Silly Side: Why did the Earth blush? Because it saw the Moon's cheesy grin during an eclipse. Ready for some terrestrial news? Click away on the stories around which you orbited the most!

 FEATURE SPOTLIGHT 

Earth to Humans: Time for a Check-Up!

International Mother Earth Day rolls around every April 22, urging us to be kinder to our only home. The observance was launched in 1970, a year after the first moonwalk. The photographs of the planet taken during Apollo flights made it to the official Earth Day flag. If you want to celebrate, you can definitely wave the flag and yell out Earth Day quotes and slogans. But you can also walk the talk: adopt these simple ways to cut down on carbon footprints while traveling! Make every day Earth Day.

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 WORDS 

 

BAG THE BAG HABIT

The global theme for Earth Day 2024 is “Planet vs. Plastics”. We produce 380 million tons of plastic per year and recycle a measly 9%. Examples of plastic pollution are everywhere, even on islands supposedly banning plastic bags, and then wrapping up bananas (out of all fruit!). One environmentalist gave tips for eco-friendly shopping.

MIND THE MAP

Barcelona successfully dealt with tourists overcrowding local buses by removing the 116 route from Google Maps. In unrelated news, Google Maps now shows the nearest EV charging spots! That’s a perfect spark for an electric car road trip. Maybe you can even visit Croatia, the homeland of Nikola Tesla (the inventor whose name Elon Musk appropriated for his brand), and the world’s fastest electric supercar (Concept One by Mate Rimac). From May 26, you can join the world’s quietest rally here – Nikola Tesla EV Rally.

RED ALERT

If you thought Uber lost and found stories of 2023 were bizarre (we saw everything from false dentures to rash creams), the 2024 index hits new levels of hilarity with a fart sensor and a garden fence (?). People mainly lose red stuff, the most forgetful day is January 21, and the most absent-minded hours are between 9 and 10 pm.

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 IMAGES 

 

🍲

Photographers from over 65 countries entered a global food fight at the 13^th edition of the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year contest. The creativity reigns in delicious images ranging from fields to markets to mouthwatering studio shots. Feast your eyes on the works of shortlisted candidates.

💮

Japan is known for its hanami (flower viewing) tradition. But cherry blossoms bring joy to the entire world, from New York to Ukraine. Check out trees dolled up in white and pink, like brides and bridesmaids on a frenzied shopping spree for the perfect dress. For even more arboreal love, explore #Top4Forests on Twitter.

🚉

The Chinese city of Nanjing is famed for its plum blossoms, which supposedly stood as an inspiration for the design of the North Nanjing train station to be constructed soon. However, the building has a striking resemblance to a sanitary pad.

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 NUMBERS 

 

340

The number of foreigners that Bali deported in 2023, up from 188 in 2022. To deal with the rise of violations (overstaying, illegal work, indecent exposure in sacred places), more than 70 tourism police officers have been deployed. The Island of Gods struggles with overtourism, as 65% of groundwater serves the tourism industry, drying up more than half of their rivers.

20 million

The maximum number of hotel overnight stays in Amsterdam in a year, per new rules. To tackle mass tourism issues, a new hotel will get a building permit only if another one closes, if the number of sleeping places doesn’t increase, and if the hotel is more sustainable.

14.1 million

The number of foreign visitors to the Canary Islands in 2023, a record for the archipelago. But not all is sunshine and sangria. Poverty looms for a third of locals, and high rents forced some to even sleep in cars and caves. To protest against the construction of the two new hotels, activists organized a hunger strike.

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 PARTNER SPOTLIGHT 

 

Your Ticket to a Discounted Adventure

Planning a trip by train, bus, or ferry? Use Omio, the platform that brings together more than 1,000 transportation providers from Europe to the United States. It doesn’t just give you a smooth solution to compare your options and find the right price for your budget. Omio also directly rewards you – until April 30, they’re dishing out a 10% discount. Find the promo code APRIL, and hop on board your next adventure today!

 

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The post 🌍 Cars, Crowds, and More in Pipeaway Newsletter #127 appeared first on Pipeaway.

Happy New Year!

Well, if you are in the countries of South or Southeast Asia, at least! Before the rainy season arrives, locals celebrate Songkran. The water festival in Thailand is probably the splashiest spectacle.

If you want to see how they welcome the Khmer New Year, check out my wet video from Cambodia! This year, locals revived the centuries-old tradition of racing oxcarts, which are slowly being pushed out by tractors and modern machinery.

Croatia has its own, equally endangered oxen breed called boskarin. This large animal lives in Istria, exactly the region where “the big boy now” sold his cow. If the lyrics don’t sound familiar, they come from Baby Lasagna’s Rim Tim Tagi Dim, my country’s serious contender for the best Eurovision song this year.

While it’s among the favorites to win the title, I guess we should be lucky that Chechnya, which banned “too fast music” last week, cannot vote on Eurosong. We should be also sad that Mexico can’t cast votes, as they just protected 19 cats roaming the presidential palace.

Both music and cats are extremely important to Baby Lasagna, but his song is about a serious topic – the demographic changes that shaped (not only) Croatian reality. Young people are pressed to look for a better life somewhere else, it’s an exodus many countries can relate to.

Just recently, I got the sad news that my flat rental in Zagreb was canceled. The economic changes in the Croatian capital are quite obvious. Rents have skyrocketed, and I sadly don’t see myself staying here in these circumstances. I will have to look for other options myself.

“Before I leave, I must confess” that the little furries are the stars of our current #top4theme X-challenge too. My favorite is the cat on the Greek island of Amorgos looking at the nude “influencer in the wild” doing yoga on the beach.

Bye Mom, bye Dad! Meow, cat, please, meow back! Don’t cry, just dance! Rim-tim-tagi-digi-dim-tim-tim!

Find this in today’s newsletter:

• Words: Escalating the situations.
• Images: Peekaboo with Sun, spring, and smoke circles.
• Numbers: Major security breaches and minor adventures.
• P.S.: Delayed departure? Damaged baggage?

Have a meowtastic week!

Ivan Kralj        
Pipeaway.com

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 FEATURE SPOTLIGHT 

 

AI Transforming Facebook to Fakebook

For an exercise, I asked an audio AI to whip up a Rammstein-style song on “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” topic (Baby Lasagana is too new to be a reference) – hear the non-edited version. It’s amazing what artificial intelligence can do in seconds. But it can also be used by villains. Scottish bank TSB found that a third of 2023 ads on Facebook’s Marketplace have been scams, and that didn’t even take into account AI for flooding our feeds with more fake news than a tabloid on steroids. Read our deep dive on AI-generated spam & scam on Facebook, and learn how to protect yourself!

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 WORDS 

 

UNEARTHING WONDERS

UNESCO announced 18 new additions to its Global Geoparks list. From Croatian karst lakes in Imotski to sandstone columns of Meteora in Greece, now over 200 locations have the title. On the other hand, Stonehenge is at risk of losing its World Heritage status due to a controversial tunnel construction project under the prehistoric monument.

CONSTRUCTION & CONSTRICTION

Sagrada Familia, the monumental church in Barcelona, should be finished by 2026, just in time for the 100th anniversary of the architect Antoni Gaudí’s death. TikTokers have no reason to celebrate, as their favorite videos on the escalators of the church’s metro station are now banned.

A CUP TOO FAR

Dublin Airport, which recently made headlines for announcing to stop blessing planes on Christmas, raises eyebrows again. Their security staff asked a female passenger who went through a mastectomy to remove an artificial breast in public, for an additional checkup.

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 IMAGES 

 

🌑

For the next eclipse, you’ll have to wait 16 months. So if you missed the one passing over North America, or maybe someone attempted to block you from experiencing it, check out the photographs here. Try not to envy the lucky ducks who skied under the black hole Sun!

🌸

Spring has sprung, and it’s not just the bees buzzing with excitement. As a cherry on top, Japan’s Sakura season has reached its peak; check out the pink picnics in Tokyo. In Europe, it’s tulip mania in Keukenhof, the flower rainbow of the Netherlands. In California, flower tourism centers around golden poppies’ superbloom.

💨

Can you puff circles when smoking a cigarette? Even as a non-smoker, I did challenge myself with learning the vaping trick once, but it’s bloody hard. Well, apparently not if you are Mount Etna.

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 NUMBERS 

 

40 %

The percentage of U.S. flyers who now consider the type of plane when flying. That info is currently more important to them than the airline (36%). The caution has grown after a series of safety incidents with Boeing, the most recent ones including a toilet flooding the aisle, and a plane losing an engine cover. The Harris Poll also tells us that, after the disturbing events, 47% of passengers say they will more likely wear plane seatbelts even when not required.

300

The number of people who tried to get past the TSA security checkpoints in 2023, without proper documents or screening. That’s a tenfold jump from the previous year. In the most recent security breach, on a Delta flight from Atlanta to L.A., two stowaways were escorted off the plane pre-takeoff. But after landing, three more passengers without legitimate tickets were found on board.

100

The age of Mildred who, despite being on this planet for over a century, now has to travel like an unescorted minor. Funny story.

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 PARTNER SPOTLIGHT 

 

Turning Travel Tribulations into Compensation Celebrations

It’s stressful when bags get lost or delayed, and flights disrupted. But with AirHelp at your service, you can fly smart, protected when things go south. AirHelp Plus will be your personal legal eagle sorting out airline troubles, promising to get you up to €600 for compensation, up to €6,000 for extra expenses, and up to €1,400 for luggage issues. Yearly plans are quite cheap, but before the end of April, you can snag an additional 8% discount with a promo code ETPOUTS8. Get your AirHelp Plus today!

 

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The post 🐱 Meows, Moos, and More in Pipeaway Newsletter #126 appeared first on Pipeaway.

Bora Bora’s box of AI deceits

It’s easy to buy into the idea of a luxurious retreat surrounded by lush vegetation. There’s even some blurred basil in the foreground so that you can feel “at home”, just about to cook a recipe for a perfect vacation, a blend of exotic and familiar.

While you could imagine Roger Moore sipping cocktails here after shooting his movie scenes in 1974, this is not Koh Tapu in Phang Nga Bay, Thailand.

The coastal villa is in – Bora Bora, more than 12 thousand kilometers away, oceans apart. At least that’s what the Facebook page Slovak Travel claimed when they shared this image, describing it as “Bora Bora Paradise🩵”. The post raked 10 thousand positive reactions, mostly thumbs up, hearts, and wow emojis.

“Awesome”, “Gorgeous”, “Amazing”, “How much?”… More than a thousand oohs and aahs poured in, with admirers expressing readiness to move, or at least celebrate their special anniversary there.

Check out the James Bond scene in which the original Koh Tapu was not modified by AI!

Facebook newsfeed is swamped with AI images pretending to be photographs, delivering the world populated with avatars, Pandora’s box of deceits

“This is not Bora Bora”, said those who visited French Polynesia. “This is James Bond Island”, said the experts on Southeast Asia. But the depicted island never starred in any movie. The dream vacation place never existed. It wasn’t even a photograph, but an AI creation in Midjourney, prompted by Maria Dudkina, an online personality known as @sunt_mrr, and then misrepresented as Bora Bora by Slovak Travel.

These days, Facebook newsfeed is swamped with similar AI images pretending to be photographs, delivering the world populated with avatars, Pandora’s box of deceits. It’s not just entertainment, but a sneaky way to monetize people’s naivety. Before image generators appeared, we had to raise our skeptic shields mainly on April Fools’ Day. Now, staying suspicious is an everyday challenge. How to not end up as AI fools?

From London Eye to Scotland AI

Fraudulent minds quickly embraced opportunities provided by AI, like low-hanging fruit. What required at least some photoshopping and copywriting effort a few years ago, was now bringing easy money with a click of a mouse.

One of the most illustrative examples of this practice was the recent case of Willy’s Chocolate Experience in Glasgow. Billy Coull from the House of Illuminati used AI visuals to promote a Wonka-inspired wonderland but served up a wonky disaster that infuriated hundreds of families. The event immortalized characters of a meth-lab Oompa Loompa (played by Kirsty Paterson), and an evil chocolate maker The Unknown (Felicia Dawkins).

In a weird boomerang effect, Facebook responded by dosing the same medicine. Alan Livie shared images of statues commemorating the Bored Meth Oompa Loompa and The Unknown, supposedly erected in Glasgow’s city center just a week after the event. These AI creations were obviously satirizing the monumental disaster. They received 12 thousand likes and over a thousand comments, mostly from people who understood the joke. Still, in an aha moment, some users felt the need to state the obvious: “More AI art people. Learn to recognize it.”

Livie’s posts were published with a different intention than that fake Bora-Bora pic. They were a sarcastic response to reality, shared in Travel Scotland Goals, a Facebook group known for welcoming clearly fake or misinterpreted photos and self-deprecating jokes about Scotland. You can find anything from Scotrail‘s time-saving Northern Line on the mountain cliffs of Fifeshire (beat that, Hogwarts Express!) to a gigantic spa hidden inside Edinburgh Castle.

Even when images are not executed perfectly, you’ll still notice intrigued foreigners planning to visit the medieval wellness facility “next time”, or at least asking “does this really exist”. But locals will also have brilliant answers, such as: “Looks like another fake photo, to me. I know for a fact that’s Whinfell Forest Center Parcs because my son used to be a lifeguard there.”

On March 10, this group was the birthplace of the now-cult post about relocating the London Eye to Loch Lomond in Scotland, after the 25-year-long lease expired. It used real photos from the Eye’s construction in 1999, but the “news” created by Paul Gilchrist sounded so convincing that it infiltrated serious circles and was debunked by numerous fact-checkers (from Snopes and Mashable to Reuters and Facebook) before being taken down. It resurfaced again like a virally shared April Fools’ Day joke.

What’s with all the AI photos on Facebook?

Travel Scotland Goals may be a benevolent oasis of humor that Facebook’s confused algorithms sometimes propel into mainstream feeds, out of context. But there are Facebook groups, pages, and profiles that employ AI without having entertainment in mind.

So far, the risks associated with the use of AI image generators have mainly been discussed over the issues of dehumanizing celebrities (Taylor Swift’s deepfake porn), or humanizing dangerous political interests (the black community seemingly endorsing Donald Trump or AI Joe Biden discouraging people from voting).

But this March, Renee DiResta (Stanford University) and Josh A. Goldstein (Georgetown University) researched how profit and clout-motivated page owners use unlabeled AI-generated images on Facebook for spam and scams. They found not only that these posts gain unusually high volumes of engagement, but that many Facebook users don’t seem to be aware of the synthetic origin of such images.

The cybersecurity data from Sumsub‘s report shows us that AI-powered fraud is on the rise, with detected deepfakes increasing by a whopping 10 times from 2022 to 2023. The highest surge is seen in North America (1740%), with Canada delivering the largest contribution to this percentage (3000% increase). The most affected industry is online media, where the identity fraud rate had a 274% rise between 2021 and 2023.

As the largest social media platform, with over 3 billion monthly active users (and 2 billion logging in every day), Facebook became a natural breeding ground for AI scam & spam.

Today, it is almost impossible to open the Facebook app and not find the endless scroll of AI-generated images. Tiny houses by the sea, log cabins by waterfalls, fluffy unicorn bedrooms and cheese-themed bathrooms, sympathy-calling children’s handicrafts and grandma’s crochet creations, impossible food designs, non-existing wildlife, adorable babies dressed in cabbage, and why not – the most exotic tourist destinations.

With optical illusions that make you squint to see Jesus or Hitler, and even those Fibonacci locales where houses masterfully wind in a continuous curl, the AI flood is literally spiraling out of control. But where does it all lead?

Pixels gone wild in Santorini

It is one thing to just laugh at the Pope fashionista strutting down the streets of Rome in a Balenciaga puffer jacket. But beyond a Midjourney exercise of a construction worker tripping on magic mushrooms, a more sinister spam/scam scene lurks in the shadows. Forget the days of random emails from Nigerian princes; scammers have found an easier way to detect their next prey, people who would fall for anything.

The first time I noticed the AI Facebook trend with fabricated travel content taking off was in September 2023. Just a year after modern text-to-image diffusion models appeared on the scene, they were entering the mainstream but were far from refined.

The not-really sophisticated image of “vacation in Santorini“, with poorly mimicked Greek architecture connected by waterslides, was clearly made in the infancy of the image generator’s development. The architecture didn’t make sense, stairs led to nowhere, people were just skin-toned blobs… Yet, shared on the Facebook page A World of Luxury Travel, the post attracted nearly a million likes, more than 58 thousand comments, and over 84 thousand shares.

“Maravilhoso”, exclaimed Ana Paula from Portugal. “So schön”, added Heiner in German. “Tellement beau!!! 😊👍”, jumped in Annie in French. “我要去”, proclaimed Chang. One could practically advance in languages while dreaming of visiting the fantastic waterpark on the Greek island.

People were adding the place to their bucket lists, planning girl trips and honeymoons. “Maybe after Tahiti”, mused practical Michelle.

Those who had just returned from Santorini, such as my fellow Croat Mario, knew what they had to do. “We missed this🤔 Let’s go again😜😘”, he said while tagging his friend. “Oh, yes! 🥰”, Ana responded.

Even reading someone saying “This isn’t real” seemed surreal. Anyone interested in Oia, the home of magical Santorini sunsets, knew this AI nonsense had nothing to do with Greece. But the already mildly critical eye should have been able to detect that everything was nonsensical altogether.

If you want to see the Pope devouring chocolate and Vladimir Putin riding a bear, check out Pipeaway's world of chocolate, clearly labeled as AI! 

From clickbait to cash grab

The non-existent Santorini is an interesting example because the fantasy island revealed itself as fertile soil for both spam and scams.

Firstly, it showed how AI pictures on Facebook can replace the earlier tactic of clickbait titles. After social media degraded the visibility of posted links, AI-generated images, showing attention-grabbing potential, started popping up in newsfeeds like mushrooms after a rainstorm. The page admins, interested in profiting from websites overpopulated with ads, would then promote their off-platform content in the comments of the post gone viral.

The model is very similar to the one exploited by the Macedonian fake news industry in 2016. Veles youngsters used Facebook groups as a place to recruit visitors to sensationalist pro-Trump websites that heavily monetized this traffic.

In the case of A World of Luxury Travel Facebook page, their links would lead to mstfootball.com, and other shady domains, with low-quality AI-generated content and high-yielding advertising space.

Millions of people curious to learn more had an opportunity to click on these sites, see even more AI images of Santorini, and allow Google to reward the spammers with ad money.

From likes to lies

On the other hand, the Facebook home of AI Santorini revealed that it can serve as a litmus paper for identifying potential scam victims too.

When she saw Greece of her dreams, a divorced woman from Portugal named Laura commented: “Wonderful.” Robert Micheal, conveniently a widowed Ukrainian, swooped in: “Hello I’m just new to Facebook and I really like your profile can you please send me a request so that we can get to know more about ourselves 🌺🌺🌺🌸🌺”

Malinda, a single mom from Oklahoma, couldn’t contain her excitement at the sight of Santorini’s waterpark: “It’s absolutely magical! 😍” Harold Griffin – a divorced man from Texas, of course – catfished back: “Apologies..   for dropping this here but it feels too great to visit your timeline, I always enjoy what you share here on Facebook but we’re not friends yet, I have tried several times to send the friend request but it’s not going through. Do you mind trying from your side? I will be happy to be friends with you. If you find this message embarrassing please pardon my manners Thank you…”

When Niina from Finland (who had wedding photos in her album) asked “In which village is this?”, she didn’t get a version of Tinder Swindler in her mailbox. Instead, certain Clement Gabriel approached her interest in an invented Santorini by promoting his manager, a supposed expert in bitcoin mining and crypto trading: “I saw a post about his company and l decided to give a try of my 3000 pesos to my greatest surprised l make withdraw of 30,000 pesos to my gcash account he is very reliable and free to communicate with, just click on the link below and Contact her 👇👇👇👇👇👇👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼”.

We also had Ramona from Romania who used the AI Facebook post on Santorini waterpark to ask for help for her 23-year-old brother Mihai, supposedly looking for work: “Because there is not very good internet in the country, he asked me to leave his number here. (…) Please, if you need a hard-working boy, call his number.”

Scammers hardly needed to lift a finger in their search for targets; gullible people were practically lining up under the AI image, like moths to a flame. What you read here is just an introduction to asking for personal details and sometimes selling products that do not exist.

There are plenty more catfish in the sea

Why do people fall for this stuff?

Just like in the case of lost luggage scams, these Facebook pages target weak spots in human brains by presenting social proof.

Pages studied by DiResta and Goldstein had a mean follower count of 128,877. The images that came under their scrutiny received hundreds of millions of engagements and exposures. One of these AI-generated posts racked up a mind-boggling 40 million views and over 1.9 million interactions, entering the top 20 of the most viewed Facebook content in Q3 2023.

Facebook reported that, only in the fourth quarter of 2022, it removed 1.5 billion fake accounts. But among the sea of commenting bots, we can also find real people praising the AI content

Nowadays, people mostly access social networks on their mobile phones. Small screens and a general tendency to tone down or switch off critical thinking in chill mode don’t provide the best conditions for zooming into pictures or doing thorough research on something that seems benign.

There are also dozens, hundreds, and sometimes even thousands of people admiring/approving the content. In certain niches, at least my research of the culinary AI images suggests this, it’s even hard to find a person expressing doubt in the artificial content – most users uncritically drool over these fake desserts, and many will follow links to websites spitting out doubtfully doable recipes quicker than you can say ‘fast food’.

Many of the praises are left by AI bots. Some are easily detectable, such as this brainless comment under the waterslide Santorini: “Very Good !!! Very Interesting !!! Very Amazing !!! Very Awesome !!! There’s no other words that I can say other than that, all the stories, acting, drama, and actors are absolutely perfect. I love this movie and really really enjoy it.. Thanks for this movie.”

Facebook reported that, only in the fourth quarter of 2022, it removed 1.5 billion fake accounts from the network. But among the sea of bots pretending to be humans, we can also find real people. Powered by bragging rights, they are supporting a clear AI hallucination. Just read some of the comments under a fake Gaudi house that gathered 88k likes on the Facebook page I Love Spain:

“Saw this myself in Spain and it is just spectacular.”

“I saw this, there were a few houses like this. Very cool.”

“I saw this building in person in Spain and just loved it. I was there during the week that 9/11 and had to see how I could get out. My cousin sent a fax to my hotel and opened her home to me in England.”

“It is a beautiful place, I visit soo many times. Never enough.”

“Been there, the most awe struck I’ve ever been, a true trippy place. I LOVE Barcelona!! AND GAUDY!!!! 😍❤❤❤❤”

“Been there it is amazing!”

It’s one thing to fall on all those “fantastic”, “gorgeous”, “sublime” and “it definitely stands out” comments. But when there are real people claiming to have actually been at the site, well – it must exist!

Sharon, an older lady who hadn’t had the chance to visit the Disney-like nightmare of Gaudi yet, could only express her admiration: “I love it. How did they ever get someone to build it?”

The widowed orthopedic surgeon at the UN, Mark Donald, had a ready-made answer for exactly her type: “Hi! I admire your value for different perspectives, can we be pals? Add me up if interested.”

Artificial intelligence can be used for better things than deception. For instance, it can help us imagine the original 7 wonders of the world! 

Slovak Travel for your dream fauxcation

Let’s go back to where we started – the Slovak Travel Facebook page, a digital creator behind the Bora Bora-Thailand crossover viral post.

Since January, they’ve been bombarding our feeds with images of exotic-looking destinations, with Maldives, Seychelles, and Bora Bora gaining the best traction. The vacation buffet always came accompanied by colorful hearts, and brief descriptions such as “paradise” or “the vacation we all dream of”.

For a page that bears a European country in its name, it certainly prioritizes tropical getaways, from Aruba to Zanzibar. But Slovakia is one of the AI-fraud champions on the Old Continent. From 2022 to 2023, the number of deepfakes has grown 1,500%. That’s almost double the European average, and puts Slovakia among the top countries exposed to AI frauds, just behind Belgium and Romania.

Slovak Travel’s digital footprint tells us that the page was launched in 2022, but then it was named Epic Travel, just like one private aviation company.

They started posting the majority of the content visible on the page in January 2024, when the page rebranded as Tiptravel, practically leeching off TIP Travel, a legit Slovakian travel agency specializing in Mediterranean and exotic tours.

In March 2024, the administrator changed the page name again – to Slovak Travel. The new name is eerily similar to the official tourism agency of Slovakia. In fact, from Slovakia Travel, it differs only in two letters – ‘ia’. Or AI.

With the help of technology, Slovak Travel amassed more followers in three months than Slovakia Travel managed to do in 13 years.

Sunny side down – cracking the Slovak scam

After teasing us with images of exotic turquoise waters for several months, Slovak Travel Facebook page finally revealed where it’s heading.

Last week, they published three giveaway posts, advertising a spa retreat in Turčianske Teplice, a trip to Turkey, and of course, a holiday in the dreamy Maldives. All you had to do to claim your prize was share the post to other Facebook groups (over a thousand people complied), and write ‘done’ or a number of eggs (1 to 4). Don’t ask why.

When Beata chose to answer “1🥚”, handsome Christian Skari appeared to serenade her: “Hello beautiful, did you sleep well, have a nice day and you are very beautiful, I want us to be friends.”

Certain Carole Hamousin saw an opportunity to slide in with the following message: “👋 Are you looking for financial support? Take advantage of our flexible loan offers at competitive rates. Get quick and easy funding to make your projects a reality. Contact us for a tailored solution to your credit needs. 😇❤️”

But beyond just selling tinder-swindler kind of love to middle-aged women and showering financially struggling individuals with loans, Jan A. revealed the scam scheme: scammers approach “lucky winners” on Messenger and then try to clear their bank accounts.

Dana R. confirmed this: “Who could believe this? They will tell you that you have won and they ask for complete account and card details to get to your euros, cunning.”

UPDATE: As of today, the mentioned giveaways on Slovak Travel were deleted, and the new ones appeared, offering a family holiday in Mallorca, and a "4000 thousand voucher", whatever that is.

AI and Facebook – a love story gone haywire

The issue with AI and Facebook photos is that they seem to be in a monstrous marriage – a smiling princess feeding an insatiable beast. Or vice versa? Once this content enters your system, it replicates faster than a virus.

During the period of my research in the last months, I noticed that the more AI-generated images on Facebook I saved, the more they appeared in my feed. This aligns with Stanford-Georgetown researchers’s experience. They suspect the explanation could be in Facebook’s algorithm promoting content that is likely to generate engagement, even when it’s the content from the pages users don’t follow. In fact, while the visibility of pages that users follow plummeted down since 2021, unconnected posts rose from 8% of feed views in 2021 Q2 to 24% in 2023 Q3.

Last week, Meta announced the plan to roll out a “less punitive” policy for AI-generated content. Reading such a title made me chuckle, as I haven’t noticed many penalties in that field so far. Apparently, the idea is that instead of removing the problematic content (and risking “unnecessarily restricting freedom of speech”), Meta will slap a label on AI images “that it could detect”. To do that, they will rely on industry-shared signals and people self-disclosing such content (as if the lack of that self-disclosing wasn’t the essence of the problem).

Facebook AI scams are lucrative businesses, often even purchasing ads from Meta

Judging by the content it serves my feed nowadays, I can conclude that Facebook is definitely able to detect generative AI, as it continues to serve me such content from pages I didn’t even know existed.

The AI fraudsters found a cozy home on Facebook. Just like fake lost luggage pages, these scams are lucrative businesses, often even purchasing ads from Meta. Even if the company promises to “reject an ad if it contains debunked content”, they still require disclosing the digital manipulation only when it’s a political or a social issue ad. So unless we’re being served ads about elections or some earth-shattering social agenda, it doesn’t seem anything will change with all those non-existing paradises, crocheting grandmas, and crab Jesus.

Falling for AI Facebook pictures – Conclusion

With a shift of generations, Facebook may start to resemble an online retirement home. However tempting, it would be oversimplified to point fingers at baby boomers (born 1946-1964) and generation X (1965-1980) as easily fooled victims.

Not only aging users are in jeopardy from fraudsters. Earlier studies have shown that when it comes to spotting fake news, young and older adults are quite comparable. Media literacy and critical thinking should be a priority for new generations too.

Under the AI image of seashell-shaped cottages by the sea, young and old alike gush over its idyllic allure, calling it a dream destination in the comments. They’re blissfully unaware of how correctly they describe it.

The same dreamlike AI Facebook picture shared on the Maldives Islands page gained 262 thousands likes from equally impressed visitors. Natalie wrote: “Wow, absolutely beautiful. I can hear the waves and smell the fresh ocean breeze.”

But that sound and that scent – it’s all in our heads. While we were worrying about our prompts making large language models hallucinate, we failed to notice that AI made us hallucinate too.

Behind the cloak of seemingly harmless entertainment, AI Facebook content became a sneaky prelude for stealing personal details and passwords. The spam/scam industry transitioned from clickbait titles to African kids crafting the Son of God from vegetables (“made it with my own hands”) and dreamy holidays in Maldives or Bora Bora that will never become a reality.

Beware, AI fits perfectly into naivety. Just behind ‘n’.

What do you think about the flood of AI Facebook pictures?

Share your thoughts in the comments, and pin this article for later!

The post AI Fools: You Know These Facebook Pictures Aren’t Real, Right? appeared first on Pipeaway.

Silly Side: Why did the coffee file a police report? It got mugged. But don't worry, your clicks won't end up in handcuffs! Explore the stories you like, and let me know if you brewed up some travel inspiration.

 FEATURE SPOTLIGHT 

Coffee Drinker’s Pilgrimage – Bean There, Sipped That

Whether you want to espresso yourself in Italy or tell your fortune in the bitter Turkish delight, looking for the best coffee can truly be a global adventure. From the lush plantations of Colombia and Brazil to ice-garnished tropical refreshments in Vietnam, this magical bean promises to wake you up. Smell the perfect cuppa at the world’s best coffee destinations!

 

O SOLE MIO

Did you snooze through the solar event of the year? Fear not! The total solar eclipse returns on August 12, 2026, and you can see it in Greenland, Iceland, Spain, Russia, and Portugal. Until then, chase sun spectacles in Scandinavia (join the aurora hunter Lorenzo Mirandola), or head Down Under for the southern version of aurora borealis – aurora australis.

ALL ABROAD

After they missed the “all aboard” call due to a delayed excursion, eight passengers were not allowed to embark on the still-anchored Norwegian Dawn cruise ship. Stranded on the island of São Tomé and Príncipe, they had to traverse seven African countries to catch up with the vessel.

FROM KNICKERS TO NIXON

That Gatwick lost luggage sale was nothing but a scam. But the very real Unclaimed Baggage store in Alabama released its first-ever annual report. Now we know what people tend to lose: from the mundane (undies aplenty) to the magnificent (a $37,050 diamond ring). Among the peculiar finds, let’s mention live snakes, a jar of shark teeth, and a Halloween card signed by President Nixon.

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 IMAGES 

 

🌱

The World Nature Photography Awards crowned their 2024 champions, showcasing the wildlife across the continents. The overall winner is Tracy Lund with her underwater snapshot of Scottish seabirds. All images are available for purchase as wall art and, for each piece sold, the organization promises to plant a tree.

🗽

When New York experienced a violent thunderstorm last week, photographer Dan Martland struck it lucky. The lightning bolt hit the Statue of Liberty’s torch directly, and he got a strikingly good shot. Talk about flash photography!

🍰

For Muslims, Ramadan draws to a close, and the fasting is over. But in Malaysia, a beautiful cake of intricate patterns is an integral part of festivities. Check out the art of kek lapis!

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 NUMBERS 

 

$30

The “curation fee” guests have to pay at Made Hotel in New York, to get things such as coffee, wifi, and an opportunity to hire a bike. If you stay in Fairmont Chateau Whistler in Canada, you’ll be required to pay a housekeeping surcharge, which amounts to $4.50 CAD plus $0.50 as literally – a fee on a fee. Ryanair also adds another junk fee of their own – a missed departure fee could cost you £100 (thankfully, the Norwegian Cruise Line hasn’t thought of that yet!). Remind yourself how to avoid hidden travel expenses.

£50

The price of the afternoon tea you can add to your £100 ticket when visiting Balmoral Castle, the beloved home of Queen Elizabeth. Beware, taking photos of your royal tea experience is not permitted.

€10.05

The price of Europe’s priciest pint, in Reykjavik, Iceland. The cheapest beer on the continent can be found in Minsk, Belarus, for just €1.05.

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 PARTNER SPOTLIGHT 

 

Navigate in Style with Unbeatable Deals

Why hail a cab when you can book luxury for less? GetTransfer.com is your golden ticket to premium rides without the premium price tags. Whether it’s a sleek airport transfer or a classy car rental, they’ve got the keys to a first-class experience at unbeatable rates. Don’t just take anyone’s word for it – compare and let the savings speak for themselves. Book your ride with a personal driver today!

 

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The post ☕️ Coffee, Cakes, and More in Pipeaway Newsletter #125 appeared first on Pipeaway.

Hi!

Last week was a whirlwind of celebrations!

In Pampanga, Ruben Enaje was nailed to the cross for the 35th time at Maleldo, the Filipino version of celebrating Christ’s resurrection.

If you’re a Hindu, or just love celebrating spring with colors, Holi brought rainbow explosions to the streets.

I celebrated last week too; Pipeaway turned seven on March 28! For this special occasion, I shared some previously untold stories (see featured spotlight!).

Before you dive in, remember that today is April Fools’ Day, a perfect day for pranking someone but also for being suspicious whenever you read “news”. We mark this period of silliness with #Top4Silly pictures on Twitter. Go and share yours!

Find this in today’s newsletter:

• Words: Dark side of the moon and stars.
• Images: Black bears, in the sky and on the ground.
• Numbers: Skyrocketing prices, pollution, and meals.
• P.S.: Easter discount still up for grabs.

Have a silly week!

Ivan Kralj        
Pipeaway.com

Silly Side: Why did the astronaut break up with his girlfriend? Because he needed space! If you're not breaking up with us, please click on the link in today's newsletter that attracted you the most! That will mean the universe.

 FEATURE SPOTLIGHT 

7 Dangerous Years – From Trips to Trip-Ups

Even if travelers may skip telling stories that disperse the glamour, traveling is not all sunshine. For Pipeaway’s seventh anniversary, I bring you a rollercoaster of mishaps. On a scale from Kolkata to Pampanga, let’s just say it’s less of a colorful mess and more of a nailed-it type scenario. Less “eat, pray, love”, and more “ouch, pray, survive”. From slippery ho(s)tels in Europe to road rash in Asia, from hellish dunes to breathless undersea, I share blisters and bruises of my scariest accidents.

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 WORDS 

 

SHADOW SEEKERS

They say witnessing the eclipse is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but for this 105-year-old sun chaser, it’s literally old news! On April 8, the North Americans will observe our star going dark. If you want to do it somewhere special, join mini pigs or giant elephants, or head to perfectly named spots along the path of totality, from Eclipse Island to Sun Valleys, Lunas, and Shadowland. Here’s Atlas Obscura’s countdown, with intriguing stories to prepare you for an amazing astronomical alignment.

A STAR TOO DIM

Not all stars are admired. Draga di Lovrana restaurant in Croatia recently returned the Michelin star they earned in 2019. Turns out, the investment is unsustainable. The chef and owner Christian Nikolac claims that the exclusive star cost them money and guests.

AIRPORT LEFTOVERS

After we have learned that lost luggage sales are fake as duck, it’s good to know that there are actual stores where you can buy items confiscated or lost at the airport. In this Texas store, you’ll find everything from nail clippers to vehicles.

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 IMAGES 

 

🌋

Photographers in Iceland captured the rare double spectacle – an erupting volcano against the backdrop of the Northern Lights. Among the lucky shooters was a volcano chaser Marco di Marco. You can see the tango dance between Earth’s and sky’s lights in a timelapse video.

🌃

Oregon’s outback has been crowned the world’s largest dark sky sanctuary. The official designation will certainly boost tourism in the area, for all stargazers out there.

🦢

If you have trouble finding Greater and Lesser Bears in the sky, check out their Earth siblings. At UK’s Woburn Safari Park, black bears met a colossal swan.

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 NUMBERS 

 

$170

The average increase in hotel daily rates on the path of totality. From today to next Monday, the astronomical accommodation prices will grow by 196%! Out of the eclipse’s path, Hendersonville in North Carolina is experiencing an increased tourist interest because of the immaculate conception of a stingray in a local aquarium.

102.1

The amount of PM2.5 in micrograms per cubic meter in Delhi, according to the World Air Quality 2023 Report. Only in seven countries, this dangerous particulate matter is below the acceptable 5 micrograms: Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland, Mauritius, Australia, and New Zealand. To protect your lungs, avoid the most polluted countries of Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Tajikistan, and Burkina Faso.

$495,000

The price of the world’s most expensive meal, served in a space balloon. The chef behind Space Perspective’s out-of-this-world menu will be Rasmus Munk, a proud owner of two Michelin stars, and a space geek himself. His Alchemist restaurant in Copenhagen has a large planetarium dome, but this collaboration will elevate fine dining to new heights, quite literally.

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 PARTNER SPOTLIGHT 

 

Spring into Savings

Do you want to visit renowned museums, thrilling attractions, and maybe even some hidden gems? Tiqets has an Easter promotion running until April 14! Whether it’s seeing Batmobiles at Volo Museum in the United States, joining a chocolatier workshop at Dr. Choc’s in Windsor, UK, or exploring optical illusions at DeJa Vu Museum in Berlin, Germany, there are tickets with your name on them. Book today with promo code EASTER5, and get a 5% discount on every Tiqets ticket!

 

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The post 🌒 Masked Sun, Michelin Stars, and More in Pipeaway Newsletter #124 appeared first on Pipeaway.

This selection of dangers of traveling reveals situations where I thoughtlessly stepped into preventable troubles

I already debunked some illusions of travel coming from the perception of a blogger’s life. You don’t get to read about travelers’ stomach problems and diarrhea disasters often, simply because that’s not sexy. Journey reports in blogs and social media may paint experiences in rosy hues, just because it’s embarrassing to admit one’s travel mishaps.

We can also feel ashamed to share that we became victims of scams, assaults, thefts, and other crimes. In this collection of anecdotes, I won’t be writing about that time when my friend Timon and I walked into an Istanbul brothel thinking we were just invited for a beer, but were then pressured to choose between all Tatianas paraded in front of us as if they were a treat on a sushi conveyor belt. I’ll skip a series of pickpocket attempts in Addis Ababa or even that transfer-kidnap story in Manila I hinted about in the selection of the greatest WTF moments of my travels.

Today’s selection of dangers of traveling is all about risking injuries, situations where I thoughtlessly stepped into preventable troubles. Hopefully, you’ll find safety tips that should help you avoid similar mistakes on your travels!

WARNING: This article contains graphic images of exposed wounds that some viewers might find disturbing.

7 Dangers of Travel

1. Burning my soles in the Vietnamese desert

On my first extended Asian adventure, seven years ago, I stopped in Mui Ne, a resort town on the southern part of Vietnam‘s coast. This unusual place had over a hundred resorts claiming parts of the beach, securing direct sea approach and unobstructed views to their guests. But there was plenty of sand north of the town, in Mui Ne’s famous Red Sand Dunes.

To avoid the crowds who visit the enormous desert attraction with jeep tours, I decided to avoid their favorite “golden hours” of early morning and late afternoon. With a local bus, I arrived just before noon, thinking how I outsmarted everyone.

It was hot, as one would expect from a midday, but nothing unbearable. I coated myself in sunscreen and walked barefoot over the dunes. The warmth of the sand was pleasant, but another of my senses was more occupied – the views were fantastic.

The temperature of the sand is not equal across the dunes, you know. As the sun moves, so do the dune shadows. But it never occurred to me that some sections were constantly exposed to the sun. Well, not until my bare feet stepped into an area that felt like a roof of hell. I literally screamed in agony.

It took me some time to untangle the Gordian Knot I used to safely attach my flip-flops to the backpack. At the same time, I was trying to do a little Irish dance, jumping from one foot to another. It wasn’t helping; I was being grilled alive.

With sand in my mouth, hair, and everywhere else you can imagine it sneaking in, I returned to the civilization. The tingling sensation in my blistered feet continued reminding me that the dangers of travel lurk when you least expect them.

2. Dehydration drama in Cambodian outback

While traveling through Cambodia, I stopped in Kampong Chhnang, a sleepy port town with a floating village on the Tonle Sap River.

Just after Songkran, the Cambodian New Year, many businesses took additional days off, and life slowed down. Finding even a working restaurant or a shop that would sell me a hand of bananas was challenging.

Arming yourself with water is essential, especially if you intend to ride a bicycle out in the sticks, through a tropical countryside. It was so dry that you could easily count ribs on cows searching for a green blade of grass.

I love exploring the countryside on a bicycle, but that takes energy away. One can easily miscalculate the appropriate intake of fluids, so I try to be conservative when dispersing the content of a water bottle I have.

I decided to pedal toward a restaurant completely out of route, hoping it would provide sustenance, but met another closed door. To eat something, I went further away from town, and practically drained what little energy I had left.

My mouth felt so dry that even sipping the remaining water felt insufficient to quench the thirst. One of the scariest dangers of travel in tropical zones crept in. I pondered about waiting for the sunset under a tree before moving on. It was extremely hot, and finding any shop on the way home didn’t look promising.

But standing on the side of the road didn’t sound like the best choice either. Eventually, I concluded I would faint in any case. I summoned the last shreds of my strength and rode toward a pottery shop, in whose shade I took a little break, before eventually successfully getting home, hungry, thirsty, and utterly exhausted.

3. Falling down the stairs in Bulgaria

It was raining cats and dogs when I arrived in Plovdiv, the oldest city in Europe. The clouds opened up, and a massive quantity of water poured down the streets of the Bulgarian cultural capital.

I was staying in a hostel, and Max, a young German ornithologist returning from a bird mapping expedition in Azerbaijan, joined me at the supermarket to get some food.

After returning home, we descended to the kitchen, and my shoes just glided off the slippery wooden stairs. I flew through the air and crash-landed with the finesse of a sack of potatoes. I hit my back, buttocks, and mostly the left arm, peeling off the skin as I met the floor.

A swelling in the left elbow was hurting for days. There was another female guest in the hostel, whose name I forgot, probably because anger overtook me. She approached me, and squeezed my bruised elbow as hard as she could, to make sure “if it hurt”. I erased your identity from my memory, lady, but you are a very bizarre person! These were not health and safety protocols I would expect from a roommate.

Somehow, I healed on my own, reluctant to seek medical attention. I guess the danger of travel that doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger. But there are better things than getting stronger in an unconventional way! For instance, I would’ve preferred to hold the handrail while descending instead of making this unplanned acrobatic venture that wouldn’t bring me any points in figure skating competitions.

Anything can happen on a trip in a foreign country, from fractures to food poisoning. Prevent worries and protect yourself against costly bills by taking EKTA insurance with a worldwide coverage. Buy your policy now!

4. Fracturing my ribs in a bathtub in Finland

In Helsinki, the capital of Finland, I experienced one of the most painful travel moments. At the hotel I stayed in, I took an evening shower. After finishing, I reached out for a towel hanging on the bathroom door. In the next second, I slipped and fell, my back loudly kissing the ceramic surface.

The impact knocked the air out of my lungs. It took me a second to be able to produce a painful moan. I wasn’t sure if I could move. The first thought that rushed through my head was: “Shoot, I locked the door, and even put the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign out! It will take days for them to find me.”

Immediately, I was aware of how helpless I was. My mobile phone was in the bedroom. There was no emergency string to pull. So I just lied there.

In Japan, seven-times more people die in bathtubs than in car accidents

As I recovered from the initial shock, I managed to drag my sorry self out of the bathtub somehow, and slowly got to bed, making sure that the phone would be within my reach. The pain was excruciating, and yet, I wanted to believe that I would be fine by morning.

I wasn’t fine. The doctor arrived at the hotel and quickly diagnosed mini-fractures of my ribs. Even his bill was painful; 200 euros for advising me to rest.

In the following days, I managed to get out, but navigating the city was hard. I couldn’t cross two-lane streets during a green light. I limped my way through Helsinki, extremely slowly. The recovery would be long.

To this day, I wonder: what diabolical cleaning products do they use in hotel bathrooms? Those bathtubs must be coated in a layer of slippery devilry, contributing to the scary slip-and-fall statistics.

In Japan, 19,000 people die in a bathtub every year. That’s seven-times more fatalities than in car accidents. In the United States, it is three-times likelier one would die in a bathtub than in a terrorist attack.

5. Falling off a motorbike in Laos

Luang Prabang is protected by UNESCO, but on the road, you are on your own. If you don’t take all travel safety precautions when navigating Laos, nobody will do it for you.

In the afterglow of a day spent chasing the enchanting Kuang Si Falls, I was returning to the town on a rented scooter. On my way to the waterfall, I already learned I should steer clear of potholes. But potholes would not be my problem.

On this scorching hot day, a tree was shading the road, right at the spot that would make me lose balance. Hidden by the shadow, there was a sneaky little bump. I saw it too late.

Me and my motorbike fell, gliding across the asphalt road as if it were butter. It wasn’t butter. My bleeding hands, scratched arms (that poor left elbow taking another hit), and ripped trousers that would only later expose wounds on my knees too.

Kind-hearted girls behind me stopped when they saw me lying down, removed the scooter from the road, and rushed to the nearby village to get a disinfectant for my wounds.

I was lucky that nobody and nothing else participated in my accident. It was only a collision with a hard floor. Otherwise, it might have ended up differently for me. As I was driving back to the town, the faces of people who mean the most to me, rushed before my eyes.

They say that medical care in Laos is not of a high standard, so even if you need to go to a hospital, many advise you to head to the neighboring Thailand instead. I nursed my wounds myself, with supplies from the pharmacy. But I knew that my days of exploring dusty Laos roads with open wounds had to come to an earlier end.

6. Descending the Gheralta Moutain without a rope

There’s a lot I could tell you about the dangers of travel through Ethiopia, a country I visited during the state of emergency. I have already written about my conflict with fraudsters in an Ethiopian bus, my encounter with hyenas in Harar, a swim in Doho Lake with crocodiles, a police-alarming incident with Chinese tourists at Bete Giyorgis, as well as climbing Erta Ale volcano with armed escort. It’s a country that offers travelers many opportunities for danger, from pickpocketing scams to natural challenges.

It may not look like I have any issues with heights (remember those daring hikes in Norway?). But every encounter with a cliff is not just exciting for me, it’s also quite terrifying. Even with my circus background, I’m still aware I am conquering fears, and not being fearless. I’m not one of those daredevils who run on skyscraper edges; those videos make my stomach churn.

But I do love culture, especially one that has a rich history. So I couldn’t skip Tigray Churches, nestled high in the Gheralta Mountains. Religious sanctuaries carved in the rock, at some truly special sites, were calling my name.

The routes through these hardly accessible mountains are not signposted, so you cannot visit them without a guide. In the town of Megab, I booked Amaze, my trusty expert for the day. I took the package that included him, a motorbike to take us to and back from the mountain, and – a rope, supposedly for easier climbing.

The plan was to visit the churches of Daniel Korkor and Mariam Korkor, and then a somewhat dislocated Abuna Yemata Guh.

The initial ascend between the rocks that were “separated by God” (similar to what Moses did with the Red Sea) was quite strenuous. However, the real challenge happened when Amaze took me for a shortcut way to Abuna Yemata Guh, but forgot that rope I rented out. Instead of taking it with us, he mistakenly sent it directly to our final church.

Now, this descent without a rope was quite… How to describe it? In several instances, I had to say “Are you sure? Maybe we should head back?” Even for a person of reasonable fitness, there were some scarily steep parts. I still wonder how the two of us survived this heart-stopping trek.

The exhausting hike through pure wilderness between the two sites took its toll. When we arrived beneath the third church (and finally used the rope to ascend the rocks), I was already deadbeat from the sun. On the top rock, a vertigo got me. The views of a 2.5-kilometer drop beneath us and a petrifying walk on the cliffside didn’t help. It all felt messed up now, as I tried to make my weary body not lose balance on a narrow ledge.

I survived, like many before us, but I wouldn’t recommend the warm-up we had to anyone planning this hazardous visit.

7. Breathless experience of scuba diving in Greece

For us humans (we are not fish, right?), the ability to breathe is what keeps us alive. Even if I can apply for a trip to the Moon, or readily visit the most toxic place on Earth – Kawah Ijen volcano in Indonesia – I don’t take breathing in environments that are not built for our lungs for granted.

My possibly closest brush with death happened during my first scuba diving attempt in Naxos, Greece. Maybe it’s not fair to call it a near-death experience. The reason why I’m able to tell this story today is that I actually had skilled professionals taking care of me along the way. However, this doesn’t annul the panic attack I experienced that day below the surface.

Everything went fine on my initial scuba diving training. I felt confident with instructions on dry land, the shallow-water drill went great, and then there were also three people taking care of me, my Greek instructor, and two diving volunteers from Bulgaria. Sure, let’s go deeper!

Maybe I was exuding too much confidence. I was able to both dive and film the experience; my instructors later told me they were impressed. Another student canceled just before the dive, while I seemed fearless.

But at one moment, the first moment my instructor Panos looked away (I guess I was radiating confidence), something happened. I wasn’t able to inhale through my scuba gear. Panic mode: activated. I tried pinching and blowing my nose, but it didn’t help. Maybe because that’s a method for equalizing ear pressure.

Indeed, I was taught about the inflator hose, and that the inflate button would allow me to ascend gracefully to the surface. But at my first dive ever, I couldn’t think of that. My initial reaction was to draw attention and ask for help. As I watched the back of my instructor diving away, my hands were waving like a frantic Lucky Cat doll on speed, hoping that somebody would notice my distress signal. Nobody hears you scream down there.

Thankfully for beginners, there’s always a person behind you. Aleksandra, my dear Bulgarian guardian, noticed my struggles the first, rushed to me, and inflated my vest, so I could quickly breathe in on the surface.

The entire breathless ordeal lasted for about 30 seconds, that’s what my GoPro images suggest (set to time-lapse, with shots taken every second). For someone who cannot breathe, and is surrounded by water, those 30 seconds can feel like an eternity.

After a minute on the surface of getting my heartbeat down, I was okay with diving back in. The experience did teach me a lesson of approaching foreign environments with respect, and the importance of learning how to handle them when things go wrong.

Knocking on wood, I was lucky enough not to experience natural catastrophes on the road. Against that reckless power, we are quite defenseless. If you wish to help those whose lives were shattered into pieces, consider these areas as the best places to travel in 2024. 

Navigating dangers of travel – conclusion

There you have it, seven years of wild adventures, close calls, and enough adrenaline to fuel a theme park.

Traveling, as I’ve come to learn, is not always easy, especially if we tend to challenge ourselves with experiences that may be out of our comfort zone. They test our resilience and our ability to keep our cool when the going gets tough.

The safety of travel doesn’t always come with an instruction manual

After seven years of working on the Pipeaway project, I am still attracted by the beauty of challenges, even if they come with risks. It’s a constant learning process that reminds me of the importance of – learning.

As individuals, we’re fragile, easily broken by elements and accidents. But we also learn by doing. I do.

Experiencing travel problems is an ongoing education in travel safety, a process that makes us resilient and better prepared for future challenges. It helps us survive travel emergencies that we can’t always imagine beforehand.

When I look at these experiences that expose how thoughtlessly I approached some of my adventures, I wonder what makes me eligible to give safety tips or any advice for traveling.

But you know, it doesn’t take an expert to understand that the safety of travel and the health risks we challenge abroad don’t always come with an instruction manual.

The dangers of travel should not deter you from adventurous travel. Don’t let the fear of the unknown hold you back from pushing your boundaries. Learn from your mistakes, but also from those of others. Stumbling is a part of the adventure. We get better with experience.

As I raise a metaphorical toast to the next seven years of Pipeaway adventures, I offer my safe travel wishes to all wanderers. May good luck accompany your willingness to adopt new skills, and take you far. Stay safe, and pipe away!

Have you experienced the dangers of travel?
Share your riskiest adventures in the comments, and pin this article for later!

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you click on them and make a purchase, Pipeaway may make a small commission, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting our work!

The post 7 Times I Risked Too Much: Navigating Dangers of Travel appeared first on Pipeaway.

Hey there, sunshine seeker!

Spring has officially arrived in the Northern Hemisphere, and longer days are ahead of us. Cambodians celebrated the spring equinox with thousands of tourists waiting for the sunrise at Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument in the world.

That’s not even close to the frenzy that will spread over the United States in the afternoon hours of April 8, when the moon will steal the sun’s spotlight. If you want to make sure to have the best view of the eclipse, pick a spot at the so-called path of totality.

Longer and sunnier days definitely make me happy, but it seems it doesn’t affect all of Croatia. According to the latest World Happiness Report, my home country holds a modest 63rd place. The happiest are actually the Nordic Countries, with Finland, Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden in the top 4, and Norway at still impressive spot number 7.

Longyearbyen in Norway, the world’s northernmost town, recently saw the sun for the first time since the long polar night took over in October. Svalbard celebrates the return of daylight with tropical fruits, which reminds us all: when life hands you lemons, make lemonade.

Even if this week’s feature speaks of misfortunes, remember that the happiest folks are the ones who approach difficult circumstances with a positive attitude.

Find this in today’s newsletter:

• Words: Celebrations, clubbing, chemtrails.
• Images: After the waves.
• Numbers: From pool to plane, from pond to plate.
• P.S.: Hop til you drop.

Have a sun-soaked week!

Ivan Kralj        
Pipeaway.com

Silly Side: Why did the travel blogger bring a ladder on the plane? Because they heard the views were better from up high. Stay grounded with our newsletter stories, and click on your favorites!

 FEATURE SPOTLIGHT 

Beware of the Baggage Bluff – Unpacking the Fraud

Buying someone’s lost or uncollected stuff for pennies and stumbling upon treasure is a true lottery. It may function in Brussels shop Pile ou Face, where unwanted Amazon parcels are sold per kilo. But if you see a promotion offering unclaimed suitcases on social media for a couple of dollars or euros, stay away! Scammers are lurking in the shadows, masquerading as airline agents on Twitter, or airports on Facebook, ready to deceive. We expose the lost luggage scam!

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 WORDS 

 

EASTER’S ODD EGGS

It’s Holy Week for Christians, and some nations have quirky customs. From parades over colored sawdust in Antigua and crime novel marathons in Norway, to constructing a bread cathedral in Sicily and organizing graveyard feasts in Georgia, find alternative Easter traditions here and here.

BEAT HERITAGE

The German UNESCO Commission has added Berlin techno to the country’s list of intangible cultural heritage. It’s a huge milestone for the scene headed by iconic institutions such as Tresor and Berghain, often called the most famous techno club in the world.

CLOUDED JUDGEMENT

The Tennessee Senate has passed a bill that wants to ban – chemtrails. The proposed legislation, promoting the well-known conspiracy theory, prohibits “the intentional injection, release, or dispersion” of chemical substances in the atmosphere of this state.

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🏝️

Witness the stark reality of climate change, as Nyangai, a small tropical island in Sierra Leone, is slowly swallowed by the ocean.

🖼️

Celebrate 150 years of impressionism in Normandy, where the breathtaking coastline has long inspired French artists (Claude Monet painted it over 100 times!). Join the festival of this iconic art movement, with events sprinkled until autumn!

🏆

Still need to be impressed? Feast your eyes on the finalists of the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest (I love Somenath Mukhopadhyay’s depiction of tribal raincoats), Sony World Photography Awards (Matthew DeSantis’ Buddha baseball is one of my favorites), and British Wildlife Photography Awards (Ryan Stalker’s floating soccer ball stole all the attention). If competitions aren’t your style, join our relaxed #Top4Theme challenge on Twitter – this week, we’re chasing waterfalls!

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 NUMBERS 

 

450

The length in meters of the rooftop infinity pool to be built by NEOM, as part of Treyam luxury resort in Saudi Arabia. The record-breaking sky pool will bridge the lagoon, perched 36 meters above the sea so you can float on cloud nine.

$785,050

The amount the two pilots overcharged John Travolta’s company with fraudulent fuel invoices.

4,070 tons

The quantity of frozen frog legs the European Union imports every year, with three-quarters destined for French tables. While EU laws protect European frogs, they’re okay with collecting millions of frogs in Indonesia, Turkey, and Albania, putting biodiversity at risk.

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 PARTNER SPOTLIGHT 

 

Shell Out Less – Crack Open Easter Travel Deals!

This Easter, GetYourGuide’s extraordinary deals discounted up to 30% will have you hopping with joy. Whether you want to explore Grand Canyon, Mexico, or New York in America, or wish to scale the Eiffel Tower, soak up the sun on Amalfi Coast, or take a day trip to the Greek center of the world in Europe, exciting opportunities await on GetYourGuide. Snag Easter savings with these US deals or choose one of the European promotions. Happy Easter!

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The young Croat didn’t need to speak Danish to recognize the familiarity of Kastrup Airport’s promotion. Just a week prior, she stumbled upon a rather similar Facebook campaign claiming that Zagreb Airport also had a problem with their “lost & found” storage capacity. To free up space in the repository, they were offering a “one-of-a-kind” opportunity to residents; buy an unclaimed piece of luggage for just 2.95 euros.

Okay, Croatian “izgubljena prtljaga” was twice as expensive as Danish “mistet bagage”. But the original price tag was €100, the website stated. So the offer was still quite a steal. As Ana and many others found out, it would literally be that – a steal.

The path from lost luggage to lost money is quick and sobering

Since at least October 2023, fake lost luggage sales have circled the globe like Barnum‘s traveling deception fairs. From Dublin Airport lost luggage scam to Air NZ lost luggage scam, false advertising on Facebook tried to prove that “there’s a sucker born every minute”.

The recipe was eerily similar: a little Photoshop magic and some enthusiastic testimonials successfully led users away to shady websites. The initial wire transfer of a few bucks would soon reveal to be the tip of an iceberg. The path from lost luggage to lost money was quick and sobering.

Even if unclaimed luggage sales are not your thing, keep reading about the experiences of people who fell for this elaborate internet hoax. You will not only learn how to steer clear of sneaky lost luggage scams but also how to detect always lurking and constantly adjusting fraudulent activity on the web!

In this era of sophisticated ways to empty our wallets, one has to be especially cautious. When seeing advertising that makes your eyes sparkle, approach it with due diligence. Otherwise, you might end up like visitors of that Willy's Chocolate Experience in Glasgow!

The web of deceit behind the baggage bazaar

Zagreb Airport, which consistently wins awards for its stellar service (the latest one praising it for the easiest airport journey in Europe), seemed to be quite overwhelmed with passengers’ baggage. The Facebook post that piqued Ana’s curiosity clarified that the expenses of taking care of all the lost and unclaimed luggage were too high. To enable more efficient operations, the airport decided to sell it all off, with a simple click on the “shop now” button.

The innocent-looking button led to fly3aga3.quest, a web domain registered just a month ago in Reykjavik, Iceland. But there was Zagreb Airport’s logo, and the message stating the following: “We are urgently clearing the warehouse at the airport and selling luggage that has been unattended for over 6 months. According to the rules, it needs to be taken care of, but we organize a humanitarian action and give it away for only €2.95.”

Participating in the call almost sounded patriotic. With less than 3 euros, one can get an unclaimed suitcase with potentially significant valuables inside, help the struggling local airport, AND support the unspecified, but still – a humanitarian cause!

A sense of urgency was created, because “the quantities were limited”, the website cunningly declared. All that stood between you and potential treasure, was “proving that you are a real person”. To do that, three questions had to be answered:

• Do you live in Croatia?
• Are you over 18 years old?
• Have you ever bought lost luggage before?

Whatever you answered, a congratulatory screen appeared, felicitating the successful confirmation that (well done!) you were indeed – human. It didn’t matter if you lived in Croatia or not, if you were a minor or an adult, a seasoned luggage buyer or a scam virgin. Your clicking made you feel in the right place.

Lost luggage lottery

“I love traveling”, Ana says. “Personally, I never lost my luggage, so that was foreign to me, but it was also interesting. I know which things people usually bring on their travels, especially for longer trips to faraway destinations.”

Our ‘phishing’ victim didn’t just jump on the hook: “I saw a couple of first comments, and none of them were negative.”

On the contrary, the fake Facebook page of Zagreb Airport had glowing testimonials of satisfied customers joyfully revealing all sorts of treasures they found in their purchased bags.

“I decided to try my luck, there was jewelry in the suitcase, I don’t know how valuable it is, I don’t understand it, but all in all it is a good promotion, I have already recommended it to family and friends.”

“I had a hairdryer and a Dyson iron in my suitcase, I’m happy, no matter what they tell me, I don’t have the opportunity to buy them. Thanks a lot!”

“I ordered 2 suitcases, one had a laptop, admittedly without a charger and with a password, but cool anyway! 😜”

Some posted photographs of their “lottery suitcases”, exposing that they have found anything from designer perfumes and high-end accessories to top-shelf whiskey.

But for the most skeptical doubting Thomases, there were also some just meh-happy customers, such as this one:

“At first I wondered why they were selling suitcases at the airport, but I ordered anyway, because it was interesting, I was contacted by a manager and answered all the questions, I can not say that I got something super valuable, but the offer was interesting, everything cost 2 €.”

Virtual vault – from Canon to Armani

Like in any sales funnel, social proof is a booster, and this one worked. “Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd”, as old P.T. Barnum once said.

Blinded by the promise of riches, people from all corners of the globe joined the suitcase roulette hoping that they too would be able to earn bragging rights and show off their spectacular finds.

From the United States to the United Kingdom, Facebook users claimed to have paid a few coins and scored MacBooks, Canon cameras, iPhones, Ray-Ban sunglasses, a Louis Vuitton bag, Armani clothing, Nike sneakers, branded toiletries and cosmetics. There were even wallets stuffed with cold, hard cash. Because why wouldn’t you stash your dollars in a checked-in bag?

Photographic evidence (“borrowed” from social media such as Twitter, Pinterest, or Reddit) always showed neatly packed suitcases, filled to the brim with only the good stuff. None of the lucky winners objected to finding the most expected suitcase content – someone’s dirty laundry. There was only pure, unadulterated luxury.

Tricked on the tracks

“I was on a train, heading home after work”, Ana explains how it all happened. She’s employed in a private company as a girl Friday, a Jill of all trades, if you will. But that day at work, filled with piles of numbers and paperwork, had to be quite exhausting; it was a perfect set-up to lure an unsuspecting customer into a network of deception.

“Tiredness overtook me when I saw the Facebook ad”, the lost luggage scam victim recalls. “There was no real peace or silence around me. I didn’t pay attention to detail, I wasn’t concentrated at all. The opportunity popped up, and it was too good to ignore.”

With exhaustion clouding her judgment, Ana didn’t notice that the Facebook page ‘Zračna luka Zagreb’ didn’t even exist before February 19, 2023. The page’s original name was ‘J O L I E’ and, in 2020, it was promoting a shoe brand.

The fraudsters didn’t care about erasing the history of posts selling footwear to Colombian ladies. They didn’t try to hide the makeover. Just 12 posts down, it was clear that this supposed page of Zagreb Airport was an impersonation.

“I scrolled down and noticed that myself, but it was too late. I just never expected an airport to be involved in such a scandal”, Ana says.

The electric shock of the bargain-hunting

Mario P., an electrician from Sisak, also overlooked the fine details before succumbing to the siren song of credit card fraud. He was drawn to it like a moth to a flame, believing that it would be a shame to miss this great deal that blessed his Facebook feed.

“I was naive. Usually, I’m not. I’m truly careful, but this was a moment of inattention. I was hasty”, he admits. “Only after I gave them my card details, I saw that the comments were in Croatian, yet all of the commenters had foreign names.”

Indeed, none of the lost luggage scam victims noticed that positive feedback was published in nearly perfectly translated Croatian.

However, Stanislas Faubert lived in France, Anton Fischer was in Austria, Lenka Babičová resided in Slovakia, and Ethan Walker was Swiss. What these Croatian-speaking users had in common was that they were singing praises for the Zagreb Airport luggage sale, even if it should have been available only to Croatian residents.

All these profiles were created in a timeframe of a couple of months. Scam victims never suspected that these people might not even exist.

“Scumbags!”, Mario fumes with anger. “They nicely wrapped it up as if it’s an airport, so nothing was suspicious. And the page has existed for years. But it seems nothing is secure today.”

Besides just using Photoshop to alter real photographs, scammers on Facebook also resort to AI-generated images. Learn the details that expose them, and whether you fell for any of these!

Scam-fest with fake airport photos

The airport shown in the photographs doesn’t exist either. At least, it is certainly not Zagreb Airport. As our investigation would show, these same images had been making the rounds in earlier lost suitcase scams.

Just 11 days prior, one of these photos appeared in the London Gatwick lost luggage scam, promoting the baggage sale for £1.

Another “Zagreb Airport Image” was published in November 2023, on a Facebook page advertising the lost luggage sale at Denver Airport, charging $2 per bag.

And back in October, Zagreb Airport masqueraded as King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, offering up lost bags at the bargain price of 8 Riyals.

These were clearly not photos of Zagreb Airport. Those were not even airports of London, Denver, or Jeddah. All of it was completely fabricated.

Airports depicted by the images were actually located in Frankfurt, Moscow, and Hamburg, all scraped from online sources, and edited to add a bright yellow sign, with adjusted local currency and language. And a barcode. Because nothing makes suspicious transactions more believable than a barcode on the sign.

“I even traveled over Zagreb Airport, but didn’t pay attention to the images”, Ana admits. “Actually, I’m not even an online shopper. But this caught my attention, and I told to myself, okay, let’s do something spontaneous for once. It’s just 2 euros, so let me see. And it turned out as a curse, a global fraud.”

Welcome to the club!

“I followed the link for orders, registered through it, and paid 2 euros. That’s how it started”, Ana explains. “First, I found it strange that they charged me only 2 euros when the advertised price for a suitcase was 2.95.”

But what initially sounded like an unexpected discount opened the doors to unsolicited e-mails. “When the announcement of the membership arrived, that’s when I became suspicious”, she says.

“Hello, Ana! First of all, welcome to the club!”, the email said, courtesy of Weshopforme.com, a website Ana never even heard of, let alone registered for. “Don’t hold back – explore our wide range of high-end products and enjoy the member prices without limits.”

Mario was welcomed by the webshop on ForMyDIY.com, with an identical greeting: “Hello Mario! First of all, welcome to the club! Don’t hold back – explore our wide range of high-end products and enjoy the member prices without limits.”

Filip B., another scammed victim I talked to, became a member of  Getallsporty.com.

The websites may have been different, but each had the same terms and conditions. Our baggage hunters unwillingly stepped into a trap – membership schemes that required regular purchasing of products offered on these websites. New credits needed to be bought every 14 days, and this reload was automatic.

Cyprus connection

Each of our victims was unknowingly redirected to a different webshop, but all of them had a common guardian angel. The baggage mishandlers were protected via PrivacyGuardian, a service that, ironically, aims to protect the real owners of these websites against “identity theft, SPAM and other unsolicited outreach”.  However, according to the information the webshops displayed, there was another common thread. All of them seemed to be based in the sunny Mediterranean paradise of Cyprus. Per Cyprus Corporate Registry, the companies behind them have all been registered in late 2023. Weshopforme.com is the project of Pokrou Limited (director Ionis Iordanidis, registered in Larnaka on September 8th, 2023), ForMyDIY.com is run by Tachano Limited (director Efthymios Souroukidis, registered in Limassol on November 15th, 2023), and Getallsporty.com is the webshop of Zamazi Limited (director Artemis Messiou, registered in Limassol on November 19th, 2023). However, all webshops had contact numbers starting with (+44), which directs customer support calls to the UK.

The cost of clicking

Ana was welcomed in the Basic Membership tier, valued at 26 euros. She registered with a Visa debit card, the same card she uses to receive her monthly salary, and gave its details to an unknown webshop. “Thankfully, I have a protected card, so one cannot charge it without my authorization”, she says.

Mario used his Mastercard credit card, the one with a monthly limit. Luckily for him, he always swims in the red, so the webshop had some trouble with charging him.

“I didn’t follow emails, but I saw they attempted to take 38 euros from the card”, the electrician says. “As I was in minus, they couldn’t do it. After I transferred some money to the card, they took 17 euros for the membership.”

His membership was quickly upgraded from the allegedly Free Account (with a 17 euros balance), via a Basic Membership (valued at 28 euros), to a Prime Membership (valued at 38 euros, the amount they wanted to charge initially).

Informed that his next 38 euro top-up was coming up, Mario decided to cancel the membership he never applied for, but even that didn’t come at no cost.

“Our commitment is to provide you with the best customer service and ensure your complete satisfaction”, Emma from customer support wrote. “Please take note that, in accordance with our Terms and Conditions, the cancellation fee is a non-refundable charge. The specified fee of 6.95 eur serves as the membership cancellation fee for opting out of your 14-day subscription cycle.”

Of course, that fee had to be charged independently of the €17 credit Mario unknowingly purchased earlier, and didn’t even manage to use. The cost of his lost luggage adventure was 2 euros for the undelivered lost suitcase, 17 euros for subscribing, and 6.95 euros for unsubscribing, totaling €25.95.

Here’s what you should have done with your €2.95!

Were you tempted to invest (read: lose) a couple of dollars in this lost luggage scheme? Why not support investigative journalism instead? We, humans, easily fall for tricksters. But how often do we act in favor of those keeping us informed? If you find this article helpful, support us to continue shedding light on shady businesses by donating your €2.95 (or whichever amount you find suitable) to our PayPal account. Thank you!

Baggage bandits recruiting the naive

Filip B., who returned from Germany to Bistra, a small municipality in Zagreb County, has been disgruntled by his entire experience, so much so that he has “no intention of using any webshop but Croatian ones, from now on”.

These 2 euros for the luggage is such a small amount that it draws naive people in, like myself and my familyFilip B.

Coincidentally, even if he was subscribed to a different webshop membership, his customer support agent was also called Emma, just like the one Mario was in touch with.

“Dear Filip, Thank you for contacting us! Getallsporty.com is a shopping site, and I see you have signed up for a membership that gives you access to our products from a wide variety of brands with savings of up to 80%.”

When he gave his Aircash details for what he thought was a lost luggage sale, Filip never intended to “get all sporty” on a website that tries to sell him e-books such as “6-Pack Abs Secrets” or “100 Golf Tips”.

“These 2 euros for the luggage is such a small amount that it draws naive people in, like myself and my family”, Filip confesses.

What was supposed to be just a small speculative investment transformed into a nefarious scheme that resembled a membership in the world’s most expensive online (!) gym.

“From everyone who gives data, they take 70 euros every week. This amount is supposedly available for purchase in the Getallsporty webshop, but if you try to execute it, an error message appears. These guys are pros!”

Undisclosed fees can quickly add up in any business, tourism business especially. Here's what you need to know about hidden travel expenses! 

Goodbye to 846 euros

When he first started receiving spam emails, Filip didn’t open them, because he was suspicious of their origin. After four weeks, he became aware that he didn’t just say goodbye to 2 euros for the undelivered lost luggage, but also to 280 euros for membership fees.

“Both me and two of my immediate family members, we were all losing 70 euros per week. They were charging my Aircash, and emptying up their current accounts”, Filip shares. “And you cannot trace them. They’ve been reported, but sadly, we don’t know who is behind this. Whoever is making these charges cannot be located. How come something like that doesn’t go public? I don’t understand!”

The family that lost 846 euros in the blind hope that they would just get lucky with some forgotten suitcases, will have a hard time forgetting this unsettling episode.

“If someone could only stop these frauds! If only I knew who’s behind this, I would feel better”, Filip says. “They take relatively small amounts. In police, they told us that’s because they don’t want the issue to escalate. But if they take 70 euros from 1,000 people a day, that comes to a significant sum. They are breaking a bunch of laws, and yet nobody is taking action!”

The maze of Facebook fakes

In the past six months alone, dozens if not a three-digit number of fake Facebook pages appeared, pretending to be lost luggage bargain services, airport warehouses, or airports themselves. Some of them were registered as airport terminals, others as charities or flea markets, but there were also those classified as entertainment websites or marketing agencies.

For Zagreb Airport, there are more impostors than at a celebrity look-alike contest. At least four fake Facebook pages enable the scam at this very moment (‘Zračna luka Zagreb’ – 2.5k followers, ‘Međunarodna zračna luka-Zagreb’ – 26 followers, ‘Zagreb International Airport’– 99 followers, and another ‘Zagreb International Airport’ – 20 followers). There are also at least two dormant pages with bizarre names (‘Air/izgubljeni prtljag/zračna luka/HR’ – 2 followers, ‘Izgubljeni prtljag/zračna luka/HR’ – 2 followers).

Except for the possibly hacked JOLIE account, all other fake Zagreb Airport Facebook pages were created between the 6th and 8th of September 2022, just like the fake lost luggage sales in New York, Denver, Copenhagen, Oslo, Frankfurt… While there are pages created on other dates too, this coincidence suggests a globally coordinated effort that didn’t just happen overnight but was carefully planned for years.

Some “Lost Luggage” pages created in this timeframe are still not used for the fraud, so we may interpret them as possible plan B’s, in case the other scammy pages get taken down.

Scams in every time zone, from Dublin to Doha

The scale of this fraud is impressive. Scammers have spread their wings over all continents except Antarctica. So if you’re not a penguin, you definitely have to watch out!

Before Zagreb, lost luggage scams hit European airports such as Dublin Airport in Ireland, Heathrow and Gatwick in London, UK, Malta International Airport, Larnaca Airport in Cyprus, Geneva Airport in Switzerland, Oslo Gardemoen Airport in Norway, Helsinki Airport in Finland, Vienna Schwechat Airport in Austria, and Václav Havel Airport in Prague, Czech Republic.

Over in America, the fraudsters focused on airports such as JFK in New York, Denver International Airport in Colorado, Chicago O’Hare International Airport in Illinois, Dallas Fort Worth Airport in Texas, and Toronto Airport in Canada.

When looking for opportunities to find easy money with lost luggage in Asia, scammers turned to Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar, King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, Bandaranaike International Airport in Sri Lanka, Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, the Philippines, Changi Airport and Singapore Airlines in Singapore, as well as Malaysia Airports.

Down under, in Oceania, the digital con artists have been tricking customers with impersonations of Sydney International Airport in Australia, as well as Auckland Airport and Air New Zealand in New Zealand.

Africa wasn’t spared either. The unclaimed baggage sale was falsely advertised at O.R. Tambo International Airport in Gauteng, South Africa, while for the supposed luggage raffle of South African Airways in Pretoria fraudsters produced even a series of videos.

Fraudsters can appear around any corner when traveling. Read about my experience on a local African bus!

Can you buy lost luggage?

If there are so many fake lost luggage sales, does it mean there are real ones too? Can you buy unclaimed luggage from the airlines? Are there secret stash auctions where you can snag yourself a mystery suitcase?

Even if they are the most common setting promoted through this fraud, airports do not typically hold lost luggage sales or auctions. Lost luggage is primarily handled by airlines who are the ones “signing the contract” with passengers to transport their belongings from place A to place B. If your bag decides to go on its own little adventure without you, it’s the airline whose responsibility is to reunite you with it.

But airlines also don’t typically engage in storing luggage that was not collected. They simply do not have capacities for that, nor it is their core business. They will do everything to get the lost luggage to a rightful owner as otherwise, they need to pay a high compensation.

Exceptionally, truly exceptionally, there could be a business selling the contents of lost bags, such as the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama. They buy up a small percentage of unclaimed baggage, sift through it, clean the valuables, and then resell them in their store.

Suitcase auctions are extremely rare. If they do happen, they will not just pop up on suspicious Facebook pages. They’ll be hosted by reputable sources, and advertised on official internet domains.

How to spot lost luggage scams?

Whenever you see an ad campaign that seems too good to be true, take a step back, and rethink about it. There are a variety of clues that will let you detect whether a certain opportunity is legit, or just a scam. These are the main methods to sniff out a Facebook fraud!

1. Investigate Facebook page transparency

Every Facebook page has a history, and you can easily check it out in the section called ‘Intro’ (if you’re on desktop), or ‘Details’ (on mobile phones).

Click next to the little ‘i’ (for information), and you should be able to learn when the Facebook page was created, when it changed its name, and sometimes even in which countries the people who manage the page are based.

2. Scroll, scroll, scroll

Don’t be fooled by the most recent posts on the Facebook page. Scroll down and you may discover that your airport was advocating for women’s shoes before.

Scammers are always looking for the easiest way to take your money. As they’re busy with finding the most gullible victims, they don’t necessarily take time to erase the history of the page contents.

Whether the page was hacked by someone or was used for another fraud before, the date when the page was created or the sudden unexplainable switch in content could give away that something is off. No real airports will overtake other Facebook pages.

3. Look for a blue verification badge

The blue tick next to the Facebook page name, also known as the verified badge, tells you that it represents a brand that has been confirmed by Facebook as authentic.

Sadly not all airports (the real Zagreb Airport included) go through a process of obtaining this Meta verification checkmark. But many notable airports, such as Heathrow or John F. Kennedy International Airport – JFK, will have the verification badge.

If you look for a certain page on Facebook, the search will show a variety of results, but those with the blue stamp of approval should be the ones you should trust as truthfully represented.

4. Dive into reviews

Besides just focusing on the posts published by the Facebook page, which is always controlled by the page admin, pay attention to the ‘Reviews’ tab. This is where you will find comments from other users.

Yes, this could also be flooded with feedback like “best deal ever!”, but it could also have comments possibly exposing the page as a scam. Put on your skeptic hat!

5. Be skeptical about users’ comments

Especially if they are overly glowing, be skeptical about the comments satisfied users leave under posts. On scammy pages, their role is to convince you to “join the club”, and not necessarily to give an honest opinion.

Click on their profiles, and check them too. If you don’t see the typical activity you would find on Facebook profiles of your real friends, if you don’t see a history of usual interactions, posts, pictures, etc., you should question the legitimacy of these “customers”. Were their profiles created yesterday? Do you trust these are real people?

Also, pay attention to when the positive comments were posted. You could discover that all were posted on the same date, at the same time, all at once. If that was weeks ago, and no new comments were left in the meantime, that is a red flag that everything is staged. Scammers may be removing newer comments of discontent users. A good product will always have a steady in-flow of comments, posted at different times, and not all at once.

Another thing you could sometimes notice is that on different posts, different people are leaving identical testimonies with identical photographs. I have found instances where, even under the same post, comments are repeated by different people, which just shows the level of attention scammers invest in these scams.

6. Watch out for linguistic and grammatical errors

Even if, in the age of AI, scams are becoming more and more sophisticated, scammers are rapacious and often too lazy to put a greater effort for a small gain.

Instead of the professional language you would expect in airports’ social media communication (typically large offices where many employees take care of their employer’s marketing), you might find amateurish content on scam pages.

If they are based in a foreign country, the scammers might have telling grammatical errors that no professional organization would tolerate.

You could possibly recognize bad grammar and language errors even in the faked positive comments of the page supporters.

On Zagreb Airport lost luggage scam webpage, for instance, out of four 5-star reviews, three were left with wrongly used gender (male customers speaking in female form, and females in male form).

7. Learn how to use reverse image search

Google, Bing, and other search engines are not just places to answer verbal queries. You can also use them to look for images.

If a Facebook page shares photographs to convince you of the authenticity of their service, you can easily check if the images appeared on the web before.

You can do that directly on the Facebook page by right-clicking on the image. Depending on the browser you’re using, you will find an option ‘Search image with Google’ (in Chrome) or ‘Search the web for image’ (in Edge), etc. This action will help you find the image source or at least other web pages that include the image. You may be surprised that the photograph of that Changi lost luggage scam in Singapore was actually shot somewhere in Germany.

Alternatively, you could also save the suspectable image on your computer, and then visit your usual search engine (Google, Bing, etc.). Instead of writing a textual query, use the ‘search by image’ or ‘search using an image’ icon (next to voice search), and drag-and-drop the image whose online history you want to learn about.

8. Use the whois domain lookup

Whenever clicks lead you to another webpage, don’t just trust the content and the logos trying to convince you that you are on the official page of an airport or any other organization.

Before sharing personal information, always double-check what is written in the URL or the address bar, as you might be redirected to another suspicious page. If it looks like a mishmash of random words, it’s probably a scam.

For instance, Zagreb Airport lost luggage scam’s unwitting victims were led to suspicious domains. They had the misleading word “fly” in it, but the specific path that followed the domain name clearly had webshop vocabulary that had nothing to do with the airport.

• products/abstract-face-flower-vase
• products/automatic-rolling-ball
• products/eufy-robovac-15c-max-robot-vacuum-cleaner-boostiq-wi-fi-super-thin-2000pa-suction-quiet-self-charging-robotic-vacuums-cleans-hard-floors-to-medium-pile-carpets

While this would be an easy tell for those paying enough attention, you could also just end up on a simple domain you know nothing about. If fly3aga3.quest or fly4bamb1.shop doesn’t already sound suspicious, you can google ‘whois domain lookup’ and use any of the whois services to check who are registered users of the domain. You might not be able to find out who they are if scammers hide behind some privacy protocol. However, official websites of airports will typically not hide the registrant’s name.

9. Stay skeptical

The offer of getting a loaded suitcase for just €2.95 is a fantastic deal, but try to approach it rationally.

If the airport is trying to save money because of the expenses related to storing lost luggage, would they really:

• Give away suitcases full of valuables for practically pocket change?
• Cover the costs of creating a special website and a special Facebook page?
• Organize a photo shoot of suitcases with yellow price displays for a sale that is entirely – online?
• Mention the charity or humanitarian background of the promotion without providing any detail as to where the collected money would go to?
• Offer free shipping for all these suitcases? Is there an economical sense in delivering the product to your doorstep at no charge? Is it viable that they send it for free all the way to Lenka Babičová in Slovakia?

The great suitcase swindle – call to action

If your personal data and credit card details have been already stolen, don’t just sit and wait until things get worse.

I talked to quite a few victims of Zagreb Airport lost luggage scam, and only a minority blocked the card immediately when they started losing money without consent.

To others who gave away their card details to scammers, I suggested they should contact the institution that issued their card (bank or credit card company), and prevent future issues.

Even if I explained that some people lost hundreds of euros, it wasn’t easy to convince everyone. “It’s only 2 euros, so nothing too scary”, one lady said. “But thanks for the warning!”

“I didn’t report it to anyone”, another man said. “It’s a foreign company, police can’t do anything, I’ll just share it on scam pages. I was thinking about going to the bank, as technically they could take everything away from that account. I will consider doing that next week.”

Next week?! Only Ana, who was patiently waiting for her purchased suitcase, recognized the urgency of the action: “Thanks for contacting me, I would’ve waited for a few days otherwise. I called the bank now and blocked the card. They won’t be able to take anything anymore. It’s a tiny amount to block the card, but I prefer not to worry. Better safe than sorry.”

What to do if you become a victim of the lost luggage scam?

So, what are the steps to stay safe(r) after falling for a lost luggage scam? Panic a little, and then do the following:

1. Call your card issuer

Grab your phone, and immediately call your bank, credit card company, or service you used for sending money. Explain the situation, and if you have used a credit card, you might even be able to block the transaction. The sooner your card issuer knows about it, the greater the likelihood of getting your money back.

2. Block that plastic

Ask the issuer to block your card so scammers or connected webshops cannot use its details for future purchases. Prevent them from going on a shopping spree!

3. Unsubscribe and threaten legal action

Hit ‘unsubscribe’ on those programs and their emails. Then, flex your legal muscles and throw around phrases like “breach of trust” and “legal ramifications”.

4. No more payments

Resist the urge to throw more money at the problem, even if they tell you there is a fee for unsubscribing. You might be even contacted by a supposed agency offering to return all your lost money for a fee. That’s also a scam.

5. Report the scam as spam

Mark those emails as spam.

6. Cut communication

Stop talking to scammers. Block them on every platform like you would with a bad Tinder date.

7. Bring out the big guns

Report the fraud to the police, and to a consumer agency in your country. In the United States, that’s the Federal Trade Commission. In Croatia, seek advice from the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development.

8. Leave a review

Leave a negative review on the scammy Facebook page. Let the world know about your misadventures in lost luggage land.

9. Report the Facebook page

Don’t just leave nasty comments; hit ‘report’ on that fraudulent Facebook page. Ask friends to join you in the reporting attack. Let Zuckerberg and Co. know they’ve got some cleaning up to do.

10. Try to expose them

Report abuse to PrivacyGuardian or other services used to hide the domain owners.

11. Share this article on social media

Help others not to fall for in the same digital dungeon of online frauds. By sharing this article on social media, you’ll contribute to public awareness of this global epidemic of airport scams.

Should victims sue Facebook?

Impersonating pages and fake social media accounts enabled an enormous harvesting of credit card details and personal data. Facebook, the same platform that polices your profile picture as soon as someone objects to it, or even threatens to delete your profile for daring to not use your real name, became the playground for the worldwide web of airport scams. They actively enabled the scam artists to peddle their phony lost luggage deals, as well as the false advertising it comes with. Facebook is directly profiting from these fraudulent offers targeting over-trusting users. Sure, Facebook throws a bone now and then by flagging certain content as false information “checked by independent fact-checkers”. But they don’t remove the posts and the photos and certainly don’t act as quickly as how scammers publish new ones. While sitting back and counting its billions, Meta truly didn’t do much to put an end to a flood of fake luggage sale pages. Opening an impersonating page is easier than ever.

Lost luggage scam – Conclusion

You might be tempted to think that falling for such an obvious internet hoax deserves a standing ovation for the tricksters rather than sympathy for the victims. But hindsight is 20/20; it’s easy to dismiss the fraud after it has happened. This digital shenanigan proved to be able to bamboozle everyone from electricians to business economics specialists.

Facebook users are left to fend for themselves when facing lost luggage scams

Besides people’s wallets, lost luggage scams also damaged the airport brands. However, not all of them approached the seriousness of the problem equally.

Geneva Airport called its followers to help report the fake page.

Sydney Airport pinned the post exposing the scam as a featured post (the first thing you see).

Zagreb Airport? Since their initial warning post on January 3, they’ve been mostly waiting for Facebook gods to remove one of the fake pages. Lost in their newsfeed, this call for caution cannot protect citizens against lost luggage scams which have been, in Croatian case, popping up like mushrooms after rain. I contacted Zagreb Airport for comment on March 13, but their PR team still didn’t find time to respond.

Facebook users are left to fend for themselves, relying on gut instinct and a healthy dose of skepticism when faced with unclaimed luggage sales.

“The victims must be numberless! They never saw it coming”, remarks Ana, whose weak spot was uncovered during a train commute.

Using the railway might sound better than getting stuck in Zagreb traffic jams. But trains in Croatia are extremely slow. They offer passengers too much pastime; time one could spend scrolling through Facebook.

“I don’t play lottery, or gamble. I’m not a risk taker at all!”, Ana insists. “But there, it was a misfortune, a colossal one. It had to be me who fell for it. I should have listened to the music, and not be on Facebook!”

Did you encounter these lost luggage scams on Facebook? What is your experience?
Leave a comment and pin this article for later!

The post The Lost Luggage Scam: Click, Register, Regret appeared first on Pipeaway.

Hi from Zagreb!

I don’t know how political you are, but a quarter of the world’s population will head to the polls in 2024. Croatia also has a super-election year; we should pick a new parliament/government, new members of the European Parliament, and a new President.

All of us will be hearing a lot of new promises. But the one offered by Tasmanian Premier these days especially caught my attention. Jeremy Rockliff promised his voters to build nothing less but the world’s largest chocolate fountain!

In the year that saw cocoa prices rocketing through the roof, the Tasmanian sweet devil pledged to invest $12 million in his chocolate dream. Hopefully, the PM’s channeling of Willy Wonka won’t resemble Willy’s Chocolate Experience in Glasgow, as we all know how that ended.

But enough politics, dive into this week’s selection of extraordinary stories, shots, and stats!

Find this in today’s newsletter:

• Words: Hide and seek.
• Images: From green to black.
• Numbers: Who has the biggest one?
• P.S.: Roam no more.

Have a fountaintastic week!

Ivan Kralj        
Pipeaway.com

Silly Side: Why did the travel book go to therapy? Because it had too many issues with directions! Don't lose your way to adventure; click through to your favorite newsletter stories!

 FEATURE SPOTLIGHT 

The Exorcist at 30,000 Feet – Just Buckle Up!

A week ago, LATAM flight 800 from Sydney to Auckland experienced a sudden mid-air drop, tossing passengers around like popcorn in a microwave. The result: broken ribs, limbs, and head traumas. Someone compared the chaotic scene to “The Exorcist” movie. At least 50 people received medical attention, and a dozen were transported to hospitals. It’s a stark reminder: don’t wait for turbulence warnings to buckle up. This article on a plane seat belt could save your life!

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 WORDS 

 

BOEING UNPLUGGED

It’s only March, but Boeing can already call it a rough year. Matador Network tried to list all the incidents so far, but just a day after they closed the article, another Boeing plane got into trouble. This time, United Flight 433 landed in Oregon without an external panel. After losing a door plug, a tire, and now a panel, what else could go missing? In other news, Boeing whistleblower John Barnett was found dead.

NO ROOM FOR CAMERAS

Airbnb updated its policy on surveillance, prohibiting the use of indoor security cameras. If your hosts still give you a creepy Big Brother vibe, learn how to spot hidden cameras!

ARMS ALARM

One man’s checked gun never made it to the final destination, and it seems it was stolen at Atlanta Airport. Of course, this could be the news only in the US of A, where TSA intercepted 6,542 firearms in 2023, the highest number ever. The USA Today recently interviewed me for their feature on how safety concerns keep travelers away from the “land of the free”, check it out!

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 IMAGES 

 

🍀

St. Patrick is more than just an Irish patron saint. From dyeing the Chicago River green to chasing leprechauns on street parades, St. Patrick’s Day is a global emerald extravaganza!

🛸

Remember those baffling monoliths that appeared out of thin air in 2020? From the desert in Utah to Romania and Turkey, mysterious objects were popping up like UFO sightings. Now, a local stone mason found another shiny metal prism atop Hay Bluff Hill in Wales.

🌒

Americans are over the moon for the upcoming eclipse event on April 8. But people have been in awe of this wonder for ages. Check out vintage photos of eclipse observers, and then watch the earliest film of the phenomenon, shot in 1900 by the magician Nevil Maskelyne. While you are readying your special blackout glasses, join this week’s #Top4Night X challenge.

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 NUMBERS 

 

105 m

The length of Europe’s longest infinity pool built on the rooftop of Petram Resort in Savudrija, Croatia. Reserve your stay here!

265 m

The height of the world’s tallest minaret erected next to Africa’s largest mosque, Djamaa El-Djazair in Algeria. Opened ahead of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, the mosque will be able to accommodate 120,000 people and a library with 1 million books.

2 km

The planned height of the world’s tallest skyscraper to be built in Riyadh. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the same guy financing the 170-kilometer-long The Line, wants the new architectural wonder to be taller than two Burj Khalifa towers atop each other.

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 PARTNER SPOTLIGHT 

 

Dial Down the Charges

Say goodbye to the days of selling your soul to roaming charges! With Airalo digital SIM cards, you can jet-set around the globe without your phone bill throwing you into debt. Join one million savvy travelers already using Airalo’s eSIMs, wherever you go! Plus, before the end of March, newbie users can enjoy a 15% discount with promo code MAR15, while existing users can still score a sweet 10% off with code MAR10. Get your digital SIM card today!

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First time reading? Sign up here.

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The post 🔒 Staying Safe, Building Big, and More in Pipeaway Newsletter #122 appeared first on Pipeaway.

 FEATURE SPOTLIGHT 

One Family’s Eco-Friendly Expedition Down Under

Ever felt the itch to head Down Under but cringed at the thought of sky-high emissions? Meet Shannon, Theo, and Rosa, the real-life nomads who ditched the plane for a wild, wingless ride to Australia! Join their four-month saga of buses, trains, and boats, as they try to prove you can reach Oz without flying over it! Read our exclusive interview with the British slow-travel family!

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 WORDS 

 

TRAVEL OSCARS

The World Travel Awards crowned Europe’s finest in Berlin. Greece is the leading destination, but Portuguese places such as Madeira, Braga, and Azores won in their respective categories. Lufthansa celebrated as an airline, Zurich as an airport, while for the hotels, and other winners in literally hundreds of categories, check out the official list. At Berlin’s ITB fair, PATWA also chose their winners, and the global destination of the year is – Brazil.

THE LIONESS QUEEN

International Women’s Day reminds us that we live in a very male-centric society. National Geographic just produced the first wildlife series led by women. Narrated by Angela Bassett, “Queens” celebrates the true queens of the jungle, fierce matriarchies, and female resilience. Available on Disney+ and Hulu.

THE COMMUTEMENT

More and more young people spend a crazy amount of time traveling to achieve their dreams. A New York student Vincent Campanaro commutes to Florida every weekend for his internship, while a Canadian student Tim Chen flies to Vancouver for classes twice a week as that’s cheaper than paying rent. Still, none of them compare to a German teenage programmer Lasse Stolley who practically lives on trains.

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 IMAGES 

🌈

Spring is tiptoeing in, ready to splash our world with hues aplenty. Whether you want to explore the vibrant European gardens or fly over Japan’s iconic cherry trees, get ready to paint your travels with nature’s palette! For the full spectrum explosion, head to X, and explore Top4Rainbows!

🦌

Move over, human influencers! Visit Finland has a new tourism ambassador – a reindeer called Vesku. You can follow the buck on Instagram, and even win summer trips to Lapland!

🛠️

How many airport workers does it take to fold a stroller? No joke, for real!

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 NUMBERS 

 

57 km2

The size of the world’s biggest airport set to open in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2030. More than a hundred times bigger than the world’s smallest country, King Salman International Airport plans to create 150,000 jobs, to serve 120 million passengers a year.

$1 billion

The compensation requested by three passengers suing Alaska Airlines for emotional trauma and PTSD caused by the blown-off door plug on their flight. Last week, a Boeing plane lost a crucial part of the aircraft again – this time, a tire!

0.80

The record-low plane accident rate in 2023 (1 accident on every 1.26 million flights). With only one fatal accident (turboprop), the fatality risk improved from 0.11 to 0.03. At this level of safety, a person would have to fly every day for 103,239 years to die in a plane crash.

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 PARTNER SPOTLIGHT 

 

Turn Your Travel Content into a Cash Cow

Travelpayouts is the ultimate affiliate platform for travel brands. If you have a website, a blog, or any kind of media channel (Social media? Yes!), you can earn commissions from promoting travel-related services! Instead of signing up for dozens of different accommodation, flight, tour, insurance, and other affiliate programs (and waiting for ages to reach payout thresholds for each), do it all in one place, and get richer quicker. Join Travelpayouts today!

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First time reading? Sign up here.

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The post 🎥 Oscars, Orchards, and More in Pipeaway Newsletter #121 appeared first on Pipeaway.