- I am a smart and capable adult. I thought I was too smart to be caught in a scam. I was wrong.
- It happened when I took to social media to ask for help with an issue related to my rental car ride.
- Next time, I will remind myself to breathe and walk slowly when someone comes to my aid.
I’m well aware that new online scams are popping up every day. I’m skeptical to the point of cynical and have worked in online media for over 15 years. I thought I was protected from fraud. I was wrong.
The stressful trip made me feel depressed
At the end of my time in the East with my family, my son got sick on the day we were supposed to fly home to LA, so I delayed our flight by two days. The plane ticket was easily changed at no extra charge, but when I went to extend my rental car, the company’s website said they would charge me more than $3,000 for a rental car that was supposed to be only $51 a day .
I panicked. I told myself that this must be a mistake and called the customer service number for help. After an hour of being redirected to automated lines over and over, I felt sick. I couldn’t pay for that – it would cost more than our entire trip. If I could only contact a living person, I would have hope that everything could be resolved.
I turned to social media for help
I remembered that I had had luck contacting corporations through social media before and found the rental company’s official Facebook page. I posted a message about my situation with a plea for help.
I was overwhelmed with relief when I received an immediate response from a profile titled “Customer Service”. The person on the other end asked for my phone number and email address and I received a call a few minutes later. In a shaky voice I explained what was happening and the voice on the other end of the phone – someone named Kenneth – apologized for the mistake and said he could help.
And then he took me. I was so desperate to connect with a living person that I was willing to follow any instructions he gave me to remedy the situation.
Kenneth (who knows if that was even his name) said that not only would they not charge me the exorbitant fee for the extra two days, but he would make my extra two days just for my inconvenience. All I had to do was confirm my credit card number.
He said for security reasons I should not tell him the number over the phone but instead download an app called Remitly where the number would remain confidential. He said he would send a $100 refund to my card to make up for the extra two days I would be charged. Looking back, I now realize that it didn’t make much sense and it wasn’t the right amount either. It should have been $102 if he credited me for two days. But I didn’t hesitate for a second. No warning bells went off in my head or gut. I was so happy to finally get help. I followed his instructions.
And then, it happened again
I then got another Facebook message from another “Customer Service” profile saying they were trying to contact me but I wasn’t picking up the phone. “It’s okay,” I wrote. “I’m talking to someone right now.”
Hang up, they wrote. “Hang up.”
A cold took me from head to toe. “Oh my God,” I wrote. “It’s a scam. I just gave this guy my credit card number.”
I immediately hung up and the phone rang again. Now someone allegedly named James was available to help me. Now I snapped out of my surprise and hung up on him as well.
Finally, I heard from a real person
Eventually, the rental car company wrote back on Facebook saying that none of the messages or calls had come from them and that I would have to pick up the extra fees at the rental counter when I returned the car.
I was humiliated and panicked now. I called my credit card company and canceled the card.
I spent the next 36 hours berating myself for being so stupid. When I arrived at the rental car counter, I was able to find a manager who waived the $3,678.07 charge that caused me to contact customer service in the first place, but by then I was a complete wreck.
In the end, the scammers ended up charging me $100, and I don’t know if I’ll ever get that money back, but I figure I’m lucky it cost me this whole annoying lesson.
I will do things differently next time
The next time I’m faced with a stressful customer service issue, I’ll remind myself to take a deep breath and take it slow. When I feel that sense of relief that someone is coming to my aid, I will always pause and verify that they are who they say they are, especially when I’m reaching out via social media. And the next time someone calls me a cynic, I’ll say “That comes from experience.”
