He called United Airlines’ customer service line and got scammed for $17K: Here’s how it happened
Dan Smoker got a nasty surprise after being billed $17,000 following a simple conversation with United Airlines.
Dan Smoker was all set to take his family to Europe before the dream died — and it came via a chilling telephone scam hiding inside United Airlines’ own customer service system.
Smoker phoned the official United customer service line to reorganise a cancelled flight. He spent three hours on the phone, conversing with an agent who called himself “David.” The agent set up a rebooking, charging Smoker up front while assuring him that United would eventually refund the original fare.
A confirmation email but months soon passed with no refund. Upon reviewing his bank statement, Smoker discovered a legitimate charge from United for the rebooking, and separately, a $17K debit under the vague name “AIRLINEFARE.”
Consumer investigator Steve Staeger honed in on the email’s red flags and confirmed that Smoker had indeed — and rather terrifyingly — called United’s official number, not a false third-party line. He said that “I figured Dan had been taken advantage of, thought maybe he’d Googled a number for United, but he didn’t.”
However, United’s internal records told a different story: Smoker’s call lasted barely 12 minutes and ended abruptly. United confirmed receiving calls from his number and launched an internal review, but they couldn’t explain how his call might have been secretly re-routed to a scammer. “We’ve been in direct contact with the customer to understand what happened in this case,” a United spokeswoman. “We are reviewing this matter thoroughly. We’re committed to finding a fair resolution for him.”
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The lesson, it seems, is simple: always dial the number listed directly on the airline’s verified site or app. Make sure you double-check email senders and all legitimate correspondence should come from official domains like @united.com. If you do realise you’ve been scammed, act fast: contact your bank, dispute the transaction, and alert the airline.
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