Scam involves 'free' Disney tickets

http://www.saanichnews.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=28&cat=23&id=854323&more=

By Amy Dove
News staff
news@saanichnews.com
Mar 16 2007

Police urge caution of unsolicited mail, calls

Police advocate that residents be wary of unsolicited mail or phone calls offering too-good-to-be-true deals, but an incident this month proves even the wary can get bamboozled.

A Saanich resident reported being scammed March 13 after her credit card was debited $800. The woman received a call from a company claiming she had won a trip to Disney World. She queried the caller for 45 minutes before handing over her credit card information to secure the trip.

The scam was reported after she checked her account. It was debited within minutes of her hanging up the phone, said Saanich Sgt. John Price.

The woman thought she had asked all the right questions, but the best policy is still to hang up the phone or throw the mail away, Price said.

“These people who are calling are very skilled. They have the gift of the gab,” he said, noting once they get a person’s attention, they can be convincing.

Reputable companies will provide contact information that can be checked out. In this case the numbers provided were fake.

For more information on current scams, go to www.saanichpolice.ca. The Don’t Be Scammed page contains links to worldwide scam alerts.

 

If the call came to a non-Disney addict, it would be an easy hang up... ; but so many of us enter contests on a regular basis, that one of these calls might be tempting. ;

Oh well, back to the old addage... ; if it seems to good to be true....

 

It's a old saying but if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. I won a "free" trip to Disney once along with a cruise but had to pay the taxes up front it ended costing me the same as a "real" trip. Once bitten twice shy. I always hang up now and travel with a reputable travel agent.

 

There is no such thing as a free lunch.

A but off topic, I also love when another "Time share" calls me and says I have won a free trip, I tell them that I already own "Disney" time share and they say thank you and hang up....

 

I want to buy a Disney time share but i can't do it from Alberta so i need to wait until my next time! Need to spend 3k in order to buy in to a 15k time share.

 

Oh, Sean... the price just went up on the DVC, too... as did the minimum number of 'points' you can buy (and they all still expire at the same time until they open the next set of villas). ; (we went to one of their 'open house tour' things this last visit... all I can say is the ice cream is unbelieveable )