What happened
A British Airways passenger who meant to call 1-877-767-7970 after a cancellation instead reached 1-877-677-7970 and faced a $500 per person demand after scammers impersonated him and rebooked the ticket for free. One Mile at a Time reports he took the number from a BA email.
During a 45-minute wait for a callback, the scammers phoned real British Airways pretending to be him and obtained a free one-stop rebooking under UK/EU261. BA emailed an official confirmation, which they cited as proof of the work. They called back from a spoofed Texas VoIP number, 737-587-3217, asking $500 per person and later $350 with a fake supervisor coupon. Real BA agents confirmed the change had already posted for $0.00.
One Mile at a Time says scammers commonly occupy numbers off by one or two digits from real airline helplines, or get fake numbers to rank in search results. Frequent flyers who call after irregular operations can reach them after mistyping a single digit.
Copy the helpline from the carrier's own site or email and hang up if a callback asks to be paid for a change already confirmed.
- Numbers
- $500: fake fare-difference fee demanded per person
- $350: reduced fake fee offered with a supposed supervisor coupon
- $0.00: actual cost of the real British Airways rebooking
- 45 minutes: gap while scammers called real British Airways pretending to be the passenger
- 1-877-767-7970 phone number: real British Airways helpline from the email
- 1-877-677-7970 phone number: wrong number the traveler accidentally dialed
- 737-587-3217 phone number: spoofed Texas VoIP callback used by the scammers
- Takeaway
- Copy airline phone numbers only from the carrier’s own site or emails, check every digit before dialing, and hang up if the call feels wrong.