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There's been a significant increase in scams around travel, with thousands of websites now impersonating real airlines, hotel chains and other travel related websites. These fakes are getting so good, it's hard to figure out what's real and what's not. I chat with an expert who spots these fake travel sites and share his advice on how to avoid being victimized.
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You are set for vacation. You are packed
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and ready to go. But you're not going
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anywhere because the trip you booked,
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you booked through a scammer.
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What we're seeing around this time is a
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significant increase in uh scams around
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uh travel. So, um, websites
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impersonating airlines, hotel chains, or
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other travel related websites. And it's
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not just one or two scattered sites on
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the internet. A cyber security company
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called Brand Shield has tracked
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thousands of suspicious sites targeting
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major travel brands. In the last year,
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it found over 11,000 fake Delta Airlines
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online domains. more than 1,900 fake
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Hilton Hotel domain registrations and
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over 2300 phony Southwest Airline domain
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registrations. Usually what you'll see
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is that they'll have this special offer
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or something that is limited in time and
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they'll try to pressure you to take
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action very quickly. The phony ads can
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look pretty darn good. This fake Expedia
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ad was found on Facebook. Other fake
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sites like this phony Delta ad or fake
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American Airlines website have the wrong
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URL address. They're hoping that you
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don't notice it's not the real corporate
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address. That's another common scammer
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trick. How does the average consumer
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figure out that they're looking at like
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a fake website, an imitation or an
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impostor website.
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Before you buy, go to the actual main
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website of that company. Verify that it
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is. You know, you can search in a few
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places on search engines and so on.
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verify that it is the real website and
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try to find the same special offer. It's
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going to be there. If it's not there,
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it's a scam.
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Travel scams can sometimes come at you
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indirectly in the form of unsolicited
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texts or emails.
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If someone sends you these links through
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text messages or uh instant messaging
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like uh WhatsApp or Messenger, be very
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careful. There's a good chance it's a
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scam. So don't don't rely even if you
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see on the social media a friend posting
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something.
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And scammers are now using artificial
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intelligence to make the fraud look more
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convincing.
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You might see images of places that do
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not exist of uh apartments that are not
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there or hotels that are not there.
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If you have been the victim of a travel
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scam, act quickly. Protect yourself.
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Contact your bank. Report the fraudulent
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charges. Contact your credit card
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company and see if they will stop those
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payments. In addition, because many of
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these scams originate overseas, contact
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the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint
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Center. That's ic3.com. Because they
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have the resources to track these people
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internationally working for you. I'm the
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consumer guy, CeRasia.
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