A new year, a new scam. Just when you thought you’d heard or seen it all, scammers are now using unclaimed luggage as a lure to get unsuspecting Facebook’ers to hand them $10.
Yep – unclaimed or lost bags that airports and airlines around the world have decided that they don’t want to store. Yep – unclaimed bags that could contain clothes, jewelry, electronics, all sorts of things that are worth a $10 bet.
Sorry, but it’s a scam.
The scammers were evidently aware that bags and airlines are a hot mess and that there’s an unclaimed luggage store in Alabama that’s doing very well cleaning up that niche.
With that inspiration, they started launching their ruse overseas – in Dublin, Geneva, and Warsaw – then, based on the success they were having, decided to move it to the States, using Photoshopped images of piles of bags sitting at Chicago O’Hare and Dallas-Ft. Worth’s DFW airports, and creating fake Facebook accounts to try and cash in.
“Dallas Fort Wоrth Internatiоnal Airport … warеhouse is being urgently emptied, and all luggage left unattended for more than six months will be sold. They are legally recyclable, but we’re running a charity event and offering them for just $9.95,” is how one of the Facebook pitches reads.
Then, the post seems to be supported by scammers masquerading as fellow Facebook users raving about how easy it is to buy one and the bounty of good stuff they received when they received their suitcase.
All you need to remember is this: Airports don’t sell unclaimed bags, and there’s only one place that ConsumerAffairs knows of that has agreements in place to sell “unclaimed luggage” and that’s the Unclaimed Baggage store.