Shock at the dock: Brazil visa rule leaves nearly 100 cruise passengers denied boarding
Attention travelers: If your cruise ship is docking in Brazil, get a tourist visa or get denied boarding.
CONSUMER ADVOCACY
The Consumer Rescue advocacy team resolves problems between consumers and the businesses that they patronize. We do this via direct mediation with companies — always free of charge.
These articles are the highlighted tales of our efforts to defend, protect, and educate consumers. Michelle Couch-Friedman is a consumer advocate, reporter and ombudsman columnist. She is also the founder of Consumer Rescue.
I fell for a Facebook ad scam. How do I get my money back?
People either love Facebook or hate it. An increasing number of former users are leaning toward the latter and pressing the eject button. In their place, though, swarms of scammers have moved in. The bad actors create “helpful” Facebook groups, lurk in Direct Messenger, advertise non-existent products, and stalk the Marketplace for victims. Their only intention is to con as many legitimate Facebook users as possible before being detected — and banned.
4 easily avoidable travel mistakes that ruin trips and cost thousands
Every week, travelers come to me after losing thousands of dollars on trips that should have been simple. They’re all hoping to find out how to get their money back and who is responsible for their losses. But for some, the answers to those questions are not what they expected.
These are the biggest travel mistakes I’m seeing in 2026 — and how to avoid them.
She went to Facebook for a Norse Atlantic refund. Instead, scammers stole $5,100 from her
Norse Atlantic Airways customer Joanne Reston joined the airline’s official Facebook group to complain about a missing refund. At least that’s what she thought she was doing. As it turns out that Facebook group had no affiliation with the airline. In fact, it was just a trap set by scammers pretending to be helpful Norse agents.
What happened to Reiss after joining that Facebook group can only be described as a whirlwind of one scam after another.
Help! Celebrity Cruises denied boarding to us. Whose mistake was this?
Loyal Celebrity Cruises passenger Cherie Johnson booked a transatlantic cruise from Europe to South America a year in advance. She and her husband were greatly looking forward to celebrating her 75th birthday during the 3-week voyage. But when the day came to set sail on Celebrity Equinox last November, they were shockingly denied boarding the ship.
United Airlines didn’t scan his boarding pass. Will it cost him $2,743?
While boarding a recent United Airlines flight to Mexico, Fred Glatz accidentally handed over his wife’s boarding pass. He says the agent pointed out the mistake but waved him onto the plane without asking for his own pass. As the couple settled into their seats, they had no idea that the unusual oversight would cost them $2,743.
Help! After my rental car crash, Hertz charged me a $1,900 impound fee
PhD student, Rayhan Rashed, doesn’t have a personal vehicle and he doesn’t have car insurance. So when he recently rented a car for the first time, he wisely purchased Hertz’s Loss Damage Waiver (LDW). As it turns out, he would definitely need it.
He crashed that car on a twisty California road less than 24 hours later, totaling it.
Cruise ship passengers tricked out of $6,000 by fake Costco Travel
On Black Friday, Shane McCormick called Costco Travel to book four cabins on a Royal Caribbean cruise to Alaska. At least that’s what he thought he was doing. In reality, he dialed the wrong number and instead of Costco Travel he reached a scam call center.
Of course, the man on the other end of the line didn’t alert McCormick of his error. In fact, the call was exactly what the fake Costco Travel agent had been waiting for all day. The bad actor was more than happy to collect $6,000 from his unaware target.
What do airlines really do with all that lost and unclaimed baggage?
If an airline misplaces your luggage and cannot find it within a reasonable time, the carrier must pay for your loss. If you accept the compensation, that ends the airline’s liability to you, and your belongings are considered permanently gone. But could your missing property eventually reappear on display at Unclaimed Baggage, a resale shop in rural Alabama?
Unclaimed Baggage is an unusual place where all sorts of lost items get a new lease on life.
Here’s what I learned about America’s only retail store that buys, restores and then sells travelers’ orphaned stuff.
Help! A scammer drained $1,010 from my PayPal account
Just before the holidays, Jill Eberhardt says scammers hit her PayPal account with a $1,010 unauthorized transaction. Although her bank, Chase, immediately identified the unusual “purchase” from Maple & Mist Café as fraudulent, PayPal disagreed. It determined she had authorized the transaction — and PayPal’s opinion was the only one that mattered.
Eberhardt’s money was gone.
