In late January, after a second journey again from the runway to the gate to handle a “paperwork” situation, I posted to X (previously Twitter) concerning the flight delays. That generated the next reply from “Patrick, JetBlue Supervisor.”

“We apologize for the scenario and inconvenience induced. To ensure that us to have the ability to verify concerning the scenario, we kindly request that you simply please ship us your reachable cellphone quantity so agent, JP Can help.”

Patrick was right here to save lots of me from a day of interminable, teeth-grinding delays … or was he?

Shortly after Patrick’s reply got here one other notification that my earlier publish was preferred and retweeted by an account bearing the identify Thomas Clark JetBlue Supervisor. Thomas wrote: “Hello apologies for the inconvenience induced, kindly comply with again and share a reachable quantity through DM for help please. Thanks.”

Along with the odd social media interactions, there have been causes to be suspicious. Neither of the accounts had any form of verification mark, and the account deal with for “Patrick” had misspelled the phrase “supervisor” as “@PManeger1.” Moreover, “Patrick” appeared to be fairly new to the job, beginning the account in January of 2024 and had since acquired zero followers.

A cursory Google search revealed the supply of assist was, certainly, too good to be true. The overhaul of X’s account verification system from legacy badges to a pay-for-play mannequin has contributed to the issue.

“Together with the remainder of the trade, we now have seen a number of pretend social media accounts falsely representing themselves as JetBlue to deceive and defraud clients,” Derek Dombrowski, senior supervisor, company communications for JetBlue, wrote in an e-mail to The Submit.

Dombrowski mentioned the airline works with a cyber fraud prevention enterprise and its personal authorized counsel to fight the fraudulent posters. However with fraudulent social media accounts really easy to create, the elimination course of is akin to whack-a-mole. Meaning you higher keep vigilant to keep away from these predatory practices.

After vacationers vent their frustrations on social media, the scammer swoops in to supply help. That’s once they ask for private info like a cellphone or WhatsApp quantity through direct message to proceed the dialog and resolve the problem. That decision usually entails a proposal to rebook your flight reservation and an ask on your bank card quantity.

What could be notably complicated is when scammers pop into an current X change between the traveler and the reliable account for an airline.

That’s why airways like JetBlue state customers ought to solely have interaction with an official JetBlue account, carrying a gold verification mark on X, or a blue verification marks on Fb and Instagram.

First, search for the right verification verify mark. Official company accounts airways’ now carry gold marks on X. If any account with no gold verify mark reaches out about your grievance, don’t have interaction.

Additionally, be suspicious if the response comes from a private account as an alternative of the primary airline account.

“Our social care brokers reply to clients instantly from United’s verified social media accounts, by no means from a person account,” mentioned Erin Jankowski, a worldwide response communications specialist with the airline.

Some pretend accounts might have apparent cracks of their facade, similar to misspellings within the account identify or demonstrating odd conduct, like reposting your grievance. And any time somebody asks for password or cost info over social media, your inner fraud alarm ought to go off.

“We additionally remind all our clients that we’ll by no means ask for cost or password info through social media assist,” JetBlue’s Dombrowski mentioned.

What to do if a scammer contacts you

For starters, steer clear and don’t reply to them. If you wish to be proactive, you may file a report instantly with the social media platform and/or with the Federal Commerce Fee (FTC). It’s also possible to alert the airline to allow them to take motion as properly.

“Our groups actively report accounts impersonating United brokers,” Jankowski mentioned.

What to do in case you despatched a scammer cash

Should you mistakenly despatched cash to a scammer, the FTC has a useful on-line useful resource web page that gives steerage based mostly on the kind of transaction.

Bitcoin fanatics must be warned, nonetheless, that it is vitally tough to get well cash in case you paid in cryptocurrency.

Find out how to really get assist from an airline

Don’t tweet at an airline to unravel your journey woes. (Should you do go the social route, DM the airline as an alternative.) The most secure wager is to comply with the recommendation posted by JetBlue (and echoed by different airways) in its X bio. For any request that requires a response, similar to help resolving a grievance or journey situation, use the airways’ official webpage or app. It is probably not as superficially satisfying as airing your grievance within the public sq. of social media, however no less than you’ll be secure from potential predators.