakes or lottery. They also cannot "claim" to have your account information b/c they don't. Only your routing number is accessible to them providing you tell them your bank name and what city it was opened at. ;) Anyway Sam I hope you have been reading the other posts on this site, telling you how this sham works. As a matter a fact all you have to do is Google the name Suntasia Marketing (the company responsible for calling you) and you'll see a bunch of websites that expose this shameful company. Did you get a chance to see the investigative news report that was done on Suntasia? Take a look. Copy and paste the following link on your address bar. http://www.komotv.com/buyerbeware/story.asp?ID=44298 Like I tell everyone, you'll see that you're NOT alone with your concerns.
