Matt Gephardt has worked in television news for more than 20 years, and as a reporter since 2010. He is now a consumer investigative reporter for KSL. You can find Matt on X at @KSLmatt or email him at matt@ksl.com.
SALT LAKE CITY — Wait times at airport security checkpoints in some cities are stretching past three or four hours as TSA agents by the hundreds call out or quit after going without pay for 40 days.While TSA worker pay has been restored, scammers are using the situation to steal money from fliers who might be seeking the latest flight information.
Debra Gamero recently flew from Salt Lake City to Chicago. Gamero said before she left, she hopped online to find a phone number for the Salt Lake International Airport. Concerned about airport security wait times, she wanted to ask how early she needed to arrive before her flight.A search engine spit out a phone number, but it turned out to be not the one for Salt Lake International."I called the numbers for the airport and got 'airport consolidations,'" Gamero texted. "They told me I needed to pay another $150 to secure a seat."She recognized she was talking to a scammer and hung up. She then reached out to KSL's Get Gephardt to warn other travelers."We have a website, slcairport.com," said Salt Lake International's spokesperson, Nancy Volmer. "That has information about lost and found. That has information about flights." And it has information about TSA wait times, she said. The website also has the airport's official number so fliers can call if they need more information. That number is 801-575-2400."All the information we provide is at no charge," Volmer said.She said she had not heard of this particular scam. But, Get Gephardt has certainly seen variations of it.Last summer, we reported on how scammers often pose as popular companies and pay for search engine ads to show fake phone numbers. Fake phone numbers and fake help desks, but real money is lost.The Federal Trade Commission reports that imposter fraud is one of the costliest frauds in the country, and AI is making it harder to spot.It's an issue that is exacerbated as more companies abandon phone lines and call centers in favor of messaging. When people go looking for a number and there isn't one to be found, criminals are happy to fill that void.
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