The Police have warned of cold calls being made to Bermuda residents offering free or discounted vacations subject to a $598 credit-card booking fee.

Det. Sgt. David Geraghty of the Fraud Unit said he's received at least ten complaints over the last week about calls appearing to come from a Florida-based travel company called RTI.

"RTI's mode of operation is identical to numerous other scams that have originated out of Florida over the years. This is enough for me to suspect that it's likely this is a scam," he warned.

"My experience from similar scams is that either it will be practically impossible for them to take the trip or by the time they pay for supposed upgrades or extras they're paying above and beyond the price of the trip."

Although he has not heard from anyone who's actually lost money, he warned that customers may do so if they try to pull out of the transaction after the 30-day statutory period under Florida law has expired.

"A search on the Internet reveals that RTI has been making these calls to many people around the world for many months. Whilst the Bermuda Police Service cannot comment directly on the legitimacy of RTI, we remind people to always be wary of receiving calls from unknown persons especially when the caller cannot reveal from where they got their contact information," he said.

"Also, be cautious not to divulge credit card details to persons whose identity cannot be properly established. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

His warning came as local travel agencies C Travel and Meyer Franklin travel reported this week that similar calls have come from people claiming to represent their companies.

Chief Executive of C-Travel Carl Paiva told The Royal Gazette at least three of his staff have had calls from customers saying they've been told they won a cruise through the travel agency.

On Wednesday night, a 90-year-old woman gave her credit card number out for a $500 transaction as a result.

"I spoke with her daughter who said that she was able to stop the transaction but wanted to warn people that this is happening. I don't think the calls are local as we have had e-mails in the past from reported 'corporate accounts', asking us to come onboard but were found out to be fake," said Mr. Paiva.

"I would like to inform the public that C-Travel is not offering free cruises and to be aware of scams. Do not give anyone your credit card number over the phone."

An e-mail advisory from Cheryl Hayward-Chew, president of Meyer-Franklin Travel this week said: "We are receiving numerous reports of Bermuda residents receiving calls after normal business hours from individuals identifying themselves as a travel agency employee, claiming that the Bermuda resident has won some sort of travel prize and asking for their credit card number in order to receive the prize.

"Some have even claimed to be employees of local travel agencies. Please keep in mind that it is not normal business practice to request credit card information in order to claim a prize and certainly is not a practice of Meyer-Franklin Travel."

Det. Sgt. Geraghty said while he is aware of callers claiming to be from RTI, he is not aware of any calls claiming to represent C-Travel or Meyer-Franklin. However, he reiterated that people should beware of giving out their credit card details to cold callers in general.