Simple search for an airline phone number cost a passenger $4k

A traveller in the US has issued a warning to other passengers after they fell for a scam which saw them lose almost $4000.Posting on Reddit, the unfortunate flyer had written about their need to change a Delta Air Lines ticket after it had been accidentally booked under his wife's shortened name.She had used the name Cathy instead of the name in her passport, Catherine: "'Cathy' is the name she uses on all her identification, including her driver's license and was also her name she has flown with and is on her Delta Skymiles account," wrote the Redditor.READ MORE: Inside the Delta One Suite: What it's really like flying business class to LAXAs this was the first time the couple had flown internationally, she had received a passport using the name on her birth certificate, Catherine."When we made our plane reservations, the information from her Skymiles account was automatically filled in and the tickets were issued for 'Cathy'. When we went to do the part of international pre check in where you have to enter your passport information, hers was flagged because the first names were different."READ MORE: Tour guide's number one thing you need on a holiday to the Australian outbackWhen they called Delta Air Lines customer service they were initially told that the whole booking needed to be changed - a cost of US$18,000 as the couple had booked a premium package.Instead, after talking to a supervisor, that amount was reduced to US$2389.32 ($3680).They paid it but when they turned up at the airport for their flight to Europe, a gate agent said the story "didn't sound right" and they should look into it when they returned from holiday.A follow-up Reddit post shows the gate agent was correct.It appears they never spoke to Delta customer service at all, but scammers pretending to be the airline's help centre."The phone number we called was NOT a Delta number, but was listed as Delta and the people answering the phones represented themselves as Delta Airlines.READ MORE: Take a look inside England's first luxury sleeper train The Britannic Explorer"The scammer called Delta pretending to be us and changed the name AT. NO. CHARGE. Then turned around and charged us $2389.32 for doing so (and remember, tried to get $18K to do so!)"They went on to say the charge is in dispute with Amex and the card has been cancelled.They had some simple advice: "NEVER trust a phone number from Google."Passengers are always advised to go to the official websites of airlines if they need to contact them.This article was originally published by Stuff and has been reproduced here with permission.