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The 15 Biggest Travel Scams, and How to Avoid Them

The Editors

We are the editors of SmarterTravel! Together we have appeared in countless travel publications including ABC News, Huffington Post, Travel + Leisure, USA Today, and more. We dedicate our days to creating and producing expert travel content, including packing tips, general travel advice, destination inspiration, and helpful videos. Follow us across social media on YouTube , Pinterest , Facebook , Instagram , and Twitter or drop us a line to say hi at [email protected]!

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You know that old saying “there’s a sucker born every minute”? Don’t be one of them. Stay ahead of these surprisingly effective travel scams to keep your vacation plans from falling apart. The schemes below may be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to travel cons, but preparing yourself for these common swindles is a good place to start.

Vacation Clubs

Wholesale travel clubs claim that you’ll have access to incredibly cheap vacations if you join. However, once you pay the joining fees, you find that the deals offered aren’t any better than what you can find for yourself online—for free. Consumer advocate Christopher Elliott , whose book Scammed lays out a helpful roadmap for being a responsible and effective shopper in a world of corporate swindles, has told SmarterTravel: “I’ve never come across a legitimate travel club. My advice is to run, don’t walk.”

Elliott advises that anyone considering joining a travel club do research with a very critical eye beforehand. Simply doing an internet search for the name of the travel company plus “travel scam” will usually reveal a host of problems experienced by other members. Also check the Better Business Bureau for complaints about the specific service before you buy.

Timeshare Sales

Ed Perkins, a longtime contributing editor at SmarterTravel, calls the up-front fees for selling your timeshare the biggest travel scam out there.

“Scammers promise to get you out from under, saying they have buyers, but all they really do is take a fee, upward of $400, and do nothing,” says Perkins.

Never pay up front to have someone help you sell your timeshare. If you want out, go to a licensed company and check them out with the Better Business Bureau before listing with them. If you’re having trouble getting out of your timeshare , work with a rental company and rent it out to recoup some of the money until you can sell.

Vacation Certificates

Ed Perkins also warns against prepaid vacation certificates: “Travel scams promise really great prices but deliver nothing. The idea here is to get the up-front money, then keep stalling: ‘Sorry, these dates are sold out; try again soon.’ They delay until people just quit trying.” Or the company charges huge additional fees to redeem the certificates, and the trip is considerably less luxurious than promised. Before prepaying for a vacation package, be sure to research fees and blackout dates, as well as the company’s reputation.

“Travel-Agent” Card Mills

Ah, the life of travel agents. Cheap hotels and airfares are thrown at their feet once they pull out their travel-agent ID cards, right? Wrong. Don’t believe the hype from outfits that promise to issue you a travel-agent ID that provides access to discounts. Scammers charge hundreds of dollars for these cards, but victims who shell out will quickly find that no place will accept the fakes, and they never see any discounts. The only way to avoid this travel scam is to not buy a travel-agent card if you’re not a travel agent—there’s really no legal way to get around it.

Car-Rental Collision Damage Waivers

Rick Steves calls the car-rental collision damage waivers (CDW) a “collision damage waiver racket” for a reason. When you rent a car, the company often pressures you to buy a CDW supplement, which will prevent you from having to pay a high insurance deductible if the car is damaged. (The deductible can be thousands of dollars before insurance kicks in.)

But most major credit cards already include deductible collision coverage for free , so check your credit-card terms and pay for the rental car with your credit card. Then you’ll be covered without having to shell out extra cash for phony insurance. Most credit-card collision coverage is secondary, meaning you have to claim from your regular insurance first. If you don’t want a claim on your insurance, you can buy third-party primary collision coverage from the booking agency for about $10-$11 a day. Or, if it’s pricey, you can instead buy coverage from an independent outlet; sites like Bonzah.com offer rental coverage from $7.99 per day. That’s about one-third of what the rental companies charge.

“You Won a Free Trip!”

If you’ve ever dropped your business card in a “win a free trip” drawing at a restaurant or signed up to win at a fair, you may have gotten a phone call, letter, or email claiming you’ve won a free vacation. These days, the hustle is often via robocall. Be wary—many of these “prizes” are actually booby traps in which you’ll have to pay hefty fees to claim the vacation or give your credit card number to “verify your eligibility,” resulting in identity theft. After a recent lull in monitoring these robocalls, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is again cracking down on them. If you’re scammed, get the names of resorts and airlines included in the prize and call them independently to verify the trip. Never give credit card information to someone who cold-calls you, and be sure to get details of the prize in writing before accepting.

Fake International Driving Permits

The FTC also warns against fake International Driving Permits (IDPs) . Some countries require tourists to have an IDP in addition to a U.S. driver’s license. However, there are only two American associations that are legally authorized to issue IDPs—the American Automobile Association (AAA) and the American Automobile Touring Alliance (AATA). Fraudulent companies sell fake IDPs over the Internet, but you’ll pay hundreds of dollars for a permit only to face legal problems for using the imposter IDs in another country.

The Bait and Switch

The hotel you’re thinking of booking is suspiciously cheap, but the property’s website makes it look beautiful and centrally located. When you arrive, the hotel is run-down, missing amenities, and in a deserted part of town—and it won’t refund your money. Avoid this travel scam by using websites like Oyster (one of SmarterTravel’s sister sites) and TripAdvisor (SmarterTravel’s parent site) to read real customer reviews and see honest photos of the property.

“Grandparent” Travel Scams

Even if you’re not currently traveling, you can still be the victim of a travel scam: The State Department warns that scammers will call an older relative or friend of someone who’s away on vacation and pretend to be the traveler in desperate need of help. The scammer usually poses as the traveler or a foreign government official and directs the victim to wire a large sum of money, citing an array of things: They have been robbed and need money to return to the United States, or they have run into legal trouble and need bail money. Sometimes the scammer will even pretend to be someone from the U.S. embassy calling on behalf of the relative for money. Never wire money in response to a suspicious phone call; instead contact the State Department to ask if the situation is legitimate, or call your relative directly. If you encounter this scam, the FBI advises you report it to local authorities or a state consumer protection agency. You can also file a complaint with the FCC .

The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) offers the following advice to prevent “grandparent” travel scams:

Never give out personal information such as account numbers, Social Security numbers, mothers’ maiden names, passwords, or other identifying information in response to suspicious calls or to callers demanding immediate action. Scammers can spoof the caller ID of their number to make it appear to be from a trusted source. If a caller claiming to represent a company or a government agency asks for personal information, hang up and verify the authenticity of the request by contacting the company or agency yourself, using information found on its official website or through other means such as the phone book. If a caller claims to represent a company with which you have an account—such as a utility or a bank—hang up and check the contact information on a recent bill or statement, then call the company back yourself.

Rental Property Scam

Rule of thumb: Never go to Craigslist (or anything similar) for a rental home. Scammers will place an ad and ask the victim to wire money to secure the vacation rental—and then disappear. Or they’ll have you send money to them rather than to the actual property owner. Avoid the rental scam risk by going through a reputable vacation rental site with protections and insurance guarantees such as Airbnb , HomeAway , or SmarterTravel’s sister site FlipKey , all of which will protect your money from fraudsters.

Bogus Travel Agents

Don’t trust a tour operator or packager you don’t know of or can’t find reviews of easily online—especially with a big payment. An even more worrisome version of these travel scams in the U.S. is fake versions of websites: You search for a hotel or tour and get through to what looks like a legitimate website from a known company. But it isn’t: It’s a copy-cat version run by a scamster who paid a lot of money for a good search engine position. At best, after you make a payment, the hotel will honor your reservation—but probably at a higher price than you should have paid. At worst, you get nothing.

Take a close look at the website’s URL. Unsure if it’s right? Do a new search to find the company’s homepage and compare it to the first half of the link—any rogue characters, numbers, or symbols might mean it’s a fake. You should also never pay for a service via wire transfer, or any other irreversible money-transfer system.

Currency Short-Changing

A longstanding travel scam relies on tourists’ unfamiliarity with a foreign currency. This can take various forms: counterfeit bills, miscounting change, mixing smaller bills into what should be a pile of larger notes, etc. Get to know the bills of any country you visit, and limit the amount of foreign currency you exchange and have with you at any time. Get your foreign currency from an ATM, and put all your big-ticket purchases on a credit card.

Counterfeit Event Tickets

These days, high-tech forging can make almost any piece of paper or cardboard look authentic. Don’t buy a high-priced ticket (or even a low-priced one) to a sold-out event from someone on the street or via an unfamiliar website. You might be turned away at the gate. Buy from an authorized source—the box office or an online dealer that’s a verified reseller.

Fake Tour Guides

Have you ever been walking in a tourist-frequented area and had someone approach you offering to be your guide? Of course, you would have no idea in this situation whether this person has any useful knowledge of the city, but you may be coaxed into a nearby store that they claim offers the “best” prices on local specialties.

Pre-arrange a guide through an official tourism office or a local travel agency so you can compare prices and know what you’re getting. I once arranged the best local guide I ever had through an American Express agency. A university history professor showed us the fantastic National Museum of Damascus in Syria.

Credit Card Fraud

One of many potential credit card fraud risks is the familiar “verification call” gambit. In this travel scam, within a few hours of checking into a hotel, you get a call from someone claiming to be at the front desk to “verify” the details of the card you used. Of course, that caller is a scammer with no connection to the hotel who just wants to get your card data. In this and any other situations, be highly suspicious of anyone who calls you asking for credit or debit card information, no matter how plausible the excuse may seem. Tell the caller you’ll be right down to settle the problem, and instead call a known number, like the hotel’s direct line, to settle whatever account is involved.

More from SmarterTravel:

• How to Avoid Counterfeit Money While Traveling
• 6 Cruise Scams You Should Never Fall For
• Europe Travel Scams to Watch Out For

Editor’s note: This story was originally published in 2012. It has been updated to reflect the most current information. Caroline Morse Teel and Ed Perkins contributed to this story.

We hand-pick everything we recommend and select items through testing and reviews. Some products are sent to us free of charge with no incentive to offer a favorable review. We offer our unbiased opinions and do not accept compensation to review products. All items are in stock and prices are accurate at the time of publication. If you buy something through our links, we may earn a commission.

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Cheating Their Way to Fame: The Top 9 Adventure Travel Hoaxes

From polar exploration to summit bids to marathons, claims of heroic journeys have turned out to be tales woven with lies

Alastair Bland

Traveling may be thrilling, exhausting, dangerous, mind-opening and, occasionally, boring. But more than anything else, going to faraway places is easier talked about than done. Thus, we find history riddled with quiet rumors and full-fledged scandals surrounding claims of heroic journeys that turned out to be tales woven with lies. Other adventurers’ claims, while not known hoaxes, have dwelt in the limbo of critical doubt for years or decades. Following is a listing of some of the best and least known of the world’s travel hoaxes.

Donald Crowhurst and the Solo Sailing Race Fraud .

In the late ’60s, Donald Crowhurst had the world believing that he was sailing around the world at a record-smashing pace—but skeptics today believe that Donald Crowhurst fictionalized nearly every mile of his 1968-69 solo voyage. The British amateur was racing against seven others in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, a round-the-world race that began and ended in southern England. Crowhurst was vying for the large cash prize while also hoping to generate publicity for his marine navigational hardware company.

But Crowhurst, an inexperienced sailor, had barely begun when he began to doubt he had any chance of winning—or perhaps even surviving—the global voyage. His boat began to leak, and he was falling far behind the competition. So he gave up —without telling anyone. While his competitors sailed southward to the Southern Ocean and then eastward, Crowhurst never left the Atlantic, all the while sending falsified radio reports to listeners of his progress. Perhaps by accident, Crowhurst put himself far in the lead—and, what’s more, on a course to break the world’s record for the same route. As the competition dropped out of the race one by one for various reasons, more and more eyes turned to the horizon, awaiting the appearance of Crowhurst, the heroic underdog. But Crowhurst never showed. While Robin Knox-Johnston returned to England as the race’s only finisher, Crowhurst seems to have panicked, doubtful he could pull off the fraud and terrified of the shame he would face. His boat was found adrift on July 10, 1969, in the Caribbean. Of Crowhurst himself there was not a sign. Many believe he committed suicide. His boat was towed ashore and today remains a rotting tourist attraction on the beach, on the island of Cayman Brac.

Christian Stangl and K2 .

After three summers spent on K2 and not once looking down from the coveted summit, Austrian climber Christian Stangl returned to lower altitudes in August 2010 and told the world he had done it—climbed the world’s second-highest mountain in what would have been a phenomenal time of four days round-trip from the base camp. No one else reached the peak that year, and one climber died trying—but quickly, climbing experts began asking if Stangl had, either. Stangl, after all, was never seen above Camp 3, and he produced no GPS signals from the summit. He also had just one summit photo to prove his achievement—and something was funny about it; Stangl’s photo, it appeared, was taken from lower on the mountain than other existing summit shots.

Eventually, Stangl came clean , admitting his deception but explaining that he had begun to hallucinate on the mountain due to the thin air. He says he descended (after a bizarre face-off with what may have been a snow leopard ) truly believing he had stood on K2′s summit. To his genuine credit, Stangl climbed K2 in a confirmed summit attempt in 2012. He sent out his coordinates signal 21 times and took a 360-panorama video sequence to prove his claim, and for this stubborn and accomplished Austrian alpinist, redemption arrived.

Frederick Cook and the Mount McKinley Hoax .

Frederick Cook almost certainly set foot in many places where previously no person had before—but the New York-born explorer is also seen as one of modern exploration’s most notorious fraudsters. He participated in three significant expeditions between 1891 and 1903, two of them into the Arctic and the latter a circumnavigation of Alaska’s Mount McKinley, also known as Denali. In 1906, he set forth on another McKinley outing , this time returning home to report that he had summited the 20,320-foot peak, which had never been climbed before. The claim stood the test of time for only three years, when the true story came spilling out: Cook had taken his summit photo on a tiny mountain 19 miles from McKinley’s peak.

Cook’s claims have since been thoroughly dissected and discredited; the descriptions he made in his journal of the landscape near the summit were found to bear little resemblance to the real mountain, and modern-day climber Bradford Washburn took it upon himself to identify every place on and around the slopes of Denali where Cook took his expedition shots. It has been determined that Cook and his small group of men never approached closer than 12 miles to the summit of Denali. So who first climbed the highest mountain in North America? Hudson Stuck , in June 1913.

Cook and the North Pole Debate . After his Mount McKinley expedition, Frederick Cook ventured farther north, into the Arctic—though just how far he went became the subject of argument, accusation and scandal. In 1909, Cook staggered home from the ice, having almost starved to death en route. He claimed he had been to the North Pole and back, which would now give him claim to two magnificent feats of exploration. Then, doubts arose about his polar voyage—for Cook could not produce evidence that he had reached the North Pole on April 22, 1908, as he had claimed.

Moreover, his two Inuit guides, Ahwelah and Etukishook, who traveled with Cook across the Arctic sea ice, later reported that, all traveling together, they had only gone several days from land across the frozen sea—not far enough to have brought them to 90 degrees north latitude. Eventually Robert Peary , who claimed to have reached the pole on April 6, 1909, was widely credited as the first explorer to reach the North Pole—though some historians today aren’t convinced Peary actually got there. It was while reviewing Cook’s account of reaching the North Pole that skeptics looked back several years, to Cook’s claimed McKinley conquest. It was eventually discredited entirely as rubbish, and Cook’s reputation as an explorer crumbled.

Eric Ryback and the Pacific Crest Trail.

Eric Ryback was just 17 when he first hiked the Appalachian Trail in 1969—and in the next three years he would walk both the Continental Divide and the Pacific Crest trails, making him the first person to complete all three of America’s great long-distance hiking trails. But when rumors emerged that the young trekker had hitchhiked and thereby circumvented parts of the Pacific Crest Trail, his claim to fame began to wilt. Ryback, who by this time had written a book— The High Adventure of Eric Ryback —about his walks, fought back. When the guidebook publisher, Wilderness Press, stated in print that Ryback had used motor transport in places along the PCT, Ryback sued for $3 million—but he withdrew the suit after Wilderness Press revealed statements from the very people who had supposedly picked up the young hiker along highways parallel to the 2,600-mile trail. The claims that Ryback “cheated” are still doubted by some—although the term “yellowblazing,” used to describe hitchhiking near trails that one had intended to be walking, has been reportedly replaced at times by a new verb: rybacking.

Oh Eun-Sun and Her Questioned Climb of Kangchenjunga .

In 2010, South Korean climber Oh Eun-Sun trudged to the top of Annapurna , thereby becoming the first woman to summit all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks—but many wonder if she really did. The question hinges on Oh’s 2009 ascent of the world’s third-highest peak, Kangchenjunga, in the Himalayas. Oh’s photographic documentation of her achievement didn’t prove she had reached the top . One image, initially portrayed as her summit shot, was unconvincing, showing the woman in mountain climbing gear surrounded by a blinding, overexposed and ambiguous landscape. Another supposed summit photo showed Oh standing on a rocky surface, whereas Kangchenjunga’s 28,169-foot summit is known to have been covered in snow at about that time. There is even evidence that some of Oh’s summit shots had been digitally doctored.

Oh’s sponsor, Black Yak mountaineering gear, assures skeptics that Oh rightly reached the summit. One of Oh’s Sherpas said the same thing—though another of the three who climbed with Oh reportedly said that the group stopped climbing more than 400 feet below the mountaintop. The Korean Alpine Federation eventually decided that not enough evidence exists to prove Oh really reached Kangchenjunga’s summit, while Elizabeth Hawley , the most respected keeper and chronicler of Himalayan records, deemed Oh’s 14-peak claim to climber’s fame as “disputed.”

Cesare Maestri and the Summit of Cerro Torre.

The peaks of the world’s mountains are so tangled with lies and controversy that one must wonder if it’s the love of climbing or the lust for glory that lures so many people into the high country. In 1959, an Italian named Cesare Maestri went to Argentina, teamed up with an Austrian named Toni Egger and attempted what had been characterized one year prior as an unclimbable mountain . They supposedly reached the top of the icy 10,262-foot pinnacle on February 3. But Egger died in an avalanche on the way down, and Maestri, upon reaching civilization and making his claim, had no evidence at all to back it up.

Almost immediately, the climb was labeled a hoax . Above a certain point on the mountain, no trace of Maestri or Egger has been found, even though Maestri claimed to have bolted parts of the route, and for decades no other climbers managed to reach the top of Cerro Torre. In 1970, Maestri returned to climb it again and, hopefully, clear the air of doubt. He used a controversial gasoline-powered bolt gun—and still he failed to reach the spire’s peak. Worst of all, perhaps, Maestri let slip a shocking trip of the tongue several years ago, when he angrily told a reporter, “What I did was the most important endeavor in the world. I did it single-handedly. But this doesn’t mean that I . . . that I reached the top, do you understand?” Did he just—? Yes, I think he did.

The Atlantic Swim That Could Not Be . The Associated Press reported in early February 2009 that American Jennifer Figge had just completed a 2,100-mile swim across the Atlantic. The story reported that Figge had begun at Cape Verde, in western Africa—on January 12. It took little time for sharp-eyed readers to flinch, do a double take and read that again: January 12 to early February. Not even 30 days. That would have been 80 miles daily—three miles per hour nonstop for a month—to complete the journey. It would turn out that Figge, who was accompanied by a boat, never even intended to swim across the width of the ocean and that poor reporting had invented the swim that couldn’t possibly be.

Rosie Ruiz, the Champion Cheater of Marathons . She finished the 1979 New York Marathon in two hours 56 minutes , a time to qualify her for an even bigger race—and in 1980, Rosie Ruiz crossed the finish line with the women’s record for the Boston Marathon. But the 23-year-old was barely sweating as she accepted the crowds’ praise. Moreover, no other competitors in the 26.2-mile run could remember seeing her in the past 150 minutes. Nor could Ruiz, when questioned, recall the details of the route. It would turn out in a shocking flood of humiliation that Ruiz had started the race, left the route, taken the subway and jumped back in for the last half-mile. Jacqueline Gareau was recognized belatedly as the real winner. Scrutiny of Ruiz’s running history led investigators to suspect that Ruiz had also used subway support in the New York Marathon.

To learn more about the deceptions of historical adventurers, read Great Exploration Hoaxes , by David Roberts, in which the author discusses the controversial explorations of ten men, including Father Louis Hennepin, who fictionalized his travels on the Mississippi, and Capt. Samuel Adams, whose scramblings in the Colorado River basin appeared later to be made up.

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Alastair Bland | | READ MORE

Alastair Bland is a journalist based in San Francisco who writes about the environment, agriculture, science and food.

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Explore 6 of history’s most infamous scams and hoaxes

Long before April 1 became a day of harmless pranks, these frauds famously rocked economies, prompted mass panic, and fooled millions.

While April 1 is now associated with harmless pranks, major hoaxes linked to ghosts, emperors, catastrophes, and holy private parts have jolted the world in centuries past. Dating back some 800 years, these frauds were so convincing they altered economies, bolstered religious faith, or prompted mass panic. Not surprisingly, most were aimed at financial gain.

Keen-eyed tourists can trace the stories of some of these giant swindles through Asia , Europe , and the United States . If you know where to look, you’ll find them carved in marble, captured on film, embedded in cityscapes, and preserved in museums.

The letter of doom

Tourists tread streets once associated with doom in Spain ’s UNESCO-listed historic city of Toledo . In 1184, a letter that foretold the apocalypse traversed Europe. Supposedly written by astrologers from Toledo, it warned that 1186 would see the world end in a maelstrom of earthquakes, storms, and pestilence.

Panic ensued. “People in many regions of the then known world [began] fasting, praying, and undertaking religious processions in order to avert disaster,” says Jonathan Green, author of Printing and Prophecy .

Over the following centuries, adaptations of the Toledo letter circulated widely, creating fresh alarm. To delve into this tale of Armageddon, tourists can scale Egypt ’s spectacular Mount Sinai , where a hermit supposedly penned one of these updated versions.

Snapshots of the afterlife  

A bearded man stares at the camera as a ghostly, veiled lady looms over his shoulder. This is one of the dozens of eerie images by American photographer William H. Mumler collected by the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California , and the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York .

In the mid-1800s, Mumler became renowned on America’s East Coast for his apparent ability to capture spirits lurking alongside humans in images. Clients paid handsomely for these photos, believing they depicted late loved ones. To fool them, Mumler used stock photos that resembled their deceased relatives, says Louis Kaplan , professor of photography history at the University of Toronto.

“Mumler practiced his double-dealing craft in the 1860s, during the heyday of spiritualism, which held that communication with the dead was possible,” Kaplan says. “Those [clients] in mourning and grieving the losses of loved ones engaged in a type of wishful thinking when they encountered Mumler’s photographs, which offered them solace and a way to reconnect with their dearly departed.”

( See spooky photos of how Halloween was celebrated a century ago .)

The Renaissance forgery

Inside the Vatican ’s Pio Clementino Museum , visitors can see sea snakes attack a petrified priest and two boys. This horrifying artwork, named “ Laocoön and His Sons ,” was sculpted in marble. By whom, exactly, isn’t clear. The museum’s website states it was found in Rome in 1506 and identified as the Laocoön statue described by first-century Roman author Pliny the Elder as a “masterpiece of the sculptors of Rhodes.”

But it may not be a 2,000-year-old Greek masterpiece. Rather, it could be a Renaissance forgery by revered Italian artist Michelangelo , says Lynn Catterson, art history lecturer at Columbia University. Since she first made this assertion in 2004, several art scholars have questioned her theory, but none have disproven it, Catterson says.

( These Greek ‘masterpieces’ are actually clever, legal copies .)

She points to strong similarities between Laocoön and a sketch by Michelangelo made five years before the sculpture was unearthed. Catterson believes he may have secretly sculpted this piece and intended for it to be discovered.

“Antiquities were in demand, commanding very high prices because they were, at the time, scarce,” she says. “The Renaissance genius sculptors such as Michelangelo, and before him, Donatello , were not stupid, and so supply met demand. Brilliant, convincing fakes require brilliant sculptors.”

Sacred foreskins

The small French city of Chartres lures tourists with its commanding, 12th-century Gothic cathedral. Yet for many years, visitors flocked not to admire its intricate stonework and stained-glass windows, but to see Jesus’ foreskin.

It was one of more than 20 churches in medieval Europe that claimed to possess a sliver from Jesus’ circumcision, says James White, assistant lecturer in history at the University of Alberta. These relics “couldn’t all have possibly been real, regardless of one’s faith,” White says. “However, after the relic had been acquired by a particular church, subsequent generations of bishops, nuns, monks, and believers thought that it possessed power. Churches and the towns they were in could also get wealthy based on their relics. They were sort of the tourist stops of their day.”

Now, no version of the holy foreskin exists, White says. Many were destroyed during the French Revolution. The final relic disappeared in 1983 from Calcata, near Rome, where it had been exhibited during the Feast of the Circumcision, held every January 1.

( Behind the mystery of Saint Valentine’s bones .)

The Napoleonic scam

Bartholomew Lane , in London ’s financial district, is where travelers can visit the Bank of England Museum . But the short thoroughfare was once home to the London Stock Exchange—the scene of an 1814 hoax as audacious as it was profitable. In February of that year, British Lord Thomas Cochrane and accomplice Captain de Berenger sparked bedlam on England ’s financial markets.

Their scam began when de Berenger donned a military costume and told people in Dover, England, he’d arrived from Paris . He said Emperor Napoleon had just been killed, and France was about to be defeated by the Allies , a group of European nations including Great Britain.

The good news spread swiftly. When London’s stock exchange opened the next day, trading boomed. In anticipation of this, Cochrane had stockpiled government bonds, which he immediately sold at a great margin.

Soon, however, Napoleon was proven to be alive, and the financial fraud was exposed. Cochrane was tried, and he attempted, unsuccessfully, to shift blame to de Berenger. He was found guilty and then fled England, leaving a brazen stain on Bartholomew Lane.

( This remote island is where Napolean died .)

Real artifacts, fake finds

Many travelers who enjoy the verdant forests, dramatic waterfalls, and serene Shinto shrines of Japan ’s Miyagi prefecture may not know it was the epicenter of a recent, bold scientific hoax. Beginning in the 1970s, amateur archaeologist Shinichi Fujimura planted genuine ancient artifacts across Miyagi at what he claimed were almost 200 Paleolithic sites up to 500,000 years old.

( Follow in the footsteps of samurai on this ancient trail .)

This rewrote the history of Japan, which until then was believed to be inhabited for only 30,000 years. In fact, many of the artifacts were actually from Japan’s Jomon era (13,000-300 B.C).

Shinichi’s amazing “finds” were widely celebrated. They even earned him the nickname “God’s hands.” But this faux deity crashed to earth in 2000 when Japanese media caught him burying stoneware, collected from a different location, at a Miyagi excavation site.

Shinichi’s scam went undetected for so long because having sites in Japan this ancient   was plausible, says archaeologist Mark Hudson of Germany ’s Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology.

“[There was a] lack of a specific archaeological reason why such finds were improbable,” says Hudson, who authored a study on this fraud. “Perhaps the best hoaxes are like that? If it's something too unusual, then people are suspicious. If they start with the premise that, ‘Well, this might be true,’ then acceptance is easier.”

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11 Common Travel Visa Myths, Debunked

Apr 21, 2023.

If you’re planning on applying for a travel visa to visit the United States, you probably have some questions about the application process. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of false information out there, and some tips you receive may be more myth than fact.

We debunk 11 common travel visa myths so you can apply with confidence.

Myth #1: If your visa application is denied, you cannot reapply.

This is a common misconception. A B-1/B-2 visa applicant who previously has been denied can reapply for a visa, but they’ll need to submit a new application and pay the application fee again. Keep in mind, however, that the reason for the previous visa denial will still be a factor in the new visa application. Before reapplying, make sure to carefully review the reasons for why you were denied and address any issues that were raised.

Boundless helps you complete your B-1/B-2 visa application and prepare for your travel visa interview with confidence. Our team is trained by a former consular officer, so we know what it takes to succeed. Learn more .

Myth #2: Having a lot of money will guarantee approval.

Some applicants believe that showing a large amount of money in their bank account will increase their chances of approval, but this is not true. In fact, there is no specific amount of money that can guarantee approval of a B-1/B-2 visa application.

You may have heard the term “show money,” which is used to describe money that is temporarily deposited in an account solely for the purpose of presenting a large bank balance when applying for a visa. This practice is considered a form of misrepresentation and is not recommended — consular officers are trained to detect and identify such practices. Instead, applicants should present genuine and accurate financial documents that demonstrate their ability to support themselves during their stay in the United States.

Consular officers evaluating a B-1/B-2 visa application will consider various factors beyond the applicant’s financial situation, such as the purpose of the trip, the applicant’s ties to their home country , and their immigration history. Presenting accurate and truthful information in the visa application, and providing supporting documents that demonstrate the applicant’s purpose for traveling to the United States, is what counts.

Myth #3: Meeting all the requirements guarantees approval.

Meeting the basic requirements for a B-1/B-2 visa , such as having a valid passport and demonstrating ties to your home country, does not guarantee approval of your application. C onsular officers evaluate visa applications on a case-by-case basis, taking into consideration various factors beyond the requirements,  including the purpose of your trip and your personal circumstances.

Myth #4: You need to book your flights before applying for a visa.

This is false. You do not need to book your flights before applying for a B-1/B-2 visa. In fact, it’s generally recommended that you do not book your flights until your visa has been approved. This will give you greater flexibility in case your visa is delayed or denied.

Myth #5: You need a fixer in the U.S. Embassy.

A “fixer” or middleman is someone who claims to have connections or influence with embassy officials and offers to assist with the visa application process for a fee. This is a common myth that some B-1/B-2 visa applicants believe will increase their chances of approval or expedite the process. However, using a fixer is not only unnecessary, but it can also be risky and may be considered visa fraud. For example:

• False Information: A fixer may advise an applicant to provide false information on the visa application, such as overstating their financial status, job position, or travel purpose. Providing false information is illegal and can result in visa denial or even a permanent ban on entering the United States.
• Fraudulent Documents: A fixer may provide fraudulent documents to support the visa application, such as fake bank statements, employment letters, or invitation letters.
• Concealing Information: A fixer may advise an applicant to conceal certain information from embassy officials, such as a criminal record or prior visa denial.
• Bribery: A fixer may claim to have connections or influence with embassy officials and offer to bribe them in exchange for visa approval. Bribery is illegal and can lead to visa denial, permanent ineligibility for a visa, and even criminal charges.

The B-1/B-2 visa application process is designed to be straightforward and accessible to applicants. There is no need for a fixer to assist with the application process.

Myth #6: Being invited by a U.S. citizen or resident increases your chances of approval.

While invitation letters from U.S. citizens or residents may be considered a positive factor and demonstrate the purpose of the trip, they do not guarantee visa approval. The visa application process is designed to evaluate each applicant’s individual circumstances and eligibility for a visa and is not based on their relationship with the person inviting them to the U.S.

Myth #7: Applying for a visa during the holiday season increases your chances of approval.

This is false. The consular officer will judge your application based on the same criteria regardless of the time of year. While it is true that visa processing times may be longer during peak travel periods, such as holidays, this does not impact the likelihood of approval.

Interested in traveling to the U.S.? Our experienced team can help you prepare a strong application and avoid common mistakes that lead to visa denial. Learn more .

Myth #8: If you have been to the United States before, you are guaranteed approval.

While having a previous travel history to the United States can be helpful in demonstrating your ties to your home country and your ability to abide by U.S. immigration laws, it does not guarantee approval of your visa application.

In fact, having a history of previous visits to the U.S. can sometimes work against an applicant. If the applicant has previously violated U.S. immigration laws or overstayed their authorized period of stay, this will raise concerns for the consular officer reviewing the visa application. The applicant may also be asked to explain the purpose of their previous visits and why they need to return to the U.S.

It’s always important for applicants to provide a complete and honest account of their travel history and intentions during the visa application process, regardless of whether they have visited the U.S. before.

Myth #9: Providing false information on your application can increase your chances of approval.

Some applicants may believe that providing false information on a B-1/B-2 visa application is not a big deal, or that they can get away with it. However, being untruthful on a visa application is a serious offense and can have consequences.

Firstly, providing false information is considered visa fraud, which is a crime. If an applicant is found to have committed visa fraud, they may be permanently barred from entering the U.S., even if they are otherwise eligible for a visa.

Additionally, lying on an application can also result in immediate visa denial. Including false information can also damage an applicant’s credibility with the U.S. government and may make it difficult for them to obtain a visa or enter the U.S. in the future. Consular officers may be more likely to scrutinize their future visa applications and travel plans.

It’s important to provide complete and honest information on a B-1/B-2 visa application, even if the information may negatively reflect on you. Consular officers are trained to evaluate visa applications based on the individual circumstances of each applicant, and providing false information can have serious consequences that far outweigh any perceived benefits.

Myth #10: If you are a student, you cannot apply for a B-1/B-2 visa.

Students are eligible to apply for a B-1/B-2 visa, as long as they can demonstrate that they have ties to their home country and that their trip to the United States is for a temporary and legitimate purpose, such as tourism or attending a conference. However, keep in mind that a B-1/B-2 visa does not permit students to engage in full-time study or work in the United States.

Myth #11: Having a B-1/B-2 visa guarantees entry into the United States.

While having a valid B-1/B-2 visa is a requirement to enter the United States for business or tourism purposes, it does not guarantee entry into the country. At the port of entry, a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer will inspect the traveler’s documents and ask questions to determine whether they meet the requirements for admission, including the purpose of their trip, the length of their stay, and their ties to their home country . Even with a valid visa, a traveler may be denied entry if the CBP officer determines that they do not meet the requirements or pose a security risk. A visa is simply a travel document, and entry into the United States is ultimately at the discretion of the CBP officer.

Applying for a B-1/B-2 visa is never a guarantee, but Boundless can help you file the strongest application possible. Our software assesses your risk of travel visa denial based on your specific situation and our experienced team helps you avoid common mistakes. Get started on your travel visa today .

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The weirdly common, very expensive travel scam you should avoid

Do not click on that travel website (probably).

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Kathy could have sworn she called Qatar Airways to change her flight last spring. Looking through her call records now, she clearly didn’t. Instead, she wound up talking to a third-party booker called Infinity Travels. She has paid Infinity thousands of dollars she may never get back, even after spending countless hours trying.

Her labyrinth of a saga is hard to keep straight. In November 2022, she realized she would need to fly back home to Canada early from a trip to visit her husband in the Middle East scheduled for the following March. She called to make the switch. Kathy, who asked to withhold her last name to protect her privacy, spent six hours on the phone in the endeavor.

Initially, she says she was told she’d need to spend 1,650 Canadian dollars on a new flight and would get a CA$2,700 credit from the airline — she wanted a refund, not a credit, and was transferred to a supposed supervisor. The next agent told her she needed to pay CA$6,990 for the new flight and that she’d receive a refund of CA$8,080 after she had taken her departing flights. She took the deal, which was confirmed in an email from Infinity. “It was dumb of me,” she says. “But by this time it was 1 am and I was so tired.”

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That refund never came through, and Kathy has been locked in a battle with Infinity for months, which is taking place over WhatsApp and the phone. Infinity claimed the initial agent who offered her the refund was fired for making unauthorized deals. A subsequent agent she spoke to — while on her vacation — told her they would refund CA$4,250, nearly half the original amount promised. That was supposed to come through if she agreed not to dispute the CA$6,990 charge, which she did. That agent seems to have disappeared, too, after allegedly being promoted to a new job.

Kathy isn’t sure how she found that wrong number to make her flight change, but it seems likely she did an internet search and called the number that came up without checking its provenance. “It’s incredibly frustrating,” she says. “For me, the money sucks to lose, but it’s more like how are they getting away with doing this? Because I’m sure there are other people.”

There are. A look at TrustPilot and the Better Business Bureau shows others have had similarly confusing experiences with Infinity.

People all over the world get sucked into a variety of travel-related schemes and scams all the time. In this day and age of vacation, sketchy websites and companies and third-party bookers abound.

Third-party booking websites and companies — meaning entities consumers can use to handle reservations without dealing directly with, for example, an airline — are everywhere. Not all of them are bad. Plenty of people use them without issue all the time, including popular ones such as Expedia, Travelocity, and Booking.com. But some of them employ shady and even fraudulent tactics.

These operations seek to get consumers’ money by saying they’ll take care of their travel plans, booking their plane tickets, hotels, and rental cars, or even helping them get their passports faster. They then go on to charge exorbitant fees for executing the transaction or making minor changes and often give consumers the runaround. Sometimes, they never reserve anything at all. Victims of these scams show up at the airport for a flight that doesn’t exist, or appear at a hotel to sleep in a room that was never booked, and their money’s just gone.

Feelings can run high when people travel, whether they’re going to an event or spending time with family and friends or just getting a much-needed and much-anticipated break. “That’s one thing scammers prey on,” said Melanie McGovern, director of public relations and social media for the International Association of Better Business Bureaus, “the emotion of it all.”

Kathy’s emotions got the better of her the night she made that payment to Infinity — endless hours on the phone will do that to you. Since then, she has gotten about CA$325 back from Qatar Airways. After months of wrangling (and after I reached out for comment for this story), Infinity returned CA$1,816 to her. She’s got all of the documentation from the ordeal: emails, text messages, recorded phone calls. It’s just not clear whether any of that matters.

Kathy still has that number she first called saved in her phone as “Qatar Airways Help,” even though that’s not what it is. When you call the number now, the person on the other end of the line simply says, “Reservations.” It’s easy to see how people get tricked.

Qatar Airways said in a statement that Infinity is a travel agent that is entitled to sell its tickets, like many others, but that as an airline, “we do not forward phone calls to travel agents, and we do not accept agents making promises on our behalf.” Infinity said in an email it was “disappointed to hear about the poor experience by this individual” and did not respond to a follow-up email.

One of the primary ways fraudulent third-party companies suck people in is with the promise of a deal. They offer a price that seems too good to be true — because it is — and people’s internet-driven deal-hunting instincts take over.

“The biggest thing we see are the people who are using a third-party website trying to get something a little bit cheaper,” McGovern said. “We know travel can be really, really expensive, and ... people are trying to find an alternative.”

That’s what happened to Sarah, who asked for her last name to be withheld to protect her privacy, when she was trying to snag a flight to Iceland to see the northern lights in late 2022. Most of the flights she found were above her $800 budget, but she found one option for $755 from a website called Travelcation. After booking the trip, she received an email from the company saying the fare she had agreed to was no longer available and had increased to $995.

Sarah noted the email had weird language and grammatical errors, as did the company’s website, upon further inspection. She then googled “Travelcation scams.” “I started reading these horror stories,” she says. She responded to the email saying she didn’t agree to the new price and alerted her bank that any attempted charge would be unauthorized. “My card never ended up getting charged, so I managed to avoid the worst of it,” she says. She took a budget-friendlier trip to Puerto Rico instead.

A spokesperson for Travelcation said in an email that in the travel industry it’s “not uncommon” for prices to fluctuate because of issues such as airline ticket availability, dynamic pricing, taxes, fees, and other charges added during the booking process.

What is uncommon, or at least should be, is for prices to fluctuate after booking.

Reporting for this story, I spoke with multiple experts and individuals about their experiences with scammy websites and travel agencies and combed through complaints to the Better Business Bureau. Many of the strategies these entities employ are quite simple — and effective.

Some websites will figure out how to game search engines like Google . Travelers might think they’re calling Delta or Hilton or Hertz but are actually on the phone with someone else because they just called whatever number came up in search results or on some website without verifying it’s right. The numbers can be completely different from the actual phone number, or they might be one or two off — and 888 instead of 800.

In the same vein, consumers wind up on these websites because they appear in their searches, sometimes because those websites have paid to rank higher. People then book there, not realizing the website is untrustworthy. The site in question then follows up with a call or email saying that the price of the booking has increased to try to squeeze more out of consumers there, or they charge super-high fees for small changes. (Assuming they make the booking at all, which doesn’t always happen.)

Jim still isn’t entirely sure how he wound up in his predicament. He called Delta’s phone number on a voice over internet service (VoIP) to book a flight to San Francisco; in his first interaction, everything seemed fine. He got a confirmation email from a company called Boketo, not Delta, but he didn’t immediately notice. A while later, he realized his middle initial was incorrect on the reservation, so he called to change it. After agreeing to pay $200 and receiving a follow-up email, this time from an outfit called Travel Makers, it dawned on him he had been duped. “That’s when I recognized that I’m an idiot,” he says.

Jim reported the charges as fraud to his credit card company, which he thought would be the end of it. But in the lead-up to his trip, he says the agent he first dealt with began calling him and harassing him, saying she would not issue his tickets unless he restored the $200 payment. In the end, the flights went just fine, although Jim was worried until he successfully boarded his plane. He asked for his last name to be withheld out of fear of more harassment from the agent.

Jim’s phone records show he did indeed call Delta’s real number, which is quite disturbing. A spokesperson for Delta recommended consumers take extra precautions when using VoIP internet calling to make sure their service is secure. “Whenever we become aware of an alleged scam targeting our customers, including in this situation, we immediately conduct an investigation. Using the facts gained from an investigation, when able, we can then address each unique situation as appropriate with the necessary legal means at our disposal,” the spokesperson said.

Boketo did not respond to a request for comment for this story. When I reached out to Travel Makers for comment, someone purporting to be from the company said that it has nothing to do with Boketo and that the situation “seems like a case of misplaced anger.” They defended the extra $200 charge. Their email address was listed as Fly Cheapest Online.

There is no surefire way to scam-proof your life or even your next vacation, but there are measures you can take to try to protect yourself.

The first step is really to slow down, take a deep breath, and pay attention to what you’re doing, said Amy Nofziger, the director of fraud victim support with AARP. It’s not always easy — people’s lives are busy, and we’re often distracted or in a hurry or stressed. But those situations are where we’re likeliest to make mistakes.

Nofziger also said to be wary of offers that are really out of step with the rest of the market. “If you find the best deal on a flight or on a car, I would be really suspect of why it’s the best deal. Go into this with the mindset that I think this is a scam until I’m proven otherwise,” she says. “Even if you think you’re going to get the deal of the century, they’re going to get the deal of the century, not you.”

If the website’s charging you $500 less than everywhere else, question why that might be. Yes, it feels good to beat the system, but there might not be a system to beat. This goes not only for hotels and flights but also, for example, for expedited passport processing, which Nofziger says AARP gets complaints about weekly. Consumers pay some website extra to get their passports faster, only to hand over sensitive personal information in exchange for no quicker service. “There really is no ‘beat the system’ with the State Department,” she says. “I suggest everyone pull their passport out today, look at when it expires, and start the process.”

If you see a website offering what appears to be a good deal, open up another browser and type the name of that site in along with words like “scam,” “fraud,” and “reviews.” You might save yourself a real headache, depending on what you find. “Do your research,” McGovern says.

Experts say it generally is better to book directly with the hotel or airline or whatever you’re trying to accomplish, or at least to start there. And triple-check the number you’re calling. Really. “Travel agents can be reputable ... but you need to be clear that who you’re talking to is who you intended to talk to,” says Summer Hull, director of content at The Points Guy. “If you intended to talk to American Airlines and you’re now talking to a travel agency, that’s a red flag.”

You should also be suspicious if you get a follow-up phone call asking for more information. “Never provide personal information to an inbound call, even to an airline,” Hull says. “They should not be calling you to ask for your confirmation number or your credit card number or your flight plan,” she said. If you’re not sure it’s legitimate, say you’ll call them back.

There can be some recourse in the event you are scammed. You can try to dispute charges as fraud with your credit card company, which is why it’s always best to pay with a credit card (and not with Venmo, crypto, or a prepaid card). You can also report your experiences on websites such as the Better Business Bureau, TrustPilot, and other places, and, if necessary, contact law enforcement. Still, options are limited.

“Most people don’t think they’re ever going to be scammed, but unfortunately, I’ve had this job for 21 years, and I don’t see it going away anytime soon,” Nofziger says.

As for Kathy, she remains stuck in what feels like a doom loop, most of her refund still pending.

We live in a world that’s constantly trying to sucker us and trick us, where we’re always surrounded by scams big and small. It can feel impossible to navigate. Every two weeks, join Emily Stewart to look at all the little ways our economic systems control and manipulate the average person. Welcome to The Big Squeeze .

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Have ideas for a future column or thoughts on this one? Email [email protected] .

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How To Avoid Travel Agency Scams (And Fake Booking Sites)

Fraudsters advertise cheap travel via fake websites, social media ads, and phishing messages. Learn how to spot and avoid common online travel scams.

Irina Maltseva

Contributor at Aura

Irina Maltseva is a growth marketer with 10+ years of experience in digital marketing. After being scammed by Airbnb and Booking.com, Irina joined Aura to help the company on its mission to create a safer internet for everyone.

Jory MacKay

Aura Cybersecurity Editor

Jory MacKay is a writer and award-winning editor with over a decade of experience for online and print publications. He has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Victoria and a passion for helping people identify and avoid fraud.

Aura’s app keeps you safe from scams, fraud, and identity theft. Try Aura for free.

In this article:

Aura’s digital security app keeps your family safe from scams, fraud, and identity theft.

Is It Safe To Book With an Online Travel Agent? 

It’s more common than ever for Americans to book travel online, either directly or through a third-party booking site. But is it safe to book travel online? Not always.

Scammers use fake, spoofed, or misleading online travel booking websites to steal your money and passwords or gather personal information that they can use to steal your identity. According to a recent survey [ * ]:

35% of American travelers say they’ve been scammed while booking online travel.

While travel agency scams pose a year-round threat, they become especially dangerous during the holiday scam season when more people are looking for travel deals to visit family or get away on vacations. 

In this guide, we’ll explain how online travel booking scams work, the latest schemes to watch out for, and how you can stay safe and find a great deal on your next flight, hotel, or vacation.

{{show-toc}}

What Are Travel Agency Scams? How Do They Work?

Travel agency scams occur when fraudsters advertise cheap airfare or “free” vacations on fake websites and social media ads, or through phishing emails, texts, and calls — and then trick you into sharing sensitive information or sending money.

What makes travel booking scams so dangerous is that travelers are accustomed to providing payment and personal information when paying for flights. This includes everything from your credit card numbers to your Social Security number (SSN), passport details, and full address. 

If scammers get access to this kind of personal information, they can use it to steal your identity , empty your bank account, or take over your online accounts .

Here’s how a typical travel agency scam works: 

• Fraudsters create fake travel agencies, or they spoof popular booking sites like Booking.com and Expedia . Most travel scams involve fake — but legitimate-looking — websites for travel companies. Fraudsters may create their own discount travel websites or even spoof popular booking sites. Some scammers even post fake support phone numbers on Google in hopes that you’ll call them when you need to book or change flight details.
• When you call or book online, you’re asked for personal and financial information. These scam services are designed to harvest your personal information or steal your payment details. Even if you end up with a legitimate flight, your information can be sold online to other scammers or identity thieves. (Stolen and forged American passports sell for an average of $850 on the Dark Web [ * ].)
• After booking, you discover that the flight details are different. Fraudulent airline ticket confirmation numbers won’t match real flights, and hotels won’t know about your reservation. If you try to call the “agency” back to resolve these issues, either their number will be disconnected or they’ll pressure you into paying more to “solve” the problem.

While some travel scams are flat out fraud, others are run by legitimate companies that charge excessive add-on fees, have non-existent refund policies, or sell misleading offers at too-good-to-be true discounts. 

The bottom line: Falling for a travel agency scam can put you and your family at risk of fraud or even identity theft. Consider protecting yourself with Aura’s all-in-one digital security solution. Learn more about how Aura keeps you safe from scams, fraud, and identity theft →

The 5 Latest Travel Agency and Online Booking Scams

• Spoofed Booking.com , Expedia , and other booking sites
• Unfamiliar websites offering bargain deals for expensive flights
• Fraudulent airline customer support numbers in Google searches
• Robocalls or messages offering "free" vacation packages
• Follow-up phone calls asking for more information about your booking

Creating online travel and airline scams isa high priority for scammers who know that people are willing to pay serious money and provide sensitive information to get good deals on flights and hotels. 

Here are some of the latest online booking scams to look out for.

1. Spoofed Booking.com , Expedia , and other booking sites

Scammers know that many people who book travel online trust sites like Expedia , Booking.com , and Airbnb . 

In this scam, fraudsters create look-alike websites to mirror these booking platforms, and then link to them via phishing emails or social media ads. But if you book a flight, hotel, or vacation rental through one of these spoofed sites, you’ll lose your money and hand over sensitive information to cybercriminals.

These look-alikes aren’t limited to booking sites. Scammers also spoof major airline carriers — phishing for airline credentials and stealing credit card information that users store in their accounts. 

How to spot and avoid a fake or spoofed travel booking website:

• Double-check the URL. Scammers create websites with URLs that look similar to sites with which you’re familiar (such as Airbnb-booking.com ). Always make sure you’re on the company’s official domain before entering any information. For added protection, check the site’s SSL certificate by clicking on the padlock icon next to the URL, and make sure it was issued to the travel company through which you’re trying to book your reservation.  
• Hover over links in emails before clicking. If you receive an email or see an ad promoting a travel deal, check the link before clicking to ensure that it leads to the company’s official website. 
• Be wary if your usual login information doesn’t work. Fake websites won’t know your username and password. If you get an error when trying to log in, or if you’re redirected back to the login page, you may have given your password to fraudsters. Quickly log in and change your credentials to secure your account.  ‍
• Don’t store financial data in your loyalty accounts. Scammers can crack your password or steal it from a bogus site, giving them full access to your credit card details. Although inconvenient, it’s much safer to physically type in your credit card or loyalty plan number each time you make a purchase.

2. Sketchy travel agencies offering bargain deals for expensive flights

One of the most common travel booking scams involves con artists advertising cheap travel packages on social media platforms or via phishing scams. But this is much more elaborate than just a fake ticket scam. 

Fraudsters purchase and sell what’s called a “reservation hold.” This is a tool used by legitimate travel agencies to hold a ticket price without paying the full amount. When you purchase a “hold,” you receive an official email or text from the airline with a booking confirmation number that works — but only for a week, until the hold expires. 

How to spot and avoid a discount travel scam:

• Avoid “too good to be true” deals. Heavily discounted plane tickets or vacation deals are red flags. If you can’t find the same or a similar deal on the airline’s website (or on trustworthy third-party booking sites), it’s most likely a scam. 
• Always request that an e-ticket number be sent to you. Holds can look identical to travel confirmations but won’t contain a ticket number. If you haven’t given up your payment information yet, don’t — it’s a scam.

💡 Related: How To Spot and Avoid the Latest Airline Scams →

3. Fraudulent airline customer support numbers in Google searches

Scammers list their phone numbers as airline customer service hotlines to attract a constant flow of potential victims. People desperate to change or rebook their flights search for the airline’s customer service phone number via Google, and call one of the first results to show up — not realizing that it may have been manipulated by scammers. 

How to tell if you’ve called a spam number:

• You called a number that appeared in a Google search. Victims have reported calling spoofed customer service numbers that appeared to be from Air France , Delta , American Airlines , and Southwest Airlines [ * ]. The best way to ensure that you call a verified support line is to go to the airline’s official website, find its customer service center, and call the number listed there.
• You’re redirected multiple times. Scammers use technology to spoof their phone numbers to include U.S.-based area codes. When you call those numbers, you’ll speak to someone who redirects you to an international phone number. This may happen several times before you speak with a “representative.”
• They send you texts from a different number. Help desk employees send a confirmation to you via text from a phone number you’ve never seen before. Sometimes, these texts contain spelling or grammatical errors or incorrect flight information.

💡 Related: How To Identify a Scammer On The Phone (With Examples) →

4. Robocalls or messages offering "free" vacation packages

While the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) prevents legitimate telemarketing companies from calling you without your consent, scammers still use robocalls to target millions of potential victims every day [ * ]. 

One of the most popular schemes involves offering “free” vacation packages, or claiming you’re the winner of a sweepstakes you never entered. If you accept the prize, you end up either paying more for a bad vacation — or worse. 

Here’s what could happen on a “free” vacation:

• You’re hard-sold during a timeshare presentation. As part of the “prize,” fraudsters may pressure you into buying into an expensive real estate timeshare in Mexico (or other foreign countries).
• You have to pay for taxes, fees, and other hidden costs. While the flight and hotel may be free, scammers ask for your credit card information to pay for expensive (and unmentioned) fees, taxes, and costs. 
• Your hotel and flight are significantly worse than promised. When you ask specific questions about accommodations and activities, scammers say it’s “highly rated” or “luxury” instead of providing concrete details. You’re almost certainly not getting a five-star hotel for free from a random robocall.
• You won’t have travel insurance. These holidays won’t offer or be covered by travel insurance, meaning that if you have a medical emergency, or if a natural disaster prevents you from traveling, you’ll be on the hook. 

The bottom line: If you’re offered or told that you’ve won a free vacation from a random robocall, it’s a scam. To keep you safe, Aura uses artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically screen your incoming calls and texts, and can block scammers before they reach you. Learn more about how Aura saves you from spam and scams →

5. Follow-up phone calls asking for more information about your booking

In this sophisticated scam, fraudsters use cheap or last-minute flights as bait — and then call you directly after you book to claim that there was an issue with your personal information, credit card, or the flight itself. 

For example, they may claim they need your SSN to “secure” your ticket, or that your credit card was declined and you will lose the ticket unless you use a wire transfer or payment app. 

How to tell if someone is scamming you over the phone:

• They called you. Consider any incoming call from an unfamiliar number or person a red flag. If someone calls you claiming to be from an airline or travel agency, hang up and call them back via the company’s official phone number. 
• You’re put under pressure to act now . Phone scammers want you to act while they have you on the phone. If someone threatens you with fees or “losing” a flight that you’ve already paid for, this is a huge red flag. 
• You’re asked to pay via alternative methods. Legitimate companies will not ask you to pay via gift cards, wire transfers, cryptocurrencies, or payment apps like Zelle, Venmo, and Cash App. Always try to book and pay with your credit card, as it offers the highest level of consumer and fraud protections.

Did You Fall for a Travel Agency Scam? Do This

Whether you sent money or gave sensitive information to a fake travel booking site, you need to act quickly to protect yourself from fraud and identity theft. 

Here’s what to do if you think you’ve been the victim of a travel agency scam: 

• Secure your identity and online accounts. Fake travel booking websites can steal your passwords or give hackers enough information to access your other online accounts (email, online banking, etc.). Make sure you’re using unique and strong passwords across all of your accounts. For added security, enable two-factor authentication (2FA) whenever possible. 
• Freeze your credit. A credit freeze can prevent fraudsters from using your stolen information to take out loans or open accounts in your name. To freeze your credit, contact each of the three credit bureaus individually: TransUnion , Experian , and Equifax .
• File a report with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). An official identity theft report with the FTC is required to dispute fraud and protect you against some of the worst dangers of identity theft . You can file a report online at IdentityTheft.gov. 
• Check your bank and credit statements. Carefully review your latest transactions, and look for any suspicious activity. You can also run a free credit report on AnnualCreditReport.com to look for signs of identity theft, such as unfamiliar loans, accounts, or mortgages.
• Notify your bank’s fraud department. Call your bank’s official customer service line and ask to close any compromised accounts or cards. They’ll be able to help you open new ones and recommend additional security features.
• Report the scam to the proper authorities. There are different agencies to contact, depending on the type of scam to which you’ve fallen prey (and what happened). If you have information that could lead to an arrest, file a police report with local law enforcement. To file a consumer complaint against a company in the travel industry, contact your state’s attorney general’s office . You can also help protect other victims by reporting the scam to the FBI and the FTC.
• Try to get your money back. Your ability to get a refund after a scam depends on the payment method used. For example, if you sent a scammer gift cards, contact the company or retailer from which you bought the cards. For payment apps like Venmo or Zelle, you can try to reverse pending payments. Here’s a full guide on how to get your money back . 
• Monitor your passport numbers and other sensitive information. Scammers may wait to use your stolen personal information, which is why it’s so important to monitor your identity and credit. Try Aura’s award-winning identity theft protection solution free for 14 days to monitor your sensitive information and get access to 24/7 White Glove Fraud Resolution support and up to $5 million in identity theft insurance. 

How To Stay Safe While Booking Online Travel

While everyone would love to get a great deal on their next trip, legitimate deals are hard to find. 

The truth is that, in most cases, the best and safest thing you can do is book through official channels. It may cost a bit more, but you’ll know that your flight is real and that you’ll have access to proper support in the case of a problem. 

If you choose to use a third-party booking site or travel agency, make sure you follow these steps to keep yourself and your family safe: 

• Google “travel agencies” and check with the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Do a Google search for [Agency/website] + “scam” or “fraud” to find reviews or warnings from previous customers. You can also check the company’s reviews on the Better Business Bureau ’s website.
• Use standard payment methods. Credit card providers offer fraud protection and limited liability if you do get scammed — which is much safer compared to other payment options such as debit cards, payment apps, wire transfers, and gift cards. 
• Use a virtual private network (VPN) when shopping for flights. A VPN will block your location, IP address, and other information from websites, making it harder for scammers to target you with tailored airline scams. As an added bonus, using a VPN can often uncover legitimate deals on flights. 
• Don’t disclose personal information over the phone. If someone calls you and requests sensitive information — such as your passport details , SSN, credit card numbers, or 2FA codes — it’s almost certainly a scam. Hang up, and contact the company or agency directly. 

Booking travel online doesn’t have to be risky — especially if you protect yourself with Aura’s all-in-one digital security solution. 

With Aura, you get award-winning identity theft protection with the industry’s fastest fraud alerts, advanced digital security tools to protect you from hacking and online scams, 24/7 U.S.-based White Glove Fraud Resolution support, and up to $5 million in identity theft insurance for you and your family. 

Don’t let travel scammers ruin your trip. Try Aura free for 14 days .

Award-winning identity theft protection with AI-powered digital security tools, 24/7 White Glove support, and more. Try Aura for free.

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10 common travel scams, and how to protect yourself when traveling

Editor's Note

Travel can be a rewarding and relaxing experience — some of my favorite memories are from trips I've taken with friends or by myself.

However, scam artists are everywhere, and anyone can fall prey to a scheme — especially if you're in an unfamiliar place. Also, some scams specifically target certain groups of people, such as women, older travelers or kids.

The Federal Trade Commission received nearly 54,000 reports of travel scams in 2021, with $95 million in total reported losses for consumers and a median loss of $1,112 per person.

Safety is important when planning travel, so we've compiled a list of common travel scams, how to spot them and ways to protect your wallet and personal information while you're away from home.

New to The Points Guy? Sign up for our daily newsletter .

This certainly isn't an exhaustive list of all the types of scams you may encounter while traveling, but it will give you an idea of some of the most common travel scams and how to spot them.

Timeshare and vacation club scams

Timeshare scams are easily one of the most lucrative travel scams. The FTC and many state attorney general offices have cracked down hard on this type of fraud, but it can still happen. These scams can be broken down into two main types: timeshare presentation scams and timeshare resale scams.

A timeshare is a real estate property that is sold to multiple buyers with each allotted a certain amount of time at the property each year (usually one week).

Oftentimes, timeshare sellers will host presentations with the promise of a free hotel stay or gift for those who attend. Do your research before you jump on what seems like a too-good-to-be-true deal.

Before attending a timeshare presentation, make sure you research the specific developer selling the timeshares. You can check out the Better Business Bureau website to look up complaints against the developer and get a better picture of other people's experiences.

Related: I suffered through a timeshare sales presentation for a cheap vacation

Timeshare scams can happen on the backend of a deal, too.

Once you purchase a timeshare, it can be very difficult to resell your share. Unfortunately, this is where scammers often lurk. Someone may promise to sell your timeshare quickly and painlessly for an upfront fee. Once that fee is paid, they either disappear or claim that they were unsuccessful.

If you do decide to go with a resale company, make sure to look up relevant laws in the state or country where your timeshare is located (or reach out to a lawyer to help). Also, when you do meet with a company, don't sign anything at the first meeting. Take any documents home and read through the fine print before you make a decision.

Multilevel marketing scams

Multilevel marketing scams, or MLMs, work similarly to pyramid schemes with a direct sales model that encourages existing members to recruit new members, while also paying into the parent company for special access. For travel, you're asked to pay a monthly price for credits you can apply to the cost of the cruise or a vacation. However, after you've paid every month, you still need to add more to cover your "upgraded" cruise fee. But wait, there's a way around this, says the company. Simply sign up some friends and family for the same plan and you'll get more credits. The more people you sign up, the better. And of course, the people you've brought on board with you can sign up more members, too. And yet, the cost of your dream vacation is still just out of reach, so you have to keep signing people up and paying monthly, and so on and so on.

You may have seen this model with vitamins, diet cookies, lawn fertilizer or other pay-to-play MLMs. Before you commit to one of these for cruises or travel, look carefully at what you'll be paying upfront before you bring on any other "investors." In most, if not all cases, you can get the same, if not better, value from booking directly with a cruise line or authorized travel agent.

Internet search scams

In a recent article, Travel Weekly identified "flyer beware" scams where an internet search for an airline customer service phone number results in second-party numbers. These phone numbers seem legitimate. However, instead of connecting you directly with the airline, they instead route you to unofficial call centers that don't reveal their affiliations. Then, they bill you not only for exorbitantly priced tickets but also for high charges -- often in the $500 range -- tacked onto the nonrefundable airline tickets.

To counter this scam, it's important to look closely at the listings when you search for an airline's customer service number online -- the first option that pops up isn't necessarily the official one. Copy and paste the number into the search bar to see its official registration. Also, click through the link to the website it's associated with, and then find the homepage. It should then be clear where you've landed.

Once you arrive at your destination, there is a new bucket of deceits you need to be alert to, including the taxi scam. This common scheme happens when you take a taxi or another car service in an unfamiliar destination where rates are determined by the distance of the drive. Your driver may take a much longer, often circuitous route to get to your destination in order to maximize the cost of your fare.

The age of Google Maps makes it easier to thwart one of these scams, even in an area you're not familiar with. Whenever possible, pull up the route on your smartphone's map app to make sure your driver is actually taking you on the most direct route.

If you suspect you're being led astray, ask for them to take the more direct route, then get a receipt and also take a picture of the registration number or the driver's ID card so you can follow up with local authorities or your credit card company later if need be.

Related: How to avoid getting scammed by your taxi driver

In addition, always take licensed cabs or taxis, or use a reputable ride-hailing app (the latter is a good way to know the price in advance and have proof of your journey request).

'Incorrect change' scams

If you're traveling to a place with an unfamiliar currency, someone may try to take advantage of this by giving you incorrect change or insisting you gave them a different bill than you did. This is especially common in places where cash is used more regularly and different bills look similar.

To protect yourself, research the currency at your destination before you travel so you're familiar with it when you arrive. Also, count your change before walking away to make sure you get the right amount.

Ticket scams

People will often try to sell tickets to attractions, buses, trains and more outside of venues and transportation stations. They'll claim the tickets are discounted or offer them as a way to jump the line. However, these tickets can be fake or expired when you try to actually use them. Also, as technology has improved over the years, so have these fake tickets. They can look almost identical to the real thing.

The best way to avoid this is to always purchase any tickets — whether to a concert, a tourist attraction, a bus, a train or a ferry – from an official ticket booth or the official website. Or, work with your hotel concierge to secure admission to hard-to-access venues.

'Attraction closed' scams

You may come across someone claiming an attraction you want to visit, a show you want to see or even a train or ferry you have tickets for is closed. Then they'll direct you somewhere else where you'll be pressured to pay for tickets or buy something.

No matter what someone outside a venue or transportation station tells you, always get your information from the ticket booth or official website as to whether something is closed.

If you made a reservation or bought tickets for a certain time, it's more than likely open. After all, why would an attraction sell you a ticket for something that's closed or unavailable?

'Free item' scams

We've all heard the phrase "if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is."

When you travel, you may be approached by someone with "free" merchandise. Maybe they offer you free food and drinks, or maybe they try to put a bracelet around your wrist. In major tourism areas, you may be asked if you want your picture taken in front of certain attractions or with dressed-up characters on the street.

Be cautious anytime anyone offers anything that is "free," because you'll often be required to pay for it after the fact. If someone approaches you and tries to put something on your body, refuse firmly and give anything they did put on you back to them immediately.

Credit card-skimming scams

No matter who you are or where you go, there's a chance someone could use a card skimmer to steal your credit card information.

Card skimming comes in many forms. Some scammers use a skimmer attached to an ATM or gas pump. Sometimes restaurant workers may skim your card when you pay the bill. You may even have your card skimmed with a handheld device.

Credit cards have come a long way over the years in terms of payment security, and pretty much every credit card out there will have fraud protection. That doesn't mean credit card fraud isn't still a major concern.

When you're using your card at an ATM or at the pump, pay attention to the card reader. Does it stick out farther than normal? Is the card reader loose?

Some gas stations put a seal over the card reader panel so you know it hasn't been tampered with, so check that as well. If anyone makes an excuse to be close to you (which is already a bit of a red flag because of COVID-19 and social distancing measures), they may be trying to steal your card details with a handheld wireless device.

Credit card skimmers can also use near-field communication and radio-frequency identification devices to steal your credit card information.

While it's not nearly as common as people using skimmers on ATMs or other card readers, it can still happen. Contactless credit cards and EMV chip cards are not immune, either — cards still come with a magnetic stripe that RFID readers can grab information from and NFC devices can read your contactless card.

Of course, chip and contactless cards both have built-in safety nets that make it harder for scammers to actually use your credit card details once they have them. That doesn't make it impossible, though.

The best thing you can do is monitor your accounts for suspicious activity and make sure you keep your wallet in a secure place (your back pocket does not qualify) while you travel. If you want to go all-out against contactless scanners, you can buy an RFID-blocking wallet, but there is debate in the payments security space over whether they are a worthwhile purchase.

When I travel, I make sure to log in to my bank apps (never on public Wi-Fi, though) once per day to make sure no unauthorized charges have popped up. If you do notice suspicious activity on your account, many issuers allow you to request a freeze on your account via the app or online.

Related: How to spot and report credit card fraud

Related: 15 TPG editor-approved passport holders to buy before your next trip

Public Wi-Fi network scams

Free Wi-Fi networks can be a godsend when you are traveling — especially if you don't have a roaming data package for your phone.

However, public Wi-Fi hot spots are almost always lax on security. That means someone can steal personal information while you use the network, including bank and credit card account information if you log in while using them. If you do use a public network at a coffee shop, airport or other public space, be wary of logging in to any sensitive sites like your bank or medical profiles.

Related: How to secure your data when using public Wi-Fi

A virtual private network is a popular way to ensure your connection is secure no matter where you go. These work by routing your internet connection through a private server (owned by your VPN company) so that data transmitted comes from the VPN rather than your computer.

This hides your IP address and encrypts your data so that hackers and other entities that might want to snoop through your personal information hit a dead end. It's a great investment whether you travel all the time or just like to visit your local coffee shop that offers free Wi-Fi. They generally cost less than $20 per month (and that's at the expensive end of the spectrum).

Not all VPNs are created equal, so do your research on the best one for your needs. Can you find a VPN that costs less than $10 per year? Yes. Is that VPN worth it? Debatable.

In addition, if you have a smartphone or other device, make sure it's password protected. Most people likely have some sort of passcode set up on their phone — especially since the inception of fingerprint and facial IDs on smartphones. You may not think about the importance of a strong password on your personal laptop or tablet, though.

Set up a password or PIN on all your devices so if the worst case happens and they get stolen, someone will have a much harder time breaking into them.

Bottom line

Travel scams are more common than you might think — tens of thousands of U.S. citizens alone report being scammed each year.

Scammers are smart, and many scams target specific groups of individuals who may be more vulnerable while traveling, such as women traveling alone, older travelers and kids.

Travel is meant to be a fun and rewarding experience, and getting scammed can put a real damper on any trip.

Knowing the kinds of scams that exist can help you protect yourself and your traveling companions while you are away from home. Hopefully, this guide has outlined how to spot some of the most common dangers.

Additional reporting by Melissa Klurman.

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TRAVEL SCAMS TO WATCH OUT FOR IN 2021

Travelpro Travel Expert Editor

Travel Planning

As things are getting back to normal, travel has been increasing, which means travel scams are on the rise again as well. And not just the old scams like fake wifi hubs or gifts of rosemary or bracelets — there are plenty of new ones coming up that travelers should be aware of.

As you’re making plans, hackers and cybercriminals are trying everything they can to get personal information from you via fake airfare packages, hotel deals, and more. They know people like travel deals and might sometimes consider a new travel provider, even if they’ve never heard of that provider before. So these   travel scams   are happening before you even leave for the airport!

The problem is, if the travelers don’t do the right research or take every special offer with a grain of salt, they’re more likely to fall for some of these tricks. Here are a few travel scams that we’re hearing about in 2021.

Scammers posing as well-known brands.

On any given day, you may get a call from a local number of someone you don’t know. The voice on the other end is a pre-recorded message, and you get pretty good at spotting those calls and recognizing the telltale pause before the person starts speaking. When it’s not an extended car warranty, it could be someone saying they’re from an airline, hotel, or even cruise line and they either have an offer, or there’s a problem with your account.

Or you get an email from a fake travel provider. It’s one thing if you’ve booked tickets or made reservations, because they may actually email you. But beware of those emails out of the blue, because there’s a good chance those are fake. You can tell if an email is fake if it’s sent from a domain other than the actual travel provider’s domain. Also, hover over different hyperlinks and see what address pops up — again, they should point back to the provider’s domain. If you’re not sure whether the email is legitimate, don’t click any of the links; go straight to the website from your browser and log into your account the normal way.

Vacation rental scams.

Looking at vacation rentals online can be relaxing and it’s fun to daydream about the properties you’re seeing. The photos are attractive and you can lose yourself in the descriptions of the amenities and the incredible environment you could be in.

The problem is, just like the scammers are posing as well-known brands, other scammers are putting up websites for fake rental properties and accepting credit cards to hold reservations. Except the rental doesn’t exist   OR   the property doesn’t look nearly as good as the photos would have you believe. Use Google Earth and Google Street View to check out the property, and be sure to read reviews on Yelp, Google Business, and Trip Advisor. Finally, do a Google search for the property name “in quotes” and see what comes up.

Car rental scams.

The car rental shortage has presented an opportunity for plenty of travel scams. I don’t know how many people I’ve heard from who said they showed up at a car rental agency only to find that they’re out of cars.

But that’s not the scam!   That’s the problem that leads to the scam.

No, the travel scams come in the form of new, unknown car rental agencies that seem to have plenty of rental cars available, according to their websites. They pay a lot of money to post social media ads and build extensive websites all to find people who are desperate for rental cars.

The other part of the scam is that they’ll try to get you to use a gift card and to pay upfront for the car. Don’t fall for this. They use this method so you can’t issue a chargeback on your credit card and seize your money back. No real travel provider will ask for payment in cryptocurrency or gift cards.

Fake airline sites.

Some scammers are even creating fake airline websites just to get people to send money to them. They can look like credible airline sites, or even third-party travel sites similar to Expedia and Kayak. But they’ll use domain names that make you think they’re the real deal, like KayakFlights.com (which is not a real website). A less-savvy traveler might think, “Oh, Kayak has a site just for flights now” and use the website.

Just like the car rental travel scams, these sites will ask you to pay via non-traceable payments like gift cards or cryptocurrency.

TSA Pre-Check/Global Entry.

Be careful if you’re researching TSA rules or if you’re looking to renew your Pre-Check status. For one thing, the official website is TSA. GOV , not .COM or .ORG. So just in case the travel scammers manage to get a fake TSA site high in the search rankings, you’re better off just going straight to the official website via your browser’s address bar and renewing your membership there.

Travel scams are getting more sophisticated. Now, instead of just watching out for pickpockets, money exchange fraudsters, or fake taxi cabs, the cybercriminals are getting in on the act.

What are some travel scams you know about? Have you ever encountered any in the last few years? What are some things we should watch out for? Tell us about it (we promise not to tell!)   on our Facebook page , or   on our Twitter stream . You can also find us on our   Instagram page at @TravelproIntl .

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Reviews from 'verified' purchasers on Amazon can trick consumers into buying AI-created travel guides. Here's how to spot the scam.

• The New York Times reported a rise in fake travel guides is storming Amazon and tricking travelers.
• The fake books include generic information, sketchy reviews, and similarly fake authors.
• Those searching for books can avoid fake guides by being vigilant and checking reviews or ratings. 

The classic travel guide is being overtaken on online marketplaces like Amazon by completely generic, AI-written ones — but there are a couple of ways to tell if the guide you're looking at is a fake.

According to The New York Times , bogus travel guides are the newest vacation-related scam, fueled by the rise in usage of artificial intelligence .

AI is the main tool used to create the books, since it can create a large amount of generic text, author biographies, and fake reviews to bolster a new book's credibility. Currently, Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing's content guidelines do not prevent users from generating content using AI so long as the content adheres to its other regulations.

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To determine if a  book was written and reviewed using AI, the Times used Originality.ai, which rates the likelihood that AI wrote a passage on a scale of 0 to 100, and Fakespot, a browser extension that flags potentially "deceptive" reviews and grades them from A to F.

The books and reviews the Times evaluated were all rated as likely fake or written by artificial intelligence. 

The scam books are often flooded with high praise — one thing to be on the lookout for before buying, the Times warned, was a large number of five-star reviews contrasted with one-star reviews that discuss obviously low-quality or generic content. 

"I do not understand how this book gets a 5-star rating. I am utterly dumbfounded," one reviewer said, as a screenshot shows in the Times. "This book has no use. It is just comprised of descriptions, which one can just look up on the internet. It appears like a copy and paste book that is shrouded in the appearance of the ultimate guide on travel in France." 

Even the "verified" buyer tag on an Amazon review can be misleading, the Times said, since it can be applied to people who downloaded a book for free — either when an author runs a free promotion or if the person subscribes to a service like Kindle Unlimited, which allows a user to read unlimited books for a set monthly fee. After, that user has the ability to post a review with as a "verified" buyer despite not having spent any money on the book. 

Other ways to spot a fake guide include examining the author and their photo. If a photo of an author shows signs consistent with AI generation — like blurry backgrounds or odd deformities in an otherwise perfect photo — says the Times, then exercise caution. An internet search of an author can also reveal their previous work and credentials, or lack thereof.

Though travel guide author Rick Stevens, who spoke with the Times about the fake guides, did not seem concerned about the AI writers taking his job.

"Amazon is constantly evaluating emerging technologies and innovating to provide a great shopping experience for our customers. All publishers in the store must adhere to our content guidelines, including compliance with intellectual property rights and all other applicable laws," Amazon spokesperson Lindsay Hamilton said in an email to Insider. "We invest significant time and resources to ensure our guidelines are followed and remove books that do not adhere to these guidelines. We have zero tolerance for fake reviews and want Amazon customers to shop with confidence knowing that the reviews they see are authentic and trustworthy," the statement continued. "We have clear policies that prohibit reviews abuse. We suspend, ban, and take legal action against those who violate these policies and remove inauthentic reviews."

Fake Email Confirmation for a Flight (Legal & Cheap Way)

Considering a fake email confirmation for a flight?

Let’s have a look at the risks and legal problems you might face.

In this guide we will provide you with legal and affordable solutions for your travel needs.

You’ll find many fake flight tickets online, but before you go with it, you absolutely have to understand the risks involved and try out safer alternatives.

• How to Make Fake Email Confirmation For A Flight

More and more travelers need a flight confirmation to travel without a return ticket.

The goal for the authorities is to make sure they’ll eventually leave the country within the authorized delays.

But instead of buying a full and pricy flight ticket, some might be tempted to create a fake flight ticket on their computer.

Many tools like Canva, Photoshop and other online services to create fake email confirmations for flights exist.

These platforms offer the technical means to design documents that may superficially look like genuine flight confirmations. But please note this is perfectly illegal.

With these methods, you have to manipulate graphics and text to create a document that can deceive authorities.

And this has a legal name: forgery and use of forgery.

It’s true, these fake confirmations may appear authentic at first glance. But they actually lack verifiable booking codes or legitimate PNR (Passenger Name Record) numbers, so you won’t be able to use them for any official purpose.

But what is exactly the risk of using a fake ticket?

The use of falsified documents may have some important legal consequences:

• visa denials
• and even criminal charges for document falsification

Yes, these methods exist, but they represent a risky and unlawful approach to travel. So the best and safer solution here will be to go for valid and legal alternatives.

• Reasons to Avoid making Fake Email Confirmation For A Flight

There are several reasons why you should not create a fake flight ticket but go for a real thing instead:

• It’s not legal. Producing or using a fake flight confirmation is illegal. It’s classified as document fraud and may lead to legal actions, mostly fines and criminal charges.
• You might be scammed. You probably already know it, the internet is rife with fraudulent services. So you might expose yourself to lose money or to identity theft and other cybercrimes during your fake ticket booking.
• You may not be able to travel. Embassies and airlines often check travel documents. So if you use a fake ticket, your visa might be rejected or you might be barred from your flight.
• It’s not ethical. If you create or use fake tickets, you contribute yourself to a culture of deceit and fraud in the travel industry. And one of the consequences in the long term may be stricter regulations for all travelers.
• You damage your reputation. Are you sure you want to get caught with a fake ticket? This will for sure tarnish your travel history and lead to travel problems later on!
• The Best And Only Alternative

Pretty convinced you don’t want to take any risks with fake flight confirmations?

The best – and – only alternative to fake flight confirmations is using legitimate services like OnwardTicket.

This service provides a real and valid flight reservation, which will be perfect for visa applications or airline requirements for proof of onward travel.

Booking an onward ticket is a straightforward three-step process:

• first you fill out a form with your travel details
• then you make the payment online (the cost starts at $16 for one person only)
• and then you receive your onward ticket in minutes

Note: Click on image to make it larger.

OnwardTicket is a great option for digital nomads, frequent travelers, and travelers who don’t have a return ticket.

Their tickets are valid for 48 hours and you can even choose a direct flight option. The service is highly rated on notation platforms (4,8/5 on Trustpilot!).

Please bear in mind that the tickets provided are reservations only and do not have an e-ticket number. They however come with a valid PNR code that can be checked online.

Creating and using fake flight confirmations might seem like an easy shortcut, but remember it’s fraught with legal, ethical and practical risks.

Here we presented a legitimate alternative with OnwardTicket , which will allow you to get a valid and legal flight reservation to prove your onward plans legally.

This service offers an easy and affordable way to obtain valid flight reservations you can use for visa applications and airline requirements for $16 only. So why bother with illegal stuff?

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Study: On Twitter, false news travels faster than true stories

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A new study by three MIT scholars has found that false news spreads more rapidly on the social network Twitter than real news does — and by a substantial margin.

“We found that falsehood diffuses significantly farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth, in all categories of information, and in many cases by an order of magnitude,” says Sinan Aral, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and co-author of a new paper detailing the findings.

“These findings shed new light on fundamental aspects of our online communication ecosystem,” says Deb Roy, an associate professor of media arts and sciences at the MIT Media Lab and director of the Media Lab’s Laboratory for Social Machines (LSM), who is also a co-author of the study. Roy adds that the researchers were “somewhere between surprised and stunned” at the different trajectories of true and false news on Twitter. 

Moreover, the scholars found, the spread of false information is essentially not due to bots that are programmed to disseminate inaccurate stories. Instead, false news speeds faster around Twitter due to people retweeting inaccurate news items.

“When we removed all of the bots in our dataset, [the] differences between the spread of false and true news stood,”says Soroush Vosoughi, a co-author of the new paper and a postdoc at LSM whose PhD research helped give rise to the current study.

The study provides a variety of ways of quantifying this phenomenon: For instance,  false news stories are 70 percent more likely to be retweeted than true stories are. It also takes true stories about six times as long to reach 1,500 people as it does for false stories to reach the same number of people. When it comes to Twitter’s “cascades,” or unbroken retweet chains, falsehoods reach a cascade depth of 10 about 20 times faster than facts. And falsehoods are retweeted by unique users more broadly than true statements at every depth of cascade.

The paper, “The Spread of True and False News Online,” is published today in Science .

Why novelty may drive the spread of falsity

The genesis of the study involves the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings and subsequent casualties, which received massive attention on Twitter.

“Twitter became our main source of news,” Vosoughi says. But in the aftermath of the tragic events, he adds, “I realized that … a good chunk of what I was reading on social media was rumors; it was false news.” Subsequently, Vosoughi and Roy — Vosoughi’s graduate advisor at the time — decided to pivot Vosoughi’s PhD focus to develop a model that could predict the veracity of rumors on Twitter.

Subsequently, after consultation with Aral — another of Vosoughi’s graduate advisors, who has studied social networks extensively — the three researchers decided to try the approach used in the new study: objectively identifying news stories as true or false, and charting their Twitter trajectories. Twitter provided support for the research and granted the MIT team full access to its historical archives. Roy served as Twitter’s chief media scientist from 2013 to 2017.

To conduct the study, the researchers tracked roughly 126,000 cascades of news stories spreading on Twitter, which were cumulatively tweeted over 4.5 million times by about 3 million people, from the years 2006 to 2017.

To determine whether stories were true or false, the team used the assessments of six fact-checking organizations (factcheck.org, hoax-slayer.com, politifact.com, snopes.com, truthorfiction.com, and urbanlegends.about.com), and found that their judgments overlapped more than 95 percent of the time.

Of the 126,000 cascades, politics comprised the biggest news category, with about 45,000, followed by urban legends, business, terrorism, science, entertainment, and natural disasters. The spread of false stories was more pronounced for political news than for news in the other categories.

The researchers also settled on the term “false news” as their object of study, as distinct from the now-ubiquitous term “fake news,” which involves multiple broad meanings.

The bottom-line findings produce a basic question: Why do falsehoods spread more quickly than the truth, on Twitter? Aral, Roy, and Vosoughi suggest the answer may reside in human psychology: We like new things.

“False news is more novel, and people are more likely to share novel information,” says Aral, who is the David Austin Professor of Management. And on social networks, people can gain attention by being the first to share previously unknown (but possibly false) information. Thus, as Aral puts it, “people who share novel information are seen as being in the know.”

The MIT scholars examined this “novelty hypothesis” in their research by taking a random subsample of Twitter users who propagated false stories, and analyzing the content of the reactions to those stories.

The result? “We saw a different emotional profile for false news and true news,” Vosoughi says. “People respond to false news more with surprise and disgust,” he notes, whereas true stories produced replies more generally characterized by sadness, anticipation, and trust.

So while the researchers “cannot claim that novelty causes retweets” by itself, as they state in the paper, the surprise people register when they see false news fits with the idea that the novelty of falsehoods may be an important part of their propagation.

Directions for further research

While the three researchers all think the magnitude of the effect they found is highly significant, their views on its civic implications vary slightly. Aral says the result is “very scary” in civic terms, while Roy is a bit more sanguine. But the scholars agree it is important to think about ways to limit the spread of misinformation, and they hope their result will encourage more research on the subject.

On the first count, Aral notes, the recognition that humans, not bots, spread false news more quickly suggests a general approach to the problem.

“Now behavioral interventions become even more important in our fight to stop the spread of false news,” Aral says. “Whereas if it were just bots, we would need a technological solution.”

Vosoughi, for his part, suggests that if some people are deliberately spreading false news while others are doing so unwittingly, then the phenomenon is a two-part problem that may require multiple tactics in response. And Roy says the findings may help create “measurements or indicators that could become benchmarks” for social networks, advertisers, and other parties.

The MIT scholars say it is possible that the same phenomenon occurs on other social media platforms, including Facebook, but they emphasize that careful studies are needed on that and other related questions.

In that vein, Aral says, “science needs to have more support, both from industry and government, in order to do more studies.”

For now, Roy says, even well-meaning Twitter users might reflect on a simple idea: “Think before you retweet.”

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Press mentions, marketplace.

Prof. Sinan Aral speaks with Marketplace reporter Molly Wood about the proliferation of fake news. “If platforms like Facebook are to be responsible for the spread of known falsities, then they could use policies, technologies or algorithms to reduce or dampen the spread of this type of news, which may reduce the incentive to create it in the first place,” Aral explains.

The Guardian

Researchers from the Media Lab and Sloan found that humans are more likely than bots to be “responsible for the spread of fake news,” writes Paul Chadwick for The Guardian. “More openness by the social media giants and greater collaboration by them with suitably qualified partners in tackling the problem of fake news is essential.”

The Washington Post

In an op-ed for The Washington Post, Megan McArdle shares her thoughts on research from the Media Lab and Sloan that identifies “fake news” as traveling six times faster than factual news. “The difference between social media and ‘the media’ is that the gatekeeper model…does care more about the truth than ‘the narrative,’” McArdle writes.

Jordan Webber of The Guardian addresses the rise of “fake news”, citing research from the Media Lab and Sloan. “I believe that social media is a turning point in human communication,” said Sloan Prof. Sinan Aral. “I believe it is having dramatic effect on our democracies, our politics, even our health.”

Robin Young and Femi Oke of WBUR’s Here and Now highlight research from Sloan and the Media Lab that shows how quickly false news travels the internet. “We [also] found that false political news traveled farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than any other type of false news,” says Prof. Sinan Aral.

The New York Times

Prof. Sinan Aral writes for  The New York Times  about research he co-authored with Postdoc Soroush Vousaghi and Associate Prof. Deb Roy, which found that false news spreads “disturbingly” faster than factual news. “It could be, for example, that labeling news stories, in much the same way we label food, could change the way people consume and share it,” writes Aral. 

Scientific American

Larry Greenemeier of Scientific American writes about a study from researchers at Sloan and the Media Lab that finds “false news” is “70% more likely to be retweeted than information that faithfully reports actual events.” “Although it is tempting to blame automated “bot” programs for this,” says Greenemeier, “human users are more at fault.”

The Atlantic

Researchers from Sloan and the Media Lab examined why false news spreads on Twitter more quickly than factual information. “Twitter bots amplified true stories as much as they amplified false ones,” writes Robinson Meyer for The Atlantic . “Fake news prospers, the authors write, ‘because humans, not robots, are more likely to spread it.’”

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• Paper: "The spread of true and false news online"
• Project: The Spread of True and False Information Online
• Soroush Vosoughi
• School of Architecture and Planning

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9 fakest history channel reality shows (and 6 that are totally real).

Which reality shows are real and which are fake these days? Here's the verdict on some of The History Channel's programs.

The History Channel used to be a respected network of airing well-done, historically accurate documentaries. Then the channel moved over to an inordinate amount of WWII focused programs. It didn’t take long for the History Channel to get the nickname "The Hitler Channel."

The reality show boom in the mid-2000s saw the onslaught of staged scenes, somewhat scripted programs, and forced drama. It was hard to tell in those early shows, but as time went on and more people spoke out behind-the-scenes, viewers understood to take what they saw with a grain of salt. However, people couldn’t get enough of the drama, no matter how ridiculous, and the over-the-top reality stars.

In an effort not to be left behind in ratings and viewership, The History Channel slowly started adding reality shows similar to those on Bravo and TLC. Fans of the channel criticized the network for moving away from actual historical content. But television is a business, and we can’t fault the History Channel for making movies to obtain and keep viewers. We can fault the channel, however, for not realizing that the actual history programs are what truly made the channel's name.

The percentage of real to fake shows appears to be dwindling each year across networks. Fake shows are getting easier to spot and actual “reality” shows are vanishing, especially on The History Channel.

Here are the 9 Fakest History Channel Reality Shows (And 6 That Are Totally Real)

Fake - Mountain Men

Mountain Men is a reality show that focuses on a variety of men in different locations surviving the wilderness in their respective locations. From North Carolina to Alaska, you’ll meet men who teach survival, fly planes, and trap fur. While the actual men and their jobs are real, most of the show tends to be fake. For example, many of the scenes where the men were in extreme danger are staged. Most of what the men do in Mountain Men is boring, so the producers have to get viewers excited.

One of the stars, Tom Oar said once, “They always have to make it seem more dangerous. I’m too boring otherwise.” When it came to shooting scenes with bears, Oar said they were never around on his property when they needed them, so he and crew went elsewhere.

Fake - Bigfoot Captured

Bigfoot Captured is clearly a show meant for entertainment. This fake documentary follows in the footsteps of two other shows that attempted to find mermaids and the megalodon. The Bigfoot show used actors as “researchers” scrounging for evidence.

There was one famous scientist involved in the show who is a Bigfoot advocate, Dr. Jeff Meldrum. But he even had to take to Twitter to head off fans who thought the show was real. He said he had nothing to do with the overall plot or creative content. From watching the teaser of Bigfoot Captured , he “got an inkling that there was some dramatic liberty taken creating a what-if scenario.” He added that the drone scene did catch a bi-ped on video: one of the production assistants.

Real - Ice Road Truckers

The History Channel’s Ice Road Truckers follows the lives of semi drivers in the extreme conditions of remote lands in Canada and Alaska. The only part of the show that can be deemed as “fake” - more as an embellishment really - is the exaggeration of personalities.

One star, Rick Yemm, said in an interview that “they take small parts of our personality… I’m brash, I’m not always the most politically correct person… That’s a small part of me they exploit.”

Otherwise, the weather conditions you see, the accidents that occur, and the work the drivers do is all real. Crew members have gotten hurt and truckers’ lives away from the show have affected life on the show (especially when one cast member was arrested for kidnapping and extortion.)

Fake - American Pickers

Now in its 18th season, American Pickers follows two men as they travel the United States to buy items from people’s collections. The items are typically antiques or collectibles the hosts - Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz - plan to resell at their shops. Even though the show is mostly fake, it doesn’t stop American Pickers from entertaining millions of fans per episode, making this one of History Channel’s popular TV shows.

But the show manufactures much of what you see. It’s been proved that Danielle - ostensibly the office manager - is actually an actor who was a burlesque performer and roller derby athlete. Also, the shots of Frank and Mike driving are staged and the dialog recorded on a set. Even some participants have mentioned the “picks” are handled before Mike and Frank get there.

Fake - Ancient Aliens

One of the most criticized shows on the History Channel, Ancient Aliens discusses how aliens have shaped Earth’s history going back millennia. This reality show is obviously fake for many reasons.

Ancient Aliens uses “self-appointed” challengers to real science to spout their nonsense views on how aliens eradicated dinosaurs. It should come as no surprise these same people provided no evidence to their claims. One writer for the Smithsonian magazine called the show’s presentation a Gish Gallop, when you’re presented with so much information quickly, including falsehoods and misinterpretations, you have no time to debate any assertions.

The show rarely uses real scientists, and when it does, their statements are chopped into sound bites taken out of context. Plus, the show has conflicting ideas on what it even believes. Many feel the History Channel should clarify Ancient Aliens is merely discussing alternative ideas and not to be taken seriously.

Real(ish) - Swamp People

Some people disagree with the theme of Swamp People - hunting and selling alligators for their skins - but the show is mostly real. The main complaint of the show is the people who are portrayed in the show don’t really live that way. Relatives of two Native American men on Swamp People , R.J. and J. Paul Molinere, have said they are not as spiritual as they are on the show and don’t use candles to protect themselves from evil spirits.

However, even before the show came along, some of the participants made their money by alligator hunting. It’s depicted as dangerous, and it is in real life, but the guys on the show have years of experience so they know how to be safe. There are elements of Swamp People manufactured for safety and edited for drama, but what the men do for a living on the show is real.

Fake - Pawn Stars

There’s no denying the popularity of the Las Vegas-based show that follows the daily lives of those working at the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn shop, but just watching an episode or two of Pawn Stars will fill you with great skepticism.

Any deals you see are organized beforehand. Participants have already signed a release allowing the show to use their face and voice. Also, the item they wish to sell has been examined and cleaned up.

Pawn Stars is a TV business. The souvenir shop is hidden by use of clever camera angles. The store makes a killing selling their brand on T-shirts and other merchandise. If you make a visit and plan on seeing the stars, you’ll be disappointed: they are only working the counter when shooting.

Real - Counting Cars

Another show on the History Channel that may surprise you as real is Counting Cars. Danny Koker, who appeared as expert on occasion for Pawn Stars , owns and operates Count’s Kustoms. The show focuses on the daily business as Koker and staff restore and modify cars and motorcycles.

Whether by coincidence or design, Counting Cars resembles the Pawn Stars ’s spinoff, American Restoration . Even down to the format.

Various friends and fans who’ve met Koker say the owner is the “real deal.” Koker is a down-to-earth, self-taught mechanic who credits his dad for imparting his car knowledge. Koker’s shop manager for Counting Cars , goes on to say, “When you fake stuff you can tell and they do it to save money, but we spare no expense. Just to let you know, that man right there makes sure they keep it real.”

Fake - Alone

Alone pits the wilderness against people who must survive as long as they can. It’s basically a Last Man Standing game where the person who withstands nature the longest wins a cash prize.

A keen viewer of Alone noticed in season 2 that things didn’t add up, pointing the show towards being completely or somewhat staged. Jose Martinez was favored to win the entire competition, but he tapped out in third place. This tap-out appeared incomprehensible. The canoe he’s using tips; suddenly he’s standing in about 4 feet of water, which was noted as very cold. He goes from talking about winning to using the emergency phone to be rescued seconds later. As the emergency crew reaches him (which they do very quickly), he’s still standing in the water feet from shore.

A released bonus video helped prove the viewer’s theory as well as showing suspicious edits and camera angles.

Real - Forged in Fire

When Forged in Fire was first conceived, it was proposed the contestants would compete to make kitchen cutlery, but producers felt that was too boring and decided on weapons. If you’re looking for a History Channel reality show that is real, then check out Forged in Fire .

None of the participants are true forging and weapons experts. One of the contestants, Ryu Lim, is a full-time blacksmith and makes weapons that are functional, but also works of art. The contestants' language is real and sometimes flawed, but everything they make is done by their hands.

The judges are experts in their own fields, and they use their experience in weaponry to criticize the manufactured weapons. One is a former Army Ranger and another is a edged blade close combat expert. Another judge even designed one of the deadliest combat knives on the planet.

Fake - Hunting Hitler

One show inherently helps with determining if it’s real or fake, because the answer is in the title. Faking Hitler entertains the idea that Hitler faked his own death at the end of World War II and was whisked away to South America.

The production company, Karga 7, has also done shows like Jesus Conspiracies and Booze Travelers , but made it clear “not to get into conspiracy theories” in the Hitler program. The most real factor in the show was the “very real concern of U.S. intelligence interests that… Hitler had orchestrated an escape from Berlin.”

Most of the “evidence” presented is from unique technology that goes back over the declassified documents. For instance, “Hitler spotting” for 100 days after Hitler’s death showed a path straight to Argentina, which constituted Hunting Hitler’ s first lead.

Real - The Ancient Series ( Discoveries, Mysteries, Behaving Badly )

The Ancient Series - Discoveries, Mysteries, and Behaving Badly - are shows based on documented facts. They are perhaps the most real shows on this list, though Ancients Behaving Badly takes a more tongue-in-cheek approach to its presentation. But it’s still real.

Discoveries chronicles how modern technology is based on ancient inventions. The show uses accredited archaeologists, forensics, computer regeneration, and performs experiments to make the connections.

Mysteries hearkens back to the 70’s show In Search Of … The show investigates unexplained mysteries in civilization, including legends and real events like Pompeii. They use documents, witness accounts, and other research.

Ancients Behaving Badly focuses on individual historical figures and rates their pathology based on their behavior. The show uses animated sequences, but also interviews historians and conducts forensic investigations to formulate conclusions.

Fake - American Restoration

American Restoration is a spinoff of Pawn Stars. Rick Dale, who’s appeared in several episodes of Pawn Stars as an expert, runs Rick’s Restoration. They restore antique items back to their original condition. The show already had skeptics since it was related to Pawn Stars.

The shop is more than a shop: it looks to have been rebuilt to take advantage of the show. You can also take 2 different tours. The “Lite” tour offers a 10-15 minute guided tour with a “very slim” chance to see someone from the show. The “Boneyard Tour” gives tourists a “very good” chance to see someone famous.

Dale also set up a new location based on the popularity of American Restoration , then stopped doing the show because it “disrupted his restoration business.” It was also reported Dale had been speaking another production company to do a similar reality show.

Real - Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy

In the travel documentary Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy, Larry journeys around the United States immersing himself in various jobs, hobbies, and lifestyles.

Larry the Cable Guy wanted to show people that there is hope in the world. He said the reason he doesn’t watch the news anymore is because “[the news] only covers that 1 percent of the population that are dirtbags.”

The segments were all real. In one, Larry thought he might die when he was fetching clams and oysters. He sunk to his chest in mud. Then the guide who came over to help got stuck. It took him 45 minutes to get out; the director had to cancel filming. Most of the segments show just Larry doing jobs, but fans have said the show is one of more interesting and fun ones The History Channel has.

Fake(ish) - The Curse of Oak Island

The Curse of Oak Island constitutes a show that is based on real events and accounts, but fabricated with inconsistent stories and long, drawn-out drama.

The basic premise is that Oak Island contains treasure. For over 221 years, many treasure-seekers have tried to get the island to cough up its treasure to no avail. In 2006, brothers Rick and Marty bought a stake in the island and started excavating.

The curse is a legend that says seven people must die before the island will release its treasure. Skeptics have stated that many more than seven have died in the island’s history. Also, with the amount of treasure thought to be buried, someone should have found something by now. One of the brothers, Rick, has said , “There’s a story that I want to figure out, and I think that’s the real treasure.”

What History Channel shows do you feel are real or fake? Let us know in the comments!

Upstate NY native starring in new PBS travel show about hidden gems, history

• Updated: Apr. 25, 2024, 9:21 p.m. |
• Published: Apr. 25, 2024, 4:52 p.m.

Sophia Michelen, left, and Scott “Doc” Varn, right, co-star in "America: The Land We Live In" — a new PBS travel/history show that explores the United States through a 19th-century travelogue called "Picturesque America". Michelen grew up in Troy, N.Y. In this photo, Michelin and Varn sit on a picturesque spot in western North Carolina. Photo courtesy of World Life Productions Photo courtesy of PBS

• Samantha House | [email protected]

Sophia Michelen has a passport that would make anyone with wanderlust wildly envious.

The Upstate New York native and photojournalist has visited over 70 countries and has lived on three different continents. But aside from a few favored haunts in the Empire State where she grew up, Michelen said she never extensively explored the United States.

Now, that’s changing in a big, public way.

Michelen is co-starring in a new PBS show that explores hidden corners of the United States captured in “Picturesque America” — a 19th-century travelogue considered one of the nation’s first travel guides. The book is filled with beautiful engravings and tales of magical places across Reconstruction-era America.

In the PBS show — called “America: The Land We Live in” — Michelen and Scott “Doc” Varn, her co-host, visit spots featured in the 150-year-old book. They try to stand in the exact spots where the engravings were made and see how each location has changed.

“It’s kind of bridging the past to the present. That’s the hook,” Michelen said. “But what I love the most is the people we meet.”

Viewers can watch “America: The Land We Live in” on PBS.org , the PBS App or local PBS stations. The show airs on PBS stations across New York on Sunday, April 28.

The first episode of the “travel, adventure, history show” takes place in North Carolina and South Carolina, where Michelen and Varn explore cities and head out into the mountains to hike, raft and talk their way to the hidden places captured in the century-and-a-half-old travel guide.

But the experience that sparked the series happened two years ago in the Catskills.

Sophia Michelen, left, and Scott “Doc” Varn, right, hold up a page of "Picturesque America" — a 150-year-old travel guide — that features the exact spot they were posing at in April 2022 near Kaaterskill Falls in the Catskills. The hike inspired the new PBS travel show "America: The Land We Live In". Photo courtesy of World Life Productions Photo courtesy of Sophia Michelen

Michelen, who lives in New York City, said she met Varn when they went on a hike with mutual friends at Kaaterskill Falls — a beloved, two-stage waterfall in Greene County that was featured in “Picturesque America”. During the walk, the group discovered the exact spot where the engraving included in the travel guide was sketched.

Growing up in Troy, Michelen was no stranger to Kaaterskill Falls. But the hike and engraving helped her see the well-known spot in a new light.

“We went to this trail in the Catskills that I had been all my life. I knew the area,” she said. “But once I stood in that exact spot, it was like I’d never seen it before.”

The experience forged a bond between Michelen and Varn — and led to the PBS show.

In the first episode, the co-hosts hunt for a towering oak tree east of the Mississippi and visit coastal waterways with a Gullah Geechee fisherwoman. The pair visit a “mysterious” old farm, PBS said, and a hard-to-find island.

Michelen hopes to eventually head home to New York to film a new episode of her show.

“The Battery in New York City is in this book, but also Kaaterskill Falls and Rochester and Buffalo,” she said. “It’s like the best of New York state.”

Upstate is widely featured in the vintage travelogue — including parts of the Capital Region and the Adirondacks. Michelen has visited some of the spots with family and friends, she said, and hopes to bring PBS along in the future.

That includes a trip to Troy, the city mentioned in “Picturesque America” where Michelen’s parents still live.

She has explored Troy, the place she long called home, through the lens of a nearly forgotten book. But she said explorers don’t need the travel guide to see Upstate differently.

“You don’t even need the book to guide you to see these locations in a new light. You could do that yourself,” she said. “It’s the journey. It’s the lessons in the histories you learn along the way.”

More in Upstate NY travel

• Upstate NY brewery takes home title of ‘best beer label’ in U.S.
• ‘Gorges’ Upstate NY city ranked among best family destinations in US
• Solar eclipse: Expect 4-12 hour traffic jams in Buffalo, Niagara Falls, troopers say

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There's A Fake Greek Island Of Santorini In China You Can Visit

• China recreated Santorini with $1 billion resort in Dali city, replicating blue and white architecture with Mediterranean charm.
• Yunnan province's 3,700-acre resort offers accommodations mirroring Santorini's allure, providing a taste of the island in China.
• China's love for replicas extends to world monuments such as the Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Colosseum, and even the Titanic.

Santorini (also known as Thera in Classical Greek) is one of the most iconic destinations in the Greek Islands and all of Europe. It is nestled in the southern Aegean Sea, is the remnant of an ancient caldera, and attracts people from far and wide. But not everyone can make it to Greece and visit the island. So if one can't go to an attraction, why not bring the attraction elsewhere? That seems to be what has happened with a replica of the island in China.

Naturally, there is nothing quiet like seeing an attraction in real life. There are many things to see and do in Santorini and one needs to actually go there to see and do them. That being said, there's nothing quiet like traveling to China and seeing replicas from around the world in real life too.

A Picture-Perfect Replica Of Santorini In China

Dali city in yunnan province offers a stunning replica of the greek santorini island.

According to reporting by the Times of India , China has built a picture-perfect replica of Santorini . The publication states "This pretty replica impeccably captures the quintessence of Santorini's iconic appeal." It should be noted that such a resort-based replica would not be out of the ordinary in Las Vegas where one can find Egyptian pyramid replicas, Venice replicas, and more.

China's southern city of Dali in Yunnan province is one of the top tourist destinations for domestic Chinese travelers. Sometimes, holidaymakers enjoy bringing the world to them instead of having to travel and see the world. China is full of many elaborate replicas of famous landmarks, with Yunnan province's Santorini Dali resort boasting the blue and whitewashed architecture of Santorini.

The resort spans 3,700 acres and costs over a billion dollars to construct. It is nestled close to a local lake and offers a selection of stunning accommodations, along with little shops and authentic Greek-themed restaurants. The Cangshan mountain range rises in the background, while the Chinese relax with a touch of Mediterranean charm.

Is Santorini Possible On A Budget? Here Are 10 Ways To Do It

Santorini: one of greece's most iconic islands steeped in history, santorini not only has stunning beaches and iconic architecture, it has its own ash-covered city like pompeii.

Santorini has a population of around 15,500 and a landmass of around 28 square miles. It is an island that has forged its own identity and boasts red sand, black sand, and pebbled beaches with some of the Mediterranean's most well-known architecture.

Santorini is believed to be the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history, which caused massive damage to the ancient Minoan civilization around 3,600 years ago (at the height of their civilization).

One of the great attractions in Santorini that the Chinese are unlikely to have replicated is Akrotiri, an ancient Minoan city buried in the eruption (much like Pompeii thousands of years later).

Sunny Skies & Ocean Breezes: Your Guide To The Weather In Santorini & When To Go

China: a land of many replicas, china has built scale and even larger-than-life replicas, sometimes resulting in them being taken to court for intellectual property theft.

Replicas of many of the world's most well-known monuments and attractions are found in China. Travel to China and see fake versions of the Eiffel Tower (354 feet tall), the Sydney Opera House, the White House, the Roman Colosseum, Paris' Arc de Triomphe, Moscow's Kremlin, and much more. Sometimes there are multiple replicas of the same landmarks around China.

Examples of replicas in China:

• Rome's Colosseum
• Arc de Triomphe
• London Tower Bridge
• Effiel Tower
• Sydney Opera House
• The White House
• Great Sphinx

Not all replicas in China are smaller versions of their real-life counterparts. The Romandisea Titanic is an unfinished full-scale copy of the Titanic . The project was first reported in 2013 and formally launched in 2014. It would have been the centerpiece of the Romandisea resort in Sichuan province. However, it seems to have stalled and remains around 25% complete ( the United States has more than one Titanic replica of its own ).

Some replicas are much larger than the real thing. In 2012, a double-sized replica of London's famous Tower Bridge over Yuanhe Pond was built in Jiangsu province.

However, while China's replicas are typically met with amusement when the outside world learns about them, they sometimes anger countries. China has built a number of Great Sphinx replicas only to have the Egyptians take them to court to demolish them claiming them to be intellectual property theft.

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Fake Tags Add to Real Chaos on American Roads

Officials are moving to increase enforcement and change laws in response to the rise in counterfeit or expired plates, which exploded during the pandemic.

By Michael Corkery

After hearing complaints about streets filled with cars with expired temporary license tags, the mayor of St. Charles, Mo., invited his constituents to send in photos of bad plates. He received more than 4,100 in a year — from a city of about 71,000 people.

A Washington, D.C., Council member wants to make it easier for officials to tow cars with expired tags, saying the proliferation of them around town “makes my community members crazy.” Texas will soon require dealerships to issue temporary metal plates when a car rolls off the lot, replacing the oft-abused paper tags.

The crackdown on “temp tags” comes in response to a problem that officials say has festered for years but exploded during the Covid-19 pandemic, alongside other chaos on American roads. Fatalities from car crashes rose, while pedestrian deaths in 2021 reached their highest level since the early 1980s. Such deaths have declined slightly, but remained well above prepandemic levels last year.

The rise in fake or expired plates has been robbing governments of needed revenue and making it harder to enforce traffic laws, which the American driver seems more emboldened than ever to ignore, part of a larger erosion of social mores.

“From what I am seeing, there is a real breakdown in automotive law and order,’’ said Dan Borgmeyer, the St. Charles mayor who encouraged citizens to report expired tags in his St. Louis suburb.

The shuttering of government offices during the pandemic caused disruptions and delays in routine bureaucratic functions like processing car registrations, and many states extended deadlines. At the same time, police departments reduced or halted traffic stops for minor offenses, because of staffing shortages and the intense scrutiny after George Floyd’s murder in May 2020.

“This is one aspect of a much larger problem,’’ said Jonathan Adkins, chief executive of the Governors Highway Safety Association. “We are giving the public too much permission to flout rules.”

Temporary tags have been involved in a spate of deadly crashes and violent crimes in recent years. In Texas, a police officer died in a high-speed chase in 2022 while pursuing a driver with a fake paper tag. Another car with a sham plate was used in a shooting that same year at a Dallas hair salon.

Mayor Eric Adams of New York City, where 16 traffic-related deaths in 2021 involved vehicles with temporary license plates, said cars with fake tags had “become a weapon of death for our innocent New Yorkers.”

Police officers in several cities have started more aggressively pulling over or ticketing cars with improper tags. The effort is being cheered by citizens fed up with drivers who brazenly skirt the law, but it also is causing concerns that traffic stops will again escalate into violent encounters between motorists and the police.

“Race is going to play a role again, it’s inevitable,” said Jan Haldipur, an associate professor of sociology at California State University, Long Beach, who wrote a book on police “stop and frisk” policies in the Bronx. “It will be a factor not only in the likelihood of who gets stopped, but also in the use of physical force after someone is stopped.”

Many temporary paper plates are obtained illegally through networks of questionable car dealers and brokers, officials say. Others were issued legitimately, but their owners have kept them long past their expiration date to avoid paying the fees and taxes that permanent plates require. And some are simply counterfeits created on an average home printer.

In some cities, including Portland, Ore., even motorists with legitimate plates have become routinely late in registering their cars. “Since 2020, we have seen a decline in vehicle registration that is far beyond anything we have seen historically,” said Millicent D. Williams, director of the city’s transportation agency.

Officials say Portland reduced traffic stops after the race-related protests of 2020, but the city is planning to hire several new officers to help ramp up ticketing cars, a move it hopes will make up some of the fee revenue the city loses from expired registrations.

For many states, regulating the temporary tags is a more pressing concern. It has been relatively easy for some car dealerships to issue temporary paper plates, making the process ripe for abuse.

In states like Georgia and New Jersey, that has resulted in some obscure dealerships issuing tens of thousands of temporary tags — amounts that far exceed the number of cars they could have possibly sold, according to an investigation by Streetsblog .

The sham license plates can then be sold to drivers, often in different states, officials say, allowing them to avoid tolls and evade cameras that enforce speeding rules. The bogus plates also allow drivers to avoid paying insurance, registration fees and taxes.

Investigators in St. Charles recently worked undercover on a case that led to the arrest of a St. Louis man who produced more than 300 counterfeit temporary tags that he sold for $60 each. In a search of his home, police found a computer, a printer and blank paper with the Missouri seal. He pleaded guilty last year to selling counterfeit authentication features.

Some states are trying to modernize their laws to reduce fraud. Starting next year, Texas will replace temporary paper tags with metal ones, which will be more difficult to forge. This year, New Jersey tightened restrictions on car dealers, including fines of up to $5,000 for each time a dealer violates the rules around temporary tags.

In Washington, Brianne Nadeau, a Council member, has proposed a bill that would allow the city to tow or boot a car with improper temporary tags. Under current law, a car can be towed only if it has accumulated multiple tickets, she said.

Ms. Nadeau says the fake tags are contributing to a broader erosion of traffic safety by allowing drivers to evade detection by speed cameras. “When I am in my car and someone is zooming by and I look at the plate, it is usually a temporary tag,” she said.

Temporary tags are a particular sore spot in Missouri. “The biggest issue in community meetings is, ‘what can you do about all these temporary plates?’” said Captain Jennifer Crump of the Kansas City Police Department.

They’re working on it, she said. On a single day in January, the police pulled over more than 100 drivers with expired temporary plates and handed out tickets. Last month, officers stopped more than 300 people. One temp tag dated back to 2015.

Car buyers in Missouri are typically issued a temporary tag by a dealership and then have a few weeks to pick up the official plates from the state’s motor vehicle department where they also pay the sales taxes on their car purchase. Many people, the police say, are willing to risk getting a ticket for an expired tag, which can total more than $100, rather than paying the tax, which can total more than $1,000.

Some of the thousands of photos that the St. Charles mayor received from residents were forwarded to the police. Many cars were just passing through, but when the cars of St. Charles residents were identified, officers went to many of the home addresses associated with a temporary tag and issued a ticket.

Mayor Borgmeyer did his part, too. One day, he pulled up behind a car with expired temporary plates and snapped a picture with his phone. The driver rolled down his window and extended his middle finger. Mr. Borgmeyer sent the photo to the police, but by the time officers followed up, the driver had already started the process of obtaining a proper license plate.

Michael Corkery covers national issues such as drug addiction, mental illness and violence and the people and places most affected by it. More about Michael Corkery

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CBP Continues to Find Fake Goods Imported at the Rochester, N.Y. Port of Entry

This time valued at more than $400,000

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Rochester Port of Entry seized various designer items throughout March and April for bearing counterfeit trademarks.

CBP officers had inspected several shipments that contained multiple “designer” clothing, shoes, handbags and watches, as well as Airpods and NBA branded rookie cards. After a thorough examination of the merchandise, all the items were determined to be not authentic and were seized for bearing counterfeit trademarks. Had these items been genuine, the total Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) value would be approximately $408,805 dollars.

“CBP plays a vital role in the protection of consumers and businesses from fraudulent products,” said Rochester Port Director Ronald Menz. “Our officers work tirelessly to intercept these fake items that have economic impacts, legal implications and a potential risk to the health and safety of the American consumer.”

CBP has the authority to detain, seize, forfeit, and ultimately destroy imported merchandise if it bears an infringing trademark or copyright that has been registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office or the United States Copyright Office and has subsequently been recorded with CBP through the e-Recordation program. https://iprr.cbp.gov/s/ . Other violations can include misclassification of merchandise, false country-of-origin markings, health and safety issues, and valuation issues.  

Trade in counterfeit and pirated goods threatens America’s innovation economy, the competitiveness of our businesses, the livelihoods of U.S. workers, and, in some cases, national security and the health and safety of consumers.  It is also against the law to import counterfeit or pirated merchandise and individual consumers may be liable for a fine even if they did not intend to import counterfeit or pirated merchandise.

If you have information about counterfeit merchandise being illegally imported into the U.S., CBP encourages you to submit an E-Allegation .  The E-Allegation reporting tool provides a means for the public to anonymously report to CBP any suspected violations of trade laws or regulations related to the importation of goods into the U.S.

CBP has established an educational initiative to raise consumer awareness about the consequences and dangers that can be associated with the purchase of counterfeit and pirated goods.  Information about the Truth Behind Counterfeits campaign can be found at The Truth Behind Counterfeits | U.S. Customs and Border Protection (cbp.gov)

Follow us on twitter @CBPBuffalo and @DFOBuffalo

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the comprehensive management, control, and protection of our nation’s borders, combining customs, immigration, border security, and agricultural protection at and between official ports of entry.

Money latest: Gameboys, Sindy dolls, designer shoes, 1950s furniture - the items in your attic that could be worth a small fortune

Gumtree's most popular items include rare stamps, Gameboys and Pokemon cards. Read this and all the latest consumer and personal finance news below, plus leave a comment or submit a consumer dispute or money problem in the box.

Monday 29 April 2024 15:43, UK

• Three of UK's biggest lenders up mortgage rates
• Annual mortgage repayments have increased by up to 70% since 2021
• Higher food prices and shortages warning - as new Brexit checks begin this week
• People on disability benefits could receive vouchers rather than cash

Essential reads

• Gameboys, Sindy dolls, designer shoes, 1950s furniture: The items in your attic that could be worth a small fortune
• Money Problem : 'A company isn't abiding by written warranty for dodgy building work - what can I do?'  
• '£2,000 landed in my account' - The people who say they're manifesting riches
• The world of dark tourism - what is it, is it ethical and where can you go?

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We also want to know how you give them the money (cash, bank transfer, app) - and if they have to do anything in return.

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By Emily Mee , Money team

When I think about the toys of my childhood - my pink Barbie car, my Gameboy Micro, my collection of Pokemon cards - I can't tell you where they went. 

Maybe they were shipped off to a charity shop at some point... Or perhaps they're in the attic? 

While my hot pink Gameboy Micro is lost to the void of time (or a cardboard box somewhere in my mum's house), other versions of it are selling on eBay for £100 or more. 

And there are Pokemon cards selling for anything from a tenner to hundreds or even thousands of pounds. 

It's possible you also have items at home that are a collector's dream. 

Gumtree says its collectables category is already proving to be a "hotbed of activity" this year, with listings up 22% in 2024 so far. 

Its most popular items include rare stamps, coins, war memorabilia and Pokemon cards. 

Spring is often the most popular time for buying and selling collectibles, with demand spiking in March and April. 

We've enlisted the help of TV presenter and collectables expert Tracy Martin to give an idea of what could make you an easy buck. 

Old toys making a 'retro comeback'

Tracy explains that while trends change, vintage toys tend to stand the test of time. 

"Toys are always going to be popular because they tap into nostalgia, our childhood memories," she says, explaining that adults like to buy the toys they used to have. 

Perhaps you were into cars, and you've got some old diecast vehicles from Matchbox, Corgi or Dinky Toys. 

A quick look on toy auction site Vectis.co.uk shows a Corgi Toys "James Bond" Aston Martin estimated to sell for between £600 to £700 - while others are likely to fetch £50 to £60. 

Sindy dolls are also particularly sought after - particularly those from the 1960s - and Barbie dolls from the 1990s too. 

Pokemon cards have seen a "massive surge", Tracy says, with people paying "thousands and thousands of pounds" for good unopened sets. 

She's even seen examples of people paying £16,000 upwards. 

Another up-and-coming market is games consoles, such as Gameboys, vintage consoles and PlayStations, which are making a "retro comeback".

What else could earn you some cash?

Tracy says there's currently a surge in people wanting to buy "mid century" furniture, which is dated to roughly 1945 to 1965 and typically uses clean lines and has a timeless feel. 

Vintage Danish furniture is sought after, particularly tables and chairs with good designer names such as Wegner, Verner Panton and Arne Jacobsen.

Prices range from the low hundreds into the thousands.

People will also look out for vintage framed prints by artists such as Tretchikoff, J.H. Lynch and Shabner - these can range in price from £50 upwards to a few hundred pounds plus. 

Vintage clothes, handbags and shoes can fetch a good price - but you can also invest in modern pieces. 

Tracy suggests looking out for good classic designs with high-end designer names such as Gucci, Chanel, Dior and Louis Vuitton. 

Modern designers such as Irregular Choice, Vendula and Lulu Guinness are also collected. 

Collaborations with designers and celebrities can do well as they're often limited edition. 

For example, Tracy says the H&M x Paco Rabanne maxi silver sequin dress retailed at £279.99 last year but now sells for in excess of £600. 

When it comes to shoes, "the quirkier the design the better" - so look out for brands such as Irregular Choice and Joe Browns. 

Converse and Dr Martens collaborations also do well, depending on the design and condition, as well as Adidas and Nike limited edition trainers. 

What's the best way to sell?  

Tracy recommends to always research before selling your items, as they might perform better on different platforms and you can also get an idea of how much they sell for. 

For example, Vinted can be a good place to sell clothes and shoes, while other items might be better suited for sale on Gumtree, eBay or Etsy. 

Tracy's favourite way to sell is through auction - especially if there are specialist sales. 

Vectis is one of the biggest and most popular for toy selling. 

Interests in different periods and items can go up and down, but for the time being vintage pieces from the 1980s and 90s are popular. 

How much you'll be able to get from an item often takes into account its rarity, condition, whether it reflects a period in time, and if it's got a good name behind it. 

You never know - you might be sitting on a treasure trove. 

Annual mortgage repayments have increased by up to 70% since 2021, according to new data from Zoopla .

The biggest impact of rising interest rates has been in southern England where house prices are higher.

Across the South West, South East and East of England, the annual mortgage cost for an average home is £5,000 higher than previously. This rises to £7,500 in London.

But the universal uptick in mortgage costs has been less pronounced in other parts of the UK, with the North East seeing a £2,350 increase.

In a bid to tackle inflation, the Bank of England has raised the base rate from 0.1% in December 2021 to a 16-year high of 5.25% now.

The Zoopla research looked at the average home buyer taking out a 70% loan-to-value mortgage.

This week seems to be starting where last week left off - with three major lenders announcing further hikes in mortgage rates.

Amid uncertainty of the timing of interest rate cuts from the Bank of England  this year, swap rates (which dictate how much it costs lenders to lend) have been rising in recent weeks.

Financial markets currently see two rate cuts by the Bank of England this year.

We've reported on a string of rate bumps from the high street over the last 10 days, and this morning NatWest, Santander and Nationwide moved.

In its second hikes announcement in less than a week, NatWest laid out increases across its full range of residential and buy-to-let fixed deals of up to 0.22%.

Santander, meanwhile, announced increases for both fixed and tracker deals across their residential and buy-to-let products - up to 0.25%.

The same hikes are being imposed for a range of Nationwide deals.

All of these will kick in tomorrow.

Amit Patel, adviser at Trinity Finance, told Newspage it was "not a great start to the week". 

"This is not good news for borrowers," he said.

Where will the base rate go this year?

The majority of the bets, according to LSEG data, are on the first cut coming in August (previously this was June) and the second in December.

This would take Bank rate from the current level of 5.25% to 4.75%.

Disabled people could receive vouchers instead of monthly payments under proposed changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

The changes could see people being provided with either one-off grants for specific costs such as home adaptation, or being directed to "alternative means of support" rather than financial support.

Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride is set to announce plans today to overhaul the way disability benefits work.

In a Green Paper due to be published alongside Mr Stride's statement to the Commons, ministers will set out plans to reform Personal Independence Payments (PIP), the main disability benefit, through changes to eligibility criteria and assessments.

The plans also include proposals to "move away from a fixed cash benefit system", meaning people with some conditions, such as depression and anxiety, will no longer receive regular payments but rather get improved access to treatment if their condition does not involve extra costs.

Speaking to Sky News earlier, Mr Stride said: "I want us to have a grown-up, sensible conversation about a benefit called PIP that has not been reviewed in over a decade.

"And I want to ask the question, is it fit for purpose given the world that we're in today, in which mental health issues sadly present more of an issue than they did a decade ago."

By James Sillars , business reporter

A fresh high for the FTSE 100 to start the week.

The index of leading shares in London was 0.5% up at 8,179 in early dealing.

The gains were led by miners and financial stocks.

Dragging on the performance were some consumer-facing brands including JD Sports and Flutter Entertainment.

One other development of note to mention is that stubbornly high oil price.

A barrel of Brent crude is currently trading almost 1% down on the day.

But it remains at $88 a barrel.

The market has been pulled by various forces this month, with hopes of a rebound in demand in China among them.

The latest decline is said to reflect peace talks being held between Israel and Hamas.

A demand for smaller homes has driven growth in UK property prices early in 2024, according to research by Halifax.

Data from the bank's house price index suggests annual property price growth hit 1.9% in February this year - a significant rise from -4.1% just three months prior.

That equates to a rise in prices of £5,318 over the past year.

It follows interest rates stabilising, Halifax says, after a sharp rise over the past two years which squeezed mortgage affordability.

A key driver behind rising prices, Halifax says, has been first-time buyers, who made up 53% of all homes bought with a mortgage in 2023 - the highest proportion since 1995.

And it's smaller homes that have recorded the biggest increases in price growth in the early part of this year - with buyers adjusting their expectations to compensate for higher borrowing costs.

Flats and terraced houses made up 57% of all homes purchased by first-time buyers last year.

This varies by region - for example, in London, flats and terraced homes accounted for 90% of all first-time buyer purchases.

Challenges remain

However, Amanda Bryden, head of Halifax mortgages, said "it's important not to gloss over the challenges" facing the UK housing market, given the "impact of higher interest rates on mortgage affordability" and "continued lack of supply of new homes".

"But scratch beneath the surface and there is a more nuanced story, one which shows that demand for different property types in different parts of the country can vary hugely," she added.

"As interest rates have stabilised and buyers adjust to the new economic reality of owning a home, one way to compensate for higher borrowing costs is to target smaller properties.

"This is especially true among first-time buyers, who have proven to be resilient over recent years, and now account for the largest proportion of homes purchased with a mortgage in almost 30 years."

Every Monday we get an expert to answer your money problems or consumer disputes. Find out how to submit yours at the bottom of this post. Today's question is...

I had a company coat the exterior of my house with a rubberised paint product in November 2022. The original cost was £3,280 - though there was a discount. This came with a written 10-year warranty. The product started to fail after five months (peeling off). I first contacted them one year ago, on 3 April 2023, and the company keeps fobbing me off, blaming bad weather for not resolving issues. They don't come round when they say they will. What can I do? Robert Anderson, 77, Scotland

We asked consumer disputes expert Scott Dixon, from complaintsresolver.co.uk , to pick up this one...

This falls under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 which states that any faults found within the first six months are considered to have been there at the point of purchase (or in this case, application).

You are entitled to one free repair under S49 Consumer Rights Act 2015 which states that every contract to supply a service is to be treated as including a term that the trader must perform the service with reasonable care and skill.

Traders can only have one crack at the same fault - if that fails, you are entitled to a refund/replacement.

You have two options: make a warranty claim/pursue a remedy under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

How did you pay for it? If you paid (even just the deposit) by credit card, you can make a S75 claim against the credit card provider who is jointly liable under S75 Consumer Credit Act 1974.

If the trader is unwilling to remedy it, seek at least three quotes from other traders to price putting the job right. You can get another trader to remedy the job and invoice the original trader for the work. 

I know what you're thinking: what happens if they refuse to pay?

Options and next steps

If all else fails... You could take your case to the small claims court if it was England, or follow Simple Procedure in Scotland .

Before you file a claim, send screenshots to the company of the court papers setting your case out and demanding a refund within seven days. Tell the company that if they fail to do so, you will lodge a claim via Simple Procedure.

It is a relatively easy, inexpensive route and is designed for disputes such as this. Court fees are based on the amount of money you want to claim.

This may resolve the dispute. If it does not, you can proceed and file the small claim papers online.

Another option is to file for their bankruptcy as a creditor, which is free. It effectively freezes their bank accounts and credit lines and locks their business down until it is resolved. You can find an SD1 form to do this here . 

I have done this before and it works like a charm. You need to send any documents by recorded delivery. This is a last resort if you cannot resolve your dispute.

I would also report this firm to Trading Standards. Ensure that you point out that they are deliberately selling products and carrying out defective work without due care and skill, which is fraudulent and illegal. You have proof of this so make sure you provide it.

Finally, leave reviews online too.

Money team note : We got in touch with the company involved, who said they had agreed to recoat the building at no cost but that dry days were needed before and after to fit the product in line with the manufacturer's guidelines. They said they had contacted Mr Anderson last week. We decided not to name the company as it is a small business - but we'll follow up this case in summer.

This feature is not intended as financial advice - the aim is to give an overview of the things you should think about.  Submit your dilemma or consumer dispute via - and please leave your contact details as we cannot follow up consumer disputes without them.

• The form above - make sure you leave a phone number or email address

Britons could face higher food prices, and even empty supermarket shelves, as new post-Brexit border fees are introduced this week, industry figures have warned.

A maximum charge of £145 will apply on imports of plant and animal products, such as cheese and fish, entering the UK through the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel from Tuesday.

"The fundamental change is huge to the nation's food supply," Nigel Jenney, chief executive of the Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC), told the Money blog when we first covered this story in January.

"I would certainly expect to see price rises because these costs simply couldn't be absorbed by the industry."

James Barnes, chairman of the Horticultural Trades Association, said this month that the policy "feels like it is constructed on the back of an envelope at best" and that the charges would "undoubtedly increase costs" and increase the likelihood of empty shelves in supermarkets.

He said as well as higher prices and a more limited variety of products available in UK shops and restaurants, "we now might begin to observe a decline of EU businesses trading into the UK, simply because they have been priced out".

The new rules explained

The new rules, known as the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM), are intended to protect biosecurity by imposing controls on plant and animal products considered a "medium" risk. These include five categories of cut flowers, cheese and other dairy produce, chilled and frozen meat, and fish.

From 31 January, each shipment had to be accompanied by a health certificate, provided by a local vet in the case of animal produce, and, from Tuesday, shipments will be subject to physical checks at the British border.

There is also the prospect of delays caused by inspections of faulty paperwork, which could derail supply chains that rely entirely on fast turnaround of goods.

The policy has been delayed multiple times and earlier this month the Financial Times reported that the government would not "turn on" the checks this week because border systems were not fully ready. The government said this was not true - but indicated they would initially focus on higher-risk products.

The fee will be charged per type of product imported, and will vary from £10 to £29 depending on the risk products present. It will be capped at £145 for mixed consignments.

A government spokesperson said this was "within and at the bottom end of the range which we consulted with industry on".

They added: "The charge is designed to recover the costs of operating our world-class border facilities where essential biosecurity checks will protect our food supply, farmers and environment against costly disease outbreaks entering the UK through the short straits."

The fees will not apply to goods brought into the UK for personal use, the government said.

EU business 'could stop trading with UK'

Marc Forgione, director general of the Institute of Export and International Trade (IEIT), said there was another risk beyond price rises and potential shrinkflation.

He told the Money blog earlier this year: "There is also a concern that has been raised with me by some UK-based businesses that their suppliers in the EU will frankly take a view that it's too complicated to deal with these changes and withdraw from the market."

Mr Forgione said that over time the UK will have "the most efficient border in the world", due to digitisation and the BTOM's assessment of goods based on risk, but it will create friction for EU businesses where there was none.

What has the government said?

A spokesperson told us when we first covered this story in January: "We remain committed to delivering the most advanced border in the world.

"The changes we're bringing in will help keep the UK safe, while protecting our food supply chains and our agricultural sector from disease outbreaks that would cause significant economic harm."

A Waitrose billboard that appeared to be sitting askew was fenced off by a London council over safety fears. 

But it turned out there was no need - as the supermarket had intentionally made the billboard wonky in a nod to its falling prices.

"Thanks for the swift action but while our prices are falling rapidly, our billboard certainly isn't! #noneedforbollards," the retailer wrote in a tongue-in-cheek post on X. 

The billboard had been put up on Lindore Road, in Wandsworth, southwest London.

Wandsworth Council later confirmed to The Guardian that the barriers had been removed.

It said it was "alerted to this unusual advert by a concerned member of the public" and decided it "better not take any chances with public safety so put up some barriers to be on the safe side". 

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Region by region: How these states could broaden abortion access

The year began with nationwide conservative efforts to shrink abortion access . Advocates for the procedure hope to end 2024 by reversing some of these restrictions, via the ballot box.

And the outcome of their efforts could have major implications for something opponents have long waged war on − interstate abortion travel.

With ballot initiatives underway in nearly a dozen states to let voters weigh in on where to set the limits, the success or failure of these measures will have impacts beyond state lines and on regions broadly, advocates told USA TODAY.

Acting as a sort of sanctuaries for neighboring abortion access deserts, states with more liberal abortion laws have seen an influx of out-of-state patients since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case guaranteeing a constitutional right to the procedure. 

And a slew of proposed abortion-related constitutional amendments in 2024 could add to the map.  

Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide

How many people got abortions in 2023? New report finds increase despite bans

“Unless there's a national right to abortion care, we're absolutely doing it state by state, community by community as best as possible,” said Adrienne Mansanares, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. 

Abortion travel escalated post-Roe

After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and decades of federal abortion precedent in June 2022, decisions around the procedure and any limits or exceptions returned to states, creating a nationwide legislative patchwork.  

Over a dozen predominantly red states have implemented near total bans on abortions, while a handful of blue states including Oregon and Vermont allow abortions regardless of the gestational period, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. Some states restored an abortion limit similar to that of Roe. 

The varying laws have led to a rise in patients traveling between states seeking an abortion, Mansanares said.

Planned Parenthood’s health centers in Colorado, a state with wider abortion access, saw a tenfold increase in patients seeking care from nearby Texas, Oklahoma and Arizona between 2020 and last year, according to the organization's records. In October 2020 through September 2021, their Colorado health centers saw 374 of these out-of-state patients; from October 2022 through September 2023, the clinics served approximately 3,800 patients from the same three states. Over 75% of these women scheduled appointments for abortions.

The bulk of women came from the Lone Star State, where the procedure is almost completely banned. 

"When state bans go into effect, they impact the entire country,” Mansanares said. 

This year, voters in at least three states will decide whether to enshrine abortion access in their constitution. And there are still ongoing initiatives to add such a decision to the ballot in about a dozen more states, including Colorado. 

If passed, these referendums could cement some states’ statuses as abortion access points, while opening new points of access in others. 

Women travel both to and from Florida for abortions

Sitting in the southeast where some of the country’s tightest abortion laws are concentrated, Florida has been a relative haven for patients in the South in the wake of Roe’s overturning. 

But with the state’s current 15-week limit about to drop to six weeks, after a recent state Supreme Court ruling, women in Florida and the surrounding region could face a shortage of care, said Serra Sippel, interim executive director of The Brigid Alliance, a group that provides resources for abortion travel. 

Already, Florida is among The Brigid Alliances top states from which they help patients travel, often seeking abortions in D.C. or Maryland, Sippel said.

And she said the group is bracing for this need to grow after May 1, when the six-week limit is set to go into effect. 

November ballot measure could change Florida yet again

The Florida Supreme Court at the same time cleared the way for a measure protecting abortion through viability, often around 24 weeks, to appear on November’s ballot.  

Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the “100% pro-life" group North Carolina Values Coalition, said she is worried about the effects of both Florida court decisions in her own southern state. 

“All states in the South, once Florida's heartbeat bill goes into effect, will have either a heartbeat bill or a gestational limit at conception,” Fitzgerald said. “And so that means North Carolina's 12-week limit on abortion will cause women to flood across our borders, again, to obtain abortions.” 

Along with Virginia, which allows abortion through 26 weeks of pregnancy, North Carolina has some of the lowest restrictions on the procedure compared to the rest of the south. Even after the state legislature last summer lowered the limit from 20 to 12 weeks, with exceptions, North Carolina saw one of the highest number of out-of-state patients in 2023, behind Illinois, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

Fitzgerald said she wants a limit like other southern states for the Tar Heel State and is concerned about referendums like Florida's.

“It should be a concern for everyone who believes in the sanctity of human life,” she said. 

Travel for abortion care is 'not ideal'

Still, abortion access advocates say interstate travel is an imperfect solution. 

“It is not ideal," said Tara Romano, executive director of Pro-Choice North Carolina, “because not everyone can leave the state to access abortion. And this is really just how chaotic it's been since (Roe was overturned).” 

“If you're in a state where you cannot access abortion, being able to get to another state is going to be really critical,” she added. “It's just that it's not going to be able to help everyone,” including patients in emergency situations, Romano said. 

For those seeking an abortion, Mansanares said considerations range from travel costs to finding somewhere to stay in a different state, along with taking time off work and, for the many women who are already parents, finding childcare. 

“It's a huge financial burden. And then the act of traveling out of your home state for care has a tremendous psychological impact as well,” Mansanares said. “Our patients are very fearful. They experience a deep amount of shame or stigma. Many of them feel terrorized." 

And aid from organizations like The Brigid Alliance are “being stretched to the max, Sippel said. 

“I want to emphatically say that it's a good thing that this referendum will be on the ballot,” Sippel said of Florida. “If it's passed, that is excellent news for Florida. And then, of course, it won't be enough.”