Mango warns of flights scam

Johannesburg - An e-mail scam offering vastly discounted flights is currently in circulation, airline Mango said on Wednesday.

"The e-mails offer incredible deals to international and local destinations across all airlines," Mango CEO Nico Bezuidenhout said.

"But it is all hot air... these fares seem too good to be true, and they are," he added.

Bezuidenhout said that over the past week Mango - and other carriers - had seen a renewed flood of invalid bookings sold to unsuspecting consumers.

In just two days Mango declined eight travellers who had made bookings and paid through the e-mail scam, he said.

"This is just on our airline, I shudder to think what these fraudsters have achieved across all airlines, domestically and internationally," he said.

Earlier this year Mango issued a consumer advisory, warning South Africans about the scam, "after which public awareness dampened the activities", the airline said.

However, it seemed that the fraudsters were trying their luck again, Mango added.

Mango along with other industry players would continue to cooperate with authorities.

"Prevention is always the first defence against crime and I would like to urge consumers to ensure that they only engage with airlines through official websites, call centres and travel agents or, of course, to purchase in person at any Shoprite, Checkers or Checkers Hyper Money Market Counter in our instance," Bezuidenhout said.

- Sapa