Astar Travel review: Attempted scam 66

Recently I too was the 'millionth person' to have logged on to a Google website and was lucky to be selected as winner of a 14 day vacation in Orlando, Florida plus a Bahamas Cruise and a bonus Las Vegas holiday too. Caller checked expiry date of my Mastercard but i didn't give him any other details. No mention made until well into phone call about USD998.00 'Booking Fee' having to be made on Mastercard there and then. When I reponded that I would need to consult my husband I was asked if I couldn't make decisions for myself! After hanging up, I checked on line and read all the complaints which mirroed my experience. Contacted Mastercard in New Zealand who immediately blocked my card so no deductions could be made.

I had a call from Astar Travel at 6am saying that I had won a holiday. I was sceptical as I know i hadn't entered into any competition - the guy on the phone said if I wasn't excited, I wasn't invited after I was disinterested.

They transferred me a couple of times for details and then it got to credit card and they were insisting that to proceed they needed that. I didn't give it to them.

I am now the recipient of early morning phone calls from Florida where they hang up on me and am reporting them as a nuisance call.

I want to say thank you to all those who have posted this on the internet, as after the first call I investigated the company and came across all the information about the company being a scam - so THANK YOU ALL. It is worthwhile posting things like this, it saved me money and being involved.

I received a phone call from Astar travel telling me i had won a two week holiday to florida and the bahamas but was asked to pay a nominal fee of £349 from my visa. I was told a few details but that all details would be e-mailed to me and a copy sent in mail. I thought this was all legitimate but two weeks on i have not received anything. I looked the company up on the internet and found all these complaints from people about them which leaves me to believe i have been ripped off alon with a lot of other people worldwide.

Astar phoned me and advised me that I won a holiday to USA. But that turned out to be a lie as they wanted a credit card nomber to secure our holiday. When I asked why they needed it he insisted that its just to secur the booking. Once I (stupidly) gave it to him, I told him that I didnt want the holiday anymore but he said it had gone through already and he cannot cancel it. I then hung up and phoned my bank to stop the payment and they said they will see what they could do. But the payment went through and the bank said there was nothing they could do. they deducted 980 dollors.

These people sould be shot!
I cannot understand why they havent been cought as there are hundreds of us . I googled it!

Brad

Got a phone call last saturday, telling me I was the "incredible selected winner of a fantastic offer on a trip to FL"... "you know what pleasure is having a sun bath on a Florida beach?"...

Of course not! I'm in the French alps, that's where I leave!

So, they described me that "so fantastic trip", a "must do", for "only 998USD"...

They asked me my card number and expiry date, telling me they won't take money without my authorisation, I firstly said I cannot give this by phone, the guy on the phone said It is impossible to pick money without the 3 secure digits at the bottom of the card... so I finally did!

OH LORD!

Now, my account is lowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww under 0!

I sent a complaint to consumer services of Florida state, a complaint here, in France and blocked my bank account!

I'm now waiting for my money!

They did not call me back, neither they answered my e-mails.

WARNING WARNING WARNING!

If this can help someone not to do the same...

I am Afraid not to get it back my money again, i was calling this so called travel agency to cancel my tickets but they said i have to wait my tickets for 21 days, until now i still waiting, i was too . stupid to give them my credit card number. well i am just one of million stupid people to do this.. do you have any idea if this company illegal or not? pls...i need your help to invistigate this poeple. if they real name. i was called them 5 times now. they answered but they i have to wait my tickets 4 21 days. pls. help me..

sincerily,
Elvera Sundsetvik

I received notification that I had won a prize and asked to select the destination for the prize being a holiday at that destination. I was then adviced that they would make phone contact. ASTAR rang early this morning (whilst I was still asleep) and proceeded to outline the 'prize'. After awhile I established that we had to get to Florida at our own cost, we had to pay port taxes for the 'free' cruise of $299 and we had to pay $998 for the privelage of receiving the prize. I had to confirm on the spot that we accepted the prize. When I asked for confirmation of the detail in writing so I could discuss with my husband before agreeing to accept the 'prize' I was referred to an 0800 number for customer service (which they were anyway).

I smelt a rat and as soon as it became clear to them that I was sceptical and unlikely to take the offer their tone changed and they became very hostile on the phone. Shortly thereafter they hung up.

This was a personal intrusion on my time and clearly the 'travel' and 'prize' was a scam. Fortunately I did not provide any credit card information.

This leaves a sour taste. New Zealanders should not be preyed upon by fraudster US companies - i f nothing else it does nothing to change the image of the USA overseas - and President Obama, I am sure, would be less than impressed.

You need to act and close down these internet scamming companies

I was approaced by Astar via an internet site I had been using and trusted. I was the 1 millionth person that day logged on and qualified for a discounted travel package.

I spoke with Patrice initially, who rambled off a whole bunch of information non-stop about what a great package she had to offer me, hotel bookings, free rental car and/or tickets to Florida's theme parks, for an extra fee I could also include a Bahama's cruise for 3 days... blah, blah, blah.

My marraige had just broken down and I felt like my kids and I really deserved a nice holiday like this so "stupid me" I got sucked in by what a great deal it was and agreed to give them my credit card details. I did confirm with them first that if I changed my mind I wanted a full refund. By this time I was talking to "Artiste" who confirmed that if I returned my tickets within a 30 day time frame I was "GUARANTEED" a full refund of the purchase price. My details were taken over the phone and they recorded the information to cover their sorry ###, and within 4 days NZ$1372 had been deducted from my credit card as agreed with them.

I received a confirmation by email advising the transaction had been successful, and everything looked just great. The tickets arrived 2-3 weeks later, by which time I had changed my mind, so I contacted them with the details they had given me and said I wanted a refund. No problem, send the tickets back but hurry because you are running out of time they said.

OK, so I put them in the mail, then called them about 10 days later to check they had been received. The person I spoke with was very accommodating, yes everything was fine, the refund had been booked into their system, and should be processed in the next batch of refunds they were processing... blah blah, blah

I have since contacted them and now all I get is the answer phone message. It is now 4 months later and I have not seen penny of my money.

THESE GUYS ARE A TOTAL SCAM. DO NOT GET SUCKED IN.

If you have already been scammed like me DO NOT GIVE IN. Complain to every agency you can find. The more noise we make the more likely they are going to be caught and then we all get our money back. Keep fighting these people have to be stopped.

I have contacted the Federal Trade Complaints authority, where I have submitted an official complaint. I contacted them today to find out my chances of getting my money back. They have also suggested I contact Federal Business Buerau on [protected]. FTC have advised the more complaints they receive as an organisation they will then begin proceedings against this company. Federal Business Bureau because they are based in Florida can also take action.

Let all stick together on this and bring these thieves down. Are you with me? Lets do this thing.

I was contacted by Astar Travel by phone on 20 December 2017 telling me I had won a trip for free to Florida. They were so friendly and excited for me I stupidly gave them my credit card details as they said that this trip would not be valid without them. I specfically told them I would have to confirm with my husband first before going ahead. They said this was no problem and that I had a cancellation period of 30 days. I emailed them on 15 January 2017 to cancel my reservation and contacted my banks. They proceeded to send me the ticket reservations anyway and I notice my banks have paid them out the first installment. After looking them up on the internet I notice they have been reported before. Please can u advise me on what action to take.
Many thanks

Received phone call on 16th May 2017 at 9.20 a.m. from Florida U.S.A. saying that I had won a holiday to Florida for four adults staying at the Radison Hotel for seven nights and then about going for a cruise and she went on and on and on about how lucky I was and how I just had to give them my credit card details and they would take 998.00 US and finally convinced me to go through with it. They then said they would email me within 15 minutes to confirm all these details and that I would receive a package within next 2 weeks. Needless to say there was no email and so had bad gut feeling and went on to ring my bank and put stop on my card.

I then got on net and found that yes this was a scam and I had been ripped off by these dirty mongrels.

take your money really quick. no package was sent. aksed for a refund hasn't happened. can't contact them as they don't answer their phone anymore. any contact would be great

DON'T DEAL WITH ASTAR TRAVEL. RIP OFF

In spite of their printed cancellation policy, ASTAR will not refund any amount of a reservation. Their printed policy says that they will refund, minus a $25 fee, up to 30 days prior to travel. When our trip fell apart, they would not honor this.

I received a prize won flash, telling me i had won a prize of around 1600 a$ 1220 au.
And was sucked in .
The amount of $1202.12 AU ha sbeen deducted from my M/C account.
There has been no follow up re travel documents.

Hi there,

François, the little Frenchy that has been fooled by the thieve qoted above...

I, two days ago received a phone call saying:

"as we've seen you did not use your vouchers, we can offer an extension for only 250 USD ..."

How can they ask me some more money when they stole my money about 6 years ago?

I told the guy on the phone what I did 6yrs ago, sending back the vouchers with "CANCELLED" written on each of them and that I'm still waiting for my money...

He said he's sorry -I feel sorry two!- he's not authorized to refund me etc.

BUT BUT BUT...

If I pay 250 more bucks, I'll get an extension for TWO years (to go to FL.) which extension could be sold be either used by me or sold to someone else...

BE CAREFUL WITH THESE GUYS THEY ARE THIEVES AND LIARS !

They rang me yesterday morning at 6am to tell me I had received a two week holiday etc etc. After I had listened and stupidly given them my card details, sanity prevailed and I told them that I wanted to cancel it. They insisted that it was fine and if I really did want to cancel it I had 30 days to cancel and get a full refund but the vouchers were in the mail and would arrive in 14 days. I thought ok I would wait to get the vouchers and then cancel. Today I decided no I would cancel now and I gave them a call and guess what, no link to that phone number. I cannot beleive I was so stupid but it was the early time that they called that got me all befuddled as I had just woken up. What I want to know is how do I get in touch with them, some people have written that they emailed them but I can't find an address, can anyone please help me. Also I have contacted my bank and they suggested that I cancel my card as they could use it to buy stuff.
Please beware and don't tell anyone your credit card details.

This morning I got the same exact call (24/03/2017)
I couldn't believe that i had won. . .
Lucky for me I have a very sceptical partner and am not a major credit card holder.

I can't remember the name of the first person i spoke to but i was passed on to a so called travel coordinator by the name of Dan O'Brien travel I.D-9026
He explained the travel package I had won:
7days and 6 nights at the Hilton Hotel in Orlando Florida
with a tirp to Radison Studios and Disney World
and an array of other activites
the choice of a 7 day car rental or theme park tickets
and then a 7 day cruise from Florida to the Bahamas
and a whole array of activities compliments of Astar Travel
all this for a family of 5 or 4 adults
all for a mere U.S$996 all up
all we would have to do is purchase our own plane tickets
After all this he asked for my card details. I asked why he needed that info, he said it was to confirm the holiday package. I informed him that i didn't have a credit card but my partner did and he said that would be fine.
So I passed the phone over and they spoke for about 5-10 minutes and my partner turned out only to have a Visa Debit Card.
He was told that he had to be a major credit card holder to claim the prize and that if he got one within 90 days to call back and we'll be able to claim it my partner said OK and the guy hung up. My partner told me the guy said he already gave me the company's details and they would hold the package for us he would even throw in 3 nights to Vegas.

Funny thing is I never got any such details and I thought my partner was being a right ### so i decided to get online and search for
Dan O'Brien thinking i was going to miss the trip of a life time. So i type this in google (Dan O'Brien travel coordinator 9026)
and i come across this website.

I just want to say thank you to all those who felt they needed to warn everyone else about these scammers.
- A really gullible Kiwi

I recieved a call from A rep Calling himself as Christopher Johnson id number 2041 offered me all the package. I informed him that i had no funds avail on credit card and to call back on friday as I suckered him into believing i was trasferring all teh cash for him. I asked for an email with a simple outline but just got the website which is very basic all-seasons-travel.net. I was lucky enough to have the internet at hand and searched the company and BINGO here I am.
.
Hope he calls back friday he may have some interesting language to decipher.

Thanks for all the great posts and this website

To the lovely Karen who must work for ASTAR

Wow karen they must be paying you a [censored]load of money to talk [censor] about a company that unfortunatly has a bad reputation, and hunny you have totally runied it for me.

For your information my husband recieved a phone call sunday at 6:30 in the morning, any REPUTABLE COMPANY would or should have the brains and a word clock in view so people like my husband and myself are not bothered at disrespectful hours on a sunday, and I don't give a [censor] as to how long that pleb has been at his desk for.

We were told the we had WON not QUALIFY for a trip to floridia and that we had to pay $1900 AUD. So please explain that how we have WON when we have to pay.
The only reason why the credit card companys are sucking up your [censor] is because your company must be getting something out of visa and mastercard to convince customers to use their cards. Great advertising scheme is all it is. and you lot are the lackys for them.

But after reading the complaints and after your hissy fit, Id have to say maybe you should be pulling the stick out of your [censor] and smelling the [censor] that you are flinging around, beause after reading it my husband and I wont be buying anything thru your so called "Important company"

Oh and I don hope that the rep that spoke to my husband in the rude sepo like manner that he was, does get fired because hanging up on people in my mind is totally disrespectful and a sackable offenece in my book.

http://csapp.800helpfla.com/CSPublicApp/Complaints/FileComplaint.aspx
Division of Consumer Services fill out a complain form online

please contact the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services at 1-800-HELP-FLA [protected])

Hi there people. Tell what advice do you have for people that lives in South Africa as we cannot call the FBI or write letters or anything of that sort for the simple reason it will take months for the letters to reach Florida. PLEASE PLEASE HELP US. We got ripped off with R8000($998).

ASTAR you are a lying, cheating, scamming and awefull Company. Do you not have a concense. We work hard for our money and its not for you to steal, its unfair and disgrasefull.. How do you people sleep at night.

we paid them with credit card we e-mail them thay have got back to us and got our travel and tickets from them.I must be the dummist as we happy with them.

Graham.W

I'm in the same boat felt unsure about the pressure sell so I rang bank and hour later to cancel card but it was too late to stop them taking the $$$$, I rang sent in a complaint to my bank saying I signed nothing and have under Florida law 30days to reverse this transaction. The bank say that unless I try to contact and negotiate my $$$$ back they can't do anything. Have sent emails NO REPLY, TRIED RINGING, NO REPLY. I guess they are trying to wait out the 30 days so I have no option but to write it off as SCAMMED like so many others.

tukstar N.Z

Greetings all,

I too was contacted by A Star today telling me all about the holiday I had just won. Like everyone else I was to pay a fee of 998 US together with extras for the so called cruise. Luckily I did not fall for the scam and refused to give my card details. They that is a Michael Higgins and a Richard Presley were very persistent and I eventually hung up on them. Believe it or not two hours later a female rang and requested why I had not accepted the holiday. I told her I would not give my card details over the phone to which she replied 'hold on'. Of course once again I hung up.

I am living in Ireland and it is unbelievable to think that this scam is being operated throughout the whole world. Beware of anyone who asks for money having told you that you had won a prize.

4104 W. Linebaugh Ave
Tampa, Florida 33624
[protected] Corporate Front Desk Which is literally about 10 feet from owners office.

Cancel with your credit card or hang up before they put you in verification, because with out you on that recorded line authorizing the charge they can't even take it and its referred to as a Cancel in Verification.

They got me in October 09 have been trying to get a refund since November.

I have returned the paperwork three times, the first one supposedly never arrived, the second registered one was an undeliverable address, the third went to a new address supplied by them and was signed for, I just rang again and they are now saying it is too late as it is past the 30 days even though they kept saying all my twice a month calls are recorded, so not a problem, yeah right, SCAM.

Will be following up here in Australia as well, did not ever think I would get caught like this, never again, once bitten twice shy.

Cheers Chez

I am in Ireland and I have been taken for a sucker too, Same Story, refunds on the way - bla bla bla, never happens . I reckon our best hope is the FBI as these peopel have been doing this for years by all accounts . Glad I came across this site, which is of great help ...Keep on Fighting Folks ...
S P Bolger

I have called the company tonight. They called me in june, telling me I had won a trip for only $998, - for four people. Then they draw the money from my card. I called them 2 days later and told them I didn't want this trip. That was ok, but I had to wait for my money. After several calls this last months, I called them again tonight. The customer-service told me they never got the cancelling from me, and it was now too late to cancel the trip. So, you might say I am really, really pissed off of this company! Sorry to say this, Elvira, but it seem that you have lost your money.

Kari Hendry, Norway

hey, i am of course with bec. i am the victim too. we staek together. i contacted FbI Florida yesterday and i will reported this to my local FBI.called ATTache, if you want we steak together u can send me an sms my number is +[protected]. guys contact me so we can work together those devil astar travel.

hey guys try to call your local FBI-- called ATTAChe, , they will help us, im the victim too. so so go go we have too, work together this ot to contact in CNN networks to publish this kind ofet an action scam go go guys.. bfore they can smell bad on us.. then we never get our money really they steal millions of money from out of the country or around the worl. i contact the Cnn Now. and the FbI.

I totally agree to Francois and I feel with him, 'cause I was taken in by Astar nearly the same way a few days ago. I thought I'm intelligent enough that such things won't happen to me.. seems that I'm not. But they're very professionell.

I'm glad that I found this page here - congratulations. So all those comments helps me to assure my bank to get back the - I should say - stolen money. It's a lot of action, credit card has to be withdrawn to be sure that there comes no "afterburn". Like Francois I'm from Europe. So for all people who have the same problem now, let me tell you some good news too: MASTER or VISA can get back your money within 30 DAYS, if you explain good reasons to do so. Many things about this deal with Astar are stinky:
.) They charge you only with the credit card number, but don't have "Secure Code" or "Proof Code".
.) You didn't subscribe something.
.) You could not read about the deal before.
.) A recording of your talking with them is NOT ENOUGH EVIDENCE, 'cause it could be tampered like they did in my case or in the case of the Australian guy.
.) For a legal business you must have the right to step back within a senseful amount of time. They don't give you that time, or they delay that chance so much that you're not able to quit the deal.
.) You must have a full description of what you bu, occasionally signed and you have to get a fully written and signed guarantee about your rights to step back from the deal, BEFORE THEY CAN CHARGE YOU with your credit card.

So when you send your bank or credit card company a short description of how your special deal ran and how Astar changes the deal step by step, they can proof and get back your money. Especially when you send them all those complaints from other people that are written here and on other pages - I got 125, 000 hits - mostly complaints - when I Googled them. But at least the whole thing is very annoying. The credit card company has to proof, has to void the card, has to send a new card - at least it costs a small amount for the new card. I did that whole process right now and waiting for my new credit card.

Next hint for beeing aware: Astar is connected to other cheating companies in the Internet. I dropped in that so called "win dialog" on a software download page. Now I proofed it and could see they are connected to another page for "speed download" of legal and illegal software, so called UseNext. I don't know - and I don't want to try out - what happens if I get member there for a $4 amount debiting my credit card every month.

For completeness and warning other people, my personal Astar story:

As 1, 000, 000th visitor of some page I "won a great trip" . I didn't believe and canceled the popup, but then I was asked why I don't want to take my win. I selected the "I don't believe" check box. But then they showed up with some information about seriousity, I filled that formsheet and thought by myself that nothing will happen then. A few days later I got a call from them. 4 different operators worked on me about 30 minutes "till I was boiled". The third one asked for my credit card number, but assured me that they won't book without the proof code and without my confirmation. The last one recorded our confirmation talk. Again I was assured to cancel the package within 30 days.

Later I got the confirmation mail. I felt unhappy, 'cause many things we talked on the phone were not written down, some things were different and THERE WAS NO MAIL ADDRESS TO WRITE BACK, only an Internet link. There I read the first time the "small text", Terms & Conditions, which showed up something completely different - many costs extra, so at the end I had NOT A WIN BUT AN EXPENSIVE TRIP TO FLORIDA, which I never would have booked that way.

The next day I rang up the credit card company to stop that, but the amount $998 was booked already. So I rang up Astar in Florida. We had a "nice" long talk. They insisted to send me the package with mail before I can cancel. I told them that's cheating, 'cause 30 days are not enough to return that thing, when I get after 21 days. --- Now I could read on this page that my suspect was right, that this is the trick how the'll never return your money. ---
However, they also played back the recording from the first talk and surprise, surprise: IT HAD BEEN EDITED. Questions and answers about cash booking and cancelation had been extracted or shortcut. Information about extra fees had been put in together with some of my "Yes" answers to other questions.

So, all fake.

Here one guy was writing that he'll gonna call the FBI in Florida. Maybe I'll do that too. As I could read on other
pages, Florida tries to do something about those companies, but it takes time. In the meantime they can go on cheating people...

complete scam, do not handover details, funds will be deducted, call will be released.

Cancel your creditcard, dispute the transaction thru your bank. return tickets via track and trace when they show up. the only email address that replys is. css@astar.us then hope for the best. they are also known as All Seasons Travel And Resorts. Thats about all you can do. I got my money back thru my bank. Not thru astar, they only made contact after my money was returned... and they got both barrels!

Have you received anything yet and are you in America

Well looks as if we are also suckers my husband was phoned at 10.30 AM on 4th September 2017 he was also told that he had won a holiday. They then asked him to get his wife to share this exciting news.My response was I cannot believe it and he reassured me that it is to expensive to phone from US with a gimmick, I was still apprehensive but he kept on reassuring us it's okay to get excited and went on and said that to confirm who my husband was he needed his credit card number.My husband went against all his own rules and gave this to him still unaware that any money was going to be withdrawn .After a lengthy discussion on the details of what we had won he put us onto a representative to read us our rites .He stated at first that we had not won anything and alarm bells rang but we couldn't get any word in until he had finished .I then asked him do we have to get to America at our own expense and he said yes, I responded with that's impossible and he said that the money was already taken out of our credit card I said that as pensioners it would be impossible for us to pay for a trip to America, at which he said when we receive our tickets to send them back and we would be refunded .We still don't know if it is a scam or not but will keep you posted, even if we receive the tickets and get a refund it's the way they go about it that is very dishonest because all we have won is a big fat anxiety attack and A expensive credit card dept, $ 1940 so beware of anyone offering you a free holiday .

Just this morning, my dad received a call from Astar and as he had just migrated to Australia and was not aware of such scams going on...he signed up with them.

Called his bank to inform them of the situation and that was within 30 mins of the call from them but was informed by the bank that they can't do anything until the money's been transferred and then we had to personally lodge a dispute which might take 45 days.

I'm surprised how they are able to still get away with scamming people of their hard earned money.

Hi there Jim

The same thing just happened to me could you please give me the number that you called to contact them as ive tride all the ones that they have given me and none work.
I hate fraud and i want to get my money back.
Ken

One last thing I will say is that I have been unable to find online experiences of anyone proceeding with the holiday offer, and not getting the accommodation as promised, or having a terrible time. The whole cancellation process seems to be a mess but I can’t see any complaints from people who haven’t cancelled- does this mean that Astar have delivered as promised? I would be interested in hearing from people re this. Personally I am too suspicious to risk it, and their cancellation process seems to have been so bad for everyone that I wouldn’t risk it.

I just received a call from Astar travel this morning. I remember about six weeks or so ago clicking on a random banner advert on some website that said i had won a holiday, cruise or something. I provided my contact details (no credit card details were asked for) and was told i would be contacted. I thought i'd give it a go and since i had not provided any credit card details what was there to loose. I was expecting to not hear from anyone, or receive a few spam emails which is why i provided an alternative yahoo email i don't use very often.

However when i got the call i was quite surprised, it seemed more real. I admit straight up i am a bit gullible with these things and after my experience really ought to wise up. It was a very similar story to what I have read online from others. Holiday to Orlando, laying out all the details of my holiday, getting me excited, congratulating me, than saying i had to pay approx $990 or so to secure the holiday. This was 15% of the holiday, the other 85% was covered as my prize.

I said i'd like to verify the company, i was at my work computer when they called so they provided their webstie address http://www.astartravel.com It looked legitimate enough and i provided my credit card details. They put me through to a "closer" who mentioned the conversation was recorded and went through the details again to say whether i agreed with it.

Whist doing this i asked to pause for one minute and thought i would google "Astar" with the words "fraud", etc. and came up with a range of sites, including this site you are reading, where people had submitted reports of very bad experiences with Astar. I finally (very late i know) got very suspicious and said i would not like to proceed with the transaction. As this conversation was recorded i wanted to be sure the conversation ran in my favour should it be challenged legally. I first got the "closer" to confirm that although the $900-odd dollars were "on hold" in my account waiting to be taken out, the transaction was not yet verified. I then said i did not wish to proceed or verify the transaction as I had changed my mind.

The closer tried for a while to change my mind, then passed me back to the original sales person who was very persistent trying to find out exactly why i had changed my mind. He probed and probed, but i did not give any reason, other than that i had time to think it over and was not interested in the holiday anymore. It was a full on conversation, he would not take no, but i ensured he kept hitting a brick wall when he tried to find out why. I knew that if i mentioned the websites, my suspicions, etc. we would be talking for a very long time as he would i'm sure have a list of responses to a whole range of issues people may have.

I got him to confirm that he had cancelled the transaction during our conversation, and that while the money was on hold on my credit card, that no money would actually be taken out of the credit card. He warned it would take 4 - 5 days for the hold to be lifted but i insisted i would not reconsider and was withdrawing my desire to continue with the transaction.

Luckily within minutes the hold of $900 was reversed on my credit card, and the $900 was reinstated as credit in my account. I guess because i backed out just before the final verification stage, which was recorded, they were unable to proceed any further.

I immediately cancelled my credit card and had a new one issued in case they decided to withdraw money out at a later stage.

Thank you to everone for their comments, it helped me a lot to make a quick and i think lucky decision before it was too late. Can i also suggest the following as an excellent site explaining the whole deal with these kind of offers: http://boakes.org/florida-travel-vouchers/