Online Fraud Putting Travelers at Risk – Report, Marketing & Advertising News, ET BrandEquity

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Over the past few months, online travel bookings have seen a surge with the majority of travelers planning their trips in advance for summer trips and foreign countries. This eventually led to massive transactions on digital travel and tourism platforms. And it has also increased the risk of customers being duped into travel-related fraud online.

According to the mFilterIt report, a fraudulent attack began by obtaining credit card numbers and consumer credentials. Airline revenue could be decimated due to bonus or loyalty abuse and bookings made with stolen credit card information could lead to chargebacks.

It has been stated that frequent monitoring of credit card payments via SMS or email alerts as well as online banking, followed by the removal of paper trails of his credit card number and reporting immediate lost or stolen cards could all help prevent chargeback fraud.

The report pointed out that most outrageous scams are carried out by fake travel websites. Travelers around the world have been defrauded by websites selling counterfeit airline tickets, fake hotel rooms, bogus vacation packages and vehicle rentals. This was in addition to booking multiple hotels with the same booking ID which most seniors never bothered to check.

Popular apps have been cloned to commit fraud. According to the report, the cloned apps have been placed in third-party play stores which are almost identical in look, logo and functionality to the original app. Users often got confused with the cloned app and downloaded it. The app’s malware took control of the device, compromising device security and account takeovers.

To avoid this, reservations had to be made directly on the official website of the hotel, airline or car rental company. The URL should start with “HTTPS”. If one was unsure that it was a legitimate website, double checking by making a phone call might suffice.

In the airline and hospitality industry, “account takeovers” (ATOs) occurred when a scammer gained access to a person’s or travel agent’s account information through phishing . Then he posed as a legitimate customer or travel agent to conduct illegal transactions. Practices such as using a 3-D secure online pin, simple two-factor authentication could help prevent “authorization to operate” (ATO). When authorized employees log into the travel agency’s booking platform, they receive a verification request on their mobile phone, preventing unauthorized access to the system.

The “Bait and Switch Airline Deals” scam, one of the most common among offshore internet travel services, operates in part through search engines or contextual advertisements that claim to save you a lot on a trip. When visitors visited the website, they saw lower costs than major online travel agencies. They often forgot to disclose the wide range of fees. The easiest way to spot a bait and switch offer was to ask if the offer sounded too good to be true.

An attempted breach can target any travel organization that processes significant amounts of customer data. This can damage the company’s reputation and expose it to legal action. Bot attacks on travel sites are becoming more advanced and widespread, with the aim of gaining access to sensitive customer data or giving an advantage to fraudulent competitors.

Customers should be aware of payment card industry data security standards and properly dispose of digital data. Additionally, they needed to increase awareness of data security practices, such as strong password protocols.

Online fraud has become a serious risk for travelers with the growth of digital commerce in all countries. Travel companies had to continuously monitor and evaluate any misrepresentation or misrepresentation on the brand’s behalf, which also posed a risk to the brand’s image among its customer base across all platforms.

Amit Relan, director and co-founder of mFilterIt, said: “Travel is back on the cards for a large population, but at the same time the travel and tourism industry has seen the biggest leap in a year on year (YoY) in these travel frauds. cases in the past year. According to some reports, credit card fraud is the most common form of fraud these days, in which a customer uses a fake or stolen credit card to complete a transaction, resulting in a chargeback on the site. Customers should be aware of these growing fraudulent activities in the travel industry and keep their distance when planning their future trips, also reporting these fraudulent sites to the relevant authorities.

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