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Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Stacey Hyde
and I'm back for another episode

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of Better Financial Health in
15 Minutes or Less, and today

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I'd like to talk about how we
get ready for summer vacation

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and how to avoid scams deals
that are too good to be true.

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So the key thing to keep in
mind is deals that are too good

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to be true usually are Pay
attention.

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You may get an email that looks
like it's from Southwest or

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Expedia or some other large
travel site telling you to book

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now, book immediately, and you
click a link and it takes you to

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a site and it looks similar.

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But protect yourself.

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Go to the regular site and type
it into your browser and see if

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the same deals available there.

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That's a quick way to check.

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The other thing to keep in mind
is that and where we're seeing

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this is fake scams for Airbnb or
VRBO, and they've gotten pretty

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good like literally, they'll
copy the pictures from a real

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site, create a fake site, get
you to enter your payment

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information and then you think
you've booked because you it

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looked like Airbnb or VRBO, and
then all of a sudden, you're not

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getting the confirmation you
expected or it's not showing up

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in your Airbnb app.

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So really, before you click on
any of these, especially ones

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that you see posted on Instagram
or Facebook or TikTok.

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Go to the Airbnb or the VRBO
site and search it.

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You can also take that image
and do a reverse image search in

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Google to see if you really are
on the right site and if those

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rates really are the right rates
and if you really are on the

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right site.

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So you really have to take that
extra bit of time.

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The other red flags that you
can watch out for is are they

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asking you to pay with a gift
card or something like that?

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They certainly don't want you
to pay for a credit card with a

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credit card, because as soon as
you find fraud, you call your

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credit card company and you
dispute it and let them know

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what happened.

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They'll send you a new card and
refund your money.

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What happened?

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They'll send you a new card and
refund your money.

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So anytime they're asking you
to pay with something other than

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your credit card, that's
definitely a red flag, because

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the reputable sites expect you
to pay with the credit card.

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So take an extra 60 seconds and
a gut check and just make sure

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that it is what it is that
you're booking, because you

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don't want to have something
happen.

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The FTC, which tracks this kind
of fraud, says these types of

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scams really peak between now
and July.

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So protect yourself.

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Pay attention, tell those you
love.

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Protect yourself, pay attention
, tell those you love,

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especially if you are around
older people.

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A lot of times they're not as
adept at picking up that.

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Hey, that doesn't look like
Airbnb or something like that.

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Help them out, offer to check
it out if they find something

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they think they like and they're
going to book it, because you

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can book some wonderful
vacations.

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We've used VRBO, even
internationally, and had

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wonderful success.

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But you definitely need to make
sure that you're on the right

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site and you're definitely using
a credit card.

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I would not even use a debit
card to book vacations like this

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, so I hope you are looking
forward to a wonderful vacation

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this summer.

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This has been another episode
of Better Financial Health in 15

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Minutes or Less.