A Phoenix traveler says she paid $1,010 to a fake airline representative she found through an online search — one case in a wave of impostor scams targeting American Airlines customers nationwide.
A Phoenix woman says an online search for American Airlines customer service after a canceled flight led her to an impostor who charged her $1,010 and never delivered the promised refund.
The case, reported by ABC15 Arizona, adds to a string of warnings from federal regulators, Google and the Better Business Bureau about what consumer advocates describe as an American Airlines Google search scam, in which fraudsters exploit frustrated travelers by posing as airline customer service through fake phone numbers, bogus social media accounts or impostor websites that can surface high in search results, including sponsored ads.
The passenger, identified by ABC15 only as Cher, said her American Airlines flight was canceled last September. She called to be rebooked, hoping to reach Santa Fe, New Mexico, but said she could only be rebooked to Albuquerque.
“I’ve had an issue getting a refund from American Airlines. So, last September my flight was canceled and I called and got rebooked. I wanted to go to Santa Fe, and I could only be rebooked to Albuquerque and so they charged me $1,010 for that rebooking and then they said that it was going to be repaid very very soon,” Cher told ABC15.
Cher said the number she called was not American Airlines but someone pretending to be the airline, according to ABC15. She said she was later told she would need to pay another $1,010 before receiving a $2,020 refund, a one-way ticket and an additional payment of about $260 to compensate for the delay.
“You’re gonna have to pay us $1,010 and we’re gonna give you $2,020 and we’re gonna give you a one-way ticket. We’re gonna give you… the other perk was like $260 because it’s taken so long to get the refund and so I never heard back from them since January,” Cher said.
“I wanna get my $2,020 back,” she told ABC15.
ABC15 reported that Cher forwarded her communications to American Airlines, which determined she had been dealing with an impostor. She was working to dispute the charges with her bank, according to the report. ABC15 brought Cher’s account to light through a consumer-help event in Glendale, Arizona, and published its report June 24. Simple Flying, an aviation news outlet, published its own account of the scam July 9, framing it around sponsored Google ads that outrank the airline’s real customer-service listings.
American Airlines’ security page states the company will never ask customers to make security-related changes or provide personal or financial information through unsolicited emails, phone calls, mail or faxes, and says any such request should be considered fraudulent. The airline says suspicious communications often include false claims about a customer’s account or flights, links to fake or look-alike websites, and a false sense of urgency.
The scheme reflects a broader trend flagged by federal regulators. The Federal Trade Commission has warned that scammers monitor social media for frustrated travelers and contact them through fake accounts posing as airline representatives, seeking booking confirmations, phone numbers or bank information, or directing victims to spoofed websites that harvest personal data. The Better Business Bureau has separately warned that online searches for airline customer-service numbers have led consumers to fake numbers created by scammers, and that some sponsored ads appearing atop search results and social media feeds can lead to impostor websites. Google’s advertising policies prohibit ads or destinations that impersonate other brands or misrepresent an advertiser’s affiliation with a company.
Consumers lost more than $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024, including $2.95 billion tied to impostor scams, according to the FTC. “The data we’re releasing today shows that scammers’ tactics are constantly evolving,” Christopher Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said. Google’s 2024 Ads Safety Report said the company suspended more than 39.2 million advertiser accounts and stopped 5.1 billion bad ads that year.
Federal rules give airline passengers refund rights that scammers exploit for leverage. The U.S. Department of Transportation says consumers are entitled to a refund when an airline cancels a flight, regardless of the reason, if they decline to travel or accept credits, vouchers or other compensation. Refunds must be issued in cash or the original form of payment — airlines cannot substitute vouchers unless a passenger chooses that option — and are due within seven business days for credit card purchases or 20 calendar days for other payment methods once a refund is owed.
The FTC advises travelers dealing with a disrupted flight to log into their airline account and contact customer service only through the airline’s official app, website, chat or phone number, or to speak with an in-person representative at the airport. The agency says anyone asked to pay an upfront fee to receive a refund is almost certainly dealing with a scammer, and that legitimate refunds never require advance payment. The BBB advises consumers not to call a phone number listed in an unsolicited cancellation message and instead to find contact information on the airline’s official website, and to confirm a website’s legitimacy before entering payment information, even if it appears as a sponsored result at the top of a search. Google recommends that users seek information directly from a company’s official website, watch for misspellings or unusual formatting in search results, and use the “About this result” feature for more context on a listing.
American Airlines’ refunds page says customers who purchased tickets or related travel products directly through the airline can request a refund or check its status online, while those who booked through a travel agent or another website must contact that seller. Travelers who believe they have been scammed can dispute unauthorized charges with their bank or card issuer, the FTC says, noting that scammers often favor hard-to-reverse payment methods such as wire transfers, gift cards, cryptocurrency or payment apps. The FTC directs victims to report impostor schemes at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to visit IdentityTheft.gov if personal information was compromised.
Key Takeaways
- A Phoenix passenger says an online search for American Airlines customer service connected her with an impostor after her flight was canceled.
- She was charged $1,010 for a rebooking and later told to pay another $1,010 to receive a $2,020 refund; American Airlines determined she had contacted an impostor.
- The FTC, BBB and Google warn that scammers impersonate airline support through fake numbers, social accounts and impostor websites, sometimes via sponsored ads.
- Consumers should contact airlines only through official apps, websites or phone numbers, never pay upfront for a refund, and report impostors to the FTC.