Description

I searched “Southwest” on Google, and the first phone number that appeared was not the airline’s actual customer service number. It belonged to a scam operation posing as “Southwest Airlines Customer Service.” I called this fake number to request that my daughter’s ticket (she is a minor) be linked to another reservation, as she was flying with a friend’s family. The person who answered identified himself as a Southwest customer service representative. He told me that in order to link her ticket to the other reservation, the ticket would need to be re-issued and I would have to pay for it again, but that the amount would be refunded. Since it was my first time requesting this type of service—and because airlines often have unusual rules related to modifying reservations—I did not immediately suspect anything. After I paid, I was informed that the charge would appear on my credit card under the name “Earnflight.” That is when I realized I had been scammed. The alarming part is that the scammers had access to the Southwest website: they successfully linked my daughter’s ticket to the other reservation and even checked her in for her flight on the same day. I immediately contacted my credit card company to request a stop on the charge and to have a new card issued.