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For the past few day I am receiving emails in my gmail account from a travel company based in Belgium, SEE-EU asking for a payment of around 1000 euros for a trip to Switzerland. Initially I did not pay much attention as I thought they are spam e-mails. But yesterday I received this e-mail.

We would like to inform you that despite our last two reminders to make the payment for this booking order, you are not reacting or answering. We will shortly send you a reminder by SMS and if we do not hear anything from you still, we shall forward the file to our legal representative to start the legal proceedings for the recovery of the amount + 8% interest + costs levied due to these proceedings. As per the Belgian laws and as mentioned in our terms and conditions on the bookings page (see below link), we are obliged to warn the clients 3 times in writing and then we can start charging 8% interest from the day of third warning and start the proceedings of recovery. Thank you for your kind notice of this and any response to our messages.

The problem is that I never booked any such trip from their website. The website never asked to activate my e-mail or my consent before finalizing the booking. They just sent an email notifying me that my trip has been booked, which as I earlier said I ignored.

Now, my question : 1. I travel quite a lot including EU and Belgium and I am little worried. Am I liable to pay them the money? 2. Is it even legal to threat me for such payment? At what point, does it become cyber harassment? It is quite possible that someone mistyped his/her e-mail to mine. If no, is there someplace where I can report them?

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    If you did not make the booking, it is possible that someone has used your email address to do so, either by accident or deliberately, or that the booking itself is fake and you're being spammed. Either way, report the harassment to police authorities in your own jurisdiction and if you believe the company to be legitimate, in the Belgian jurisdiction as well.
    – user4657
    Sep 13, 2017 at 22:54
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    Have you actually tried responding to them to tell them you did not book the trip and that they have the wrong person? But this does look very scamish. They have no legal basis to demand payment for a service that has never been delivered (I can't imagine any travel agency actually allowing someone to travel and then pay later). A normal company would just cancel the trip if payment was never received, not start charging interest.
    – animuson ♦
    Sep 14, 2017 at 2:39

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This is likely a simple case of someone giving them your email address by mistake, instead of their own. In any case, if you didn't make the booking you owe them nothing.

You should respond to the email, stating that you didn't make the booking and that you believe they have a case of mistaken identity. Suggest that they send the SMS message, as it is likely to go to the correct person.

There is little you can do about people making typos. If you could somehow discover their identity you might be able to seek compensation, but the amount would probably be low considering the amount of hassle it has created for you (not much).

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    Is it possible it is a scam?
    – Rui F Ribeiro
    Sep 15, 2017 at 19:45
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    @RuiFRibeiro If it is a scam, you are still not liable for payment of anything for which they cannot PROVE you agreed. Ask them for proof.
    – Upnorth
    Sep 21, 2017 at 17:51

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