Greg's Corner

Lost luggage scam lands on social media

By Greg Collier

Denver International Airport is famous for many things. Not only is it the largest airport in the United States, but it’s also renowned for having one of the most advanced baggage handling systems in the world. Even with such a technological marvel, some bags still end up becoming unclaimed property. Many airports, including Denver, will auction off the items if they remain unclaimed for a certain amount of time. Denver International even donates the luggage itself to people experiencing homelessness in their area. What the Denver International Airport doesn’t do is sell unclaimed baggage on Facebook for $10.

According to The Denver Post, a Facebook page was recently created that claims to be selling unclaimed baggage from Denver International along with its contents for $10 a piece. The Facebook page claims to be the Denver Airport, but just about anyone can make a Facebook page claiming to be whatever they want.

The page only has one post, and it’s a picture of supposedly unclaimed luggage that’s being sold by the airport for $9.95. If that wasn’t enough of a red flag, the order process seems suspect at best. One commenter on the post left the following message…

 “I just followed the link, answered 3 questions, and managed to guess the box correctly on my second attempt; after that, I filled in a short form and paid 10 dollars. Later received an email confirmation and indicated the delivery address.”

That just sounds like a scam with extra steps. More than likely, the scammers are out to obtain the personal and financial information of their victims.

The post also has several comments that contain pictures of luggage that are full of various items, with the commenters claiming the process is legitimate. However, the post was only made on Wednesday, and we highly doubt the $9.95 covers overnight shipping of heavy luggage. Many of the commenters aren’t even from the Denver area, with one commenter who supposedly got their luggage loot box commenting from the UK. We suspect the comments that claim to have received items are coming from either newly created accounts or accounts that have been compromised.

A spokesperson for Denver International has stated the Facebook page in question has no association with the airport.

Now, while this scam is taking place in Denver, it could be only a matter of time before scammers pose as your regional airport, if they haven’t already.