Intro
Not too long ago, family and I decided to go to a local event hosted every year in Bolingbrook, IL called Cavalcade of Planes.
This is a popular event especially for plane enthusiasts and family with kids alike.
It's hosted at the Clow International Airport and thousands of folks come out to enjoy the show and take pictures next to warbirds.
My kid loves planes (just as much as he loves cars, trains, and motorcycles) and we wanted to take him there for the experience as he is about the right age to understand some of these things. We spent a number of hours checking out vintage planes and helicopters along with vendors who were selling things like toys for kids to food and drinks.
The Fraudsters
As we were leaving the event, we came across a booth set up within the event parameter to purchase tickets for one of the luxurious lodging and water park places in Wisconsin Dells. And to our surprise, wife and I were both talking about going to the Dells few weeks prior but it never came to fruition as we didn't commit to it at the time so we decided to check it out. As we approached the booth, this individual named Scott spoke to us and gave us a verbal breakdown of the offer and we soon knew that we are getting into one of those "Timeshare" types of deals. Now, I know how silly these "Timeshare" deals are but this time somehow my mind was made up and we decided to go with it considering it was two nights and three days package for 6 people and we would have to spend 3 hours for the actual sales presentation.
The package we were going to receive was already cheap and Scott decided to give us 50% off on that as it was the last day of the event and only 2 to 3 hours were left before the closing. I looked at the flyer and a page full of paperwork that we had to fill out and Scott was kind enough to answer our questions and our limited flexibility around the schedule. We decided to bite the bullet even though I had this sinking feeling about the whole thing. After purchasing the package, he prepared an envelope with a receipt along with a brochure. And then he snuck in a piece of paper into the envelope that had booking requirements outlined. Little to our knowledge, the only way to go through and book your stay was to email at some Gmail address indicating the name, purchase date, and the duration of the stay along with dates you'd like to chose.
After several email exchanges with this unknown individual, it was apparent that this was a scam. And let me tell you something, being in the IT field and getting scammed to me was an eye opener as to how these scammers work and how they are so determined to get your money.
The Resolution
Thankfully, I used a credit card to make this purchase instead of shelling out cash. So, all I had to do was file a claim with my credit card company. I didn't stop there as I got interested in learning more about the way these guys operate and decided to write an email to the Manager at Clow International Airport asking for the vendor information that supposed to be submitted in order to put up a tent for the event. After sending out an email to the manager at a work email address, next day I receive an email back (surprisingly from his own personal Gmail account) indicating that this vendor was a last minute addition to the event and they didn't collect any other information! Now that's what I call a total lack of responsibility especially when you pull this kind of stunts at a major public event!
Did you get scammed?
Please feel free to share your story here if you got scammed at any point in your life. And what steps you took along with lessons you learned.