Security experts have revealed the most common holiday booking scams and have shared guidance on how to spot them.
Going on holiday is an exciting time, especially when looking through your booking options, but a warning has been issued to travellers as scammers have been known to set up fake booking sites.
This could leave you out of pocket with no holiday - or no accommodation when you arrive to your holiday destination - and may even compromise your bank details.
From cheap places to stay to reasonably priced flights, scammers pretend to offer excited holiday makers exactly what they are looking for, reports the Mirror.
But sometimes, if it looks too good to be true that's because it is. Even still, many Brits get caught out by holiday booking scams every year.
According to researchers at cyber-security firm Kaspersky, the UK has ranked 3rd highest across Europe on both booking and airline scams.
In March alone, Kaspersky researchers found a total of 1,504 phishing pages distributed under the guise of booking and rental services in the UK. Some of the most common holiday-themed techniques used by scammers during 2022 were:
Fake ticket aggregators
Most trips start with a plane or train ticket, and travel enthusiasts are often interested in getting their hands on a bargain.
Fake websites claim to offer users the chance to buy airplane tickets at cheaper costs, but are in fact well-made fake phishing pages designed to mimic famous airline services and air ticket aggregators.
Some of these websites even display the details of real flights, with experienced phishers sending search requests to flight aggregators and displaying the information received from them.
Instead of delivering on promised flight tickets they keep your money and could use your personal information for malicious purposes.
Fake lotteries for discounted tickets
Another way scammers lure people in is via fake pages which offer airplane ticket draws, lotteries and gift cards.
Users are offered the opportunity to take a small survey and enter their personal details in exchange for a generous discount on a flight ticket.
As with many other offers that seem to be too good to be true, such websites end up being phishing sites, collecting victims’ personal information and card details.
On top of this, the survey usually ends with a request to distribute the site among friends to receive the prize. In such cases, cybercriminals are using the victims themselves as a tool for spreading the scam further, as a link sent by people you know seems more trustworthy than one received from a stranger.
If the user then follows the link and tries to get their prize, they often find they need to pay a commission or fee first. After this money is paid, the cybercriminals disappear – without rewarding the user.
Fake rentals
One example found by Kaspersky researchers included the offer of a luxury two-bedroom apartment close to the centre of a European capital for just €500 a month.
Another seemingly appealing offer was for the rental of an entire four-bedroom house with a pool and fireplace for only €1,000 for the whole month.
The reviews describe an amazing vacation and hospitable hosts - details designed to tempt users to pay for their month-long stay, but in reality they end up sending their money to fraudsters.
How to keep yourself safe
- Carefully looking at the address bar before entering any sensitive information, such as your login details and password. If something is wrong with the URL (i.e. spelling, it doesn’t look like the original or it uses some special symbols instead of letters) don’t enter anything on the site. If in doubt, check the certificate of the site by clicking on the lock icon to the left of the URL.
- Only booking your stay and tickets through the trusted websites of trusted providers. Ideally, type the address of their website manually in the address bar.
- Not clicking on links that come from unknown sources (either through e-mails, messaging apps or social networks).
- Visiting the business’ official website if you see a giveaway offered in e-mail or on social media by a travel company or an airline to confirm the giveaway exists. You should also carefully check the links the giveaway ad leads you to.
- Using a good security solution that can protect you from spam emails and phishing attacks. We recommend Kaspersky Security Cloud.
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