A woman used a third-party website to pay for an appointment to get TSA PreCheck, only to find out she didn’t need one.
Daria Dillard Stone spoke to WHIO-TV about what happened.
She said she was getting ready for a group trip to Myrtle Beach and decided to get TSA pre-check like the rest of her group.
She looked up TSA PreCheck to find out how to sign up, and she found the website govplus.com.
“They didn’t really tell me where to go, so I just go in and put in TSA PreCheck, and gov plus comes up,” Dillard Stone said.
GovPlus is a website that offers to manage your government applications and documents.
Dillard Stone filled out their online forms, paid $97, and had an appointment set.
When her appointment came, she went inside the Montgomery County Building, and they told her it would be $76.75 - the official TSA PreCheck charge.
“My heart dropped to my stomach,” Dillard Stone said.
WHIO-TV checked, and it turns out there is no charge for an appointment, and you don’t even need one to sign up for TSA PreCheck.
According to a statement from the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA), people applying for TSA PreCheck for the first time don’t have to pay the enrollment or application fee online.
They must complete the application and pay in person at a TSA enrollment center, and applicants will not be asked to provide payment information online.
According to the TSA, the legitimate online registration for TSA PreCheck begins at tsa.gov/precheck.
“Any website that claims to allow consumers to register for TSA PreCheck® that does not end in “.gov” is not an official TSA PreCheck® website,” the TSA said in a statement.
The GovPlus website makes it clear that they are not a government agency.
“I’m thinking, No, this is legit. Gov plus, and my daughters warn me all the time, Mama, you can’t just trust anything you you know, and I’m pretty savvy and you know, but I didn’t know,” Dillard Stone said.
They also are not accredited with the Better Business Bureau, though they do have a B rating.
In the last three years, there have been more than 400 complaints against them.
While each of the complaints is a little different, GovPlus has replied to just about all of them, issuing a refund to each unsatisfied customer.
When WHIO-TV reached out to GovPlus to learn more about what they offer customers, they received an email explaining how they prepare application documents and book appointments.
However, at the bottom of the email, it says the response was put together by artificial intelligence.
After following the prompts to talk to a real person, WHIO-TV has not heard back.
Dillard Stone’s frustrations made it back to GovPlus, and they issued her a full refund.
“I really just want people not to be taken advantage of and just to be aware,” Dillard Stone said.
Now, she has her PreCheck sorted out and is looking forward to her trip.
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