I got a commission letter today, notifying me of three reservations made by John Kammin; the commission on each is zero. This has gone on for 12 years, ever since Kammin stole my agency IATA number and has used it to get himself travel agent discounts. I’ve never met him. He’s not a travel agent. He doesn’t work for me. He’s simply a fraudster. I thought he was in jail, since he was arrested after skipping bail and living on the lam in Canada. Nope, his reservations are for places in Canada again.
Kammin made the news last year for his massive fraud, and was compared to the scam artist in “Catch Me If You Can.” The 260 pound prize is 5 feet 8 inches tall; he appeared in the New York Daily News wearing handcuffs and looking sad. According to the news article, Judge Bonnie Wittner set the fugitive free on bail again, after Kammin convinced the court that jail was too harsh for his delicate body. Well, there’s no fool like an old fool.
Apparently, Kammin has some sort of addiction to lying and stealing, and he’s been caught repeatedly for years, but the Secret Service reports they have been unable to find him (hence, the “Catch Me If You Can” reference). It wouldn’t be so bad if Kammin stole my IATA number and made commissionable bookings; at least I’d get something for the identity fraud. But no, he stole it so he could get travel agent rates. You would think that suppliers would ask him to prove he is a travel agent after they extend agent rates to him, but apparently the part-time staffers working the front lines don’t verify his credentials. Maybe he shows them his “sad face” and they believe his claims.
One day in a fit of rage, I called Hertz and asked them why they are letting John Kammin rent cars under a travel agent rate when he isn’t a travel agent. Their answer was “because he used your IATA number, and it’s a valid number.” Then they accused me of being at fault because I naively “allowed” him to steal my agency’s identification numbers. “Why don’t you force this man to show an IATAN card?” I asked them. Their answer was “The employee working at the desk is supposed to ask for that.”
It’s gotten to the point that you don’t even have to steal travel industry identifiers from agencies any more. You can purchase them on the open market, and commit fraud all year long.
Anyone can purchase a number from CLIA by paying them $419; the fee includes four CLIA ID cards for you to use to get free or reduced rate travel. I came across a woman who bought a CLIA number so she could go on cruises at reduced rates during the winter; during the summer, she runs an RV camp ground. She doesn’t sell any travel, she just uses the CLIA ID cards to scam travel suppliers. Every year, she renews her CLIA number for $339, although she has never worked as a travel agent. CLIA doesn’t require her to submit an IRS form 1099 issued by an industry supplier, so she is able to renew year after year without selling a single dollar’s worth of travel. She is required to purchase one class each year from CLIA as a condition to renew her ID card; CLIA needs the money so they can continue lobbying politicians for favorable legislation.
IATA is the only known credentialing organization that requires proof that you are actually working as a travel agent to get a travel agent number from them. For legitimate travel agents, this is easily accomplished by mailing IATA an IRS 1099 or an IRS Wage Transcript (which is free upon request by calling the IRS). The Wage Transcript shows exactly how much money one earned selling travel. Until recently, a fake IATAN ID card was super easy to create from an online ID creator, because the card had an incredibly simple design. The current card is far more sophisticated and fraud-resistant.
At an Apple trade show this week, hundreds of folks showed up for the free food, booze, meet and greets with hotel vendors, and lots of free prizes. The requirement to get into the show was to give two business cards to the registration desk. Looking through the pile of cards, most were free business cards ordered from Vistaprint, showing really creative names of alleged travel agencies.
There were no chairs in the food area at the Apple show – only a limited number of tall bar tables. People congregated around the tiny tables to have a place to set their drinks. One man told me he purchased the right to use a Florida company’s CLIA number, and he loved his discounts. It became obvious within five minutes he knew nothing about the travel industry, and I doubt he has ever sold any travel product to a customer. But, he wasn’t there to learn… he was there for the free beer and prizes. Incidentally, he was one of the “agents” who won a vacation to Mexico during the prize drawing.
Another “agent” who said she has been “inactive” for three years said she was going to take a Blount Small Ship webinar because it would make her “certified” and she could travel on Blount, getting a 40% discount, instead of paying the retail rate.
Once on an MSC sailing, I ran into a man who said he was traveling on a travel agent discount, but he was a sales rep for a tooling manufacturer. He said he was in Las Vegas when he accidentally came across a luxury travel expo, and walked in a door no one was guarding. Somehow, from this accidental encounter, he finagled his way into getting a travel agent rate, and bragged about his achievement on the cruise. Apparently, if you are able to rip off a travel agency’s CLIA number, you can purchase a cruise at an agent rate and tell the cruise line to send the documents to your “branch office” (your house) and the defrauded agency has no clue it ever happened.
When people who don’t really work as travel agents get $4,000 discounts on cruises, who makes up for the loss in revenue? The farmer, the teacher, the factory worker and the nurse have to pay more tariff to keep the company’s bottom line in the black. The cruise line has just lost $4,000 in revenue it otherwise would have had. Meanwhile, travel agencies get letters from cruise lines saying “We are cutting your commission because we need to restructure to be more profitable.”
Then there is the question, “Who deserves a travel agent discount?” Does the used car salesman who books one cruise each year for his parents, earning a yearly total of $150 in commission deserve to sail on Carnival for free (Fall 2013 promotion), when there are legitimate agents earning $20,000+ in commission who were refused the same perk? Does the RV campground owner deserve to pay thousands of dollars less for her hotels, cruises and vacation packages because she purchases a CLIA number each year but has never worked as a travel agent her entire life?
When will people like John Kammin stop using my IATA number to get travel agent discounts? I’ve never met the man, and he doesn’t work at my agency. Probably never, unless the companies issuing travel agent ID cards force applicants to provide Wage Transcripts from the IRS, and the travel suppliers take initiatives to combat persistent fraud in our industry.
