Christmas holidays are around the corner and individuals are looking forward to discounted tickets, cashback, and cheap accommodations. Airlines offer deductions for passengers to easily travel across different regions. Simultaneously, fraudsters see holidays as their golden tickets to earn extra money. For this, they either use bogus discounts, malicious social media offers, and fake accommodation ads.
The travel sector faces a severe backlash in terms of scams and customer drop-offs due to the high risks of scams during Christmas. Therefore, airlines need to integrate efficient online KYC verification solutions to restrict fraudsters’ access. Furthermore, with advanced IDV services in place, travel ticketing websites can stand out in a pool of malicious platforms.
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Emerging Travel Scams During Christmas Holidays
Scammers often use malicious websites to circulate bogus airline traveling discounts or offer free tickets to attract customers. They either use social media to run ads or use phony texts and phishing attacks to divert passengers. In both ways, fraudsters easily trick customers to enter their Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and bank account credentials.
During Christmas, many people plan big adventures, long-route travels, and vacations abroad. This is because travel companies offer special holiday packages and ticket discounts to facilitate more customers. However, con artists use them to conceal their malicious intentions and exploit passengers by stealing their personal and financial details. Therefore, airlines and other travel companies should integrate e KYC verification solutions to convey their legitimacy.
Integrating AI-powered online KYC verification services also helps travel companies onboard legitimate customers. As fraudsters create counterfeit identities, IDV solutions restrict their access. Moreover, scammers create real-looking websites to trap passengers but they are easily distinguishable as they lack efficient online KYC verification checks. Read on to know more about prevalent travel scams and their countermeasures.
Free Tickets are Mere Bogus Schemes
Passengers often easily fall prey to fabricated travel schemes whether they be free tickets or big discounts. The most common in this case, are airline scams where fraudsters create fake ads claiming to give free bookings as anniversary deals. Travel companies often offer bonus miles to their loyal and long-affiliated customers. However, they run online KYC verification and record their data to limit facilitating cybercriminals.
Fraudsters target social media platforms to advertise their bogus schemes, directly call customers, or create malicious websites. All of these ways largely contribute to travel scams, especially during Christmas when a variety of offers are surfacing in every sector. However, legitimate airlines do not provide free tickets and use digital KYC verification to add extra security against cyber criminals. This makes them different from malicious websites.
Ticket Giveaways and Extra Discounts
In the fortunate scenario travel ticket giveaways and discounts were designed by cybercriminals for driving more traffic to their malicious websites. However, this scheme has taken a worse form and driving customers to adverse effects. Cybercriminals gain access to customers’ data such as name, date of birth, addresses, bank account details, and credit/debit card information. They later use these credentials to create counterfeit identities and trick customers into travel ticket giveaway scams.
In order to attract more customers, generate likes, and obtain positive feedback, travel companies need to integrate online KYC verification solutions. These IDV services enable airlines to uphold their worth and provide customers with legitimate offers without compromising their personal details. KYC online verification makes travel companies more secure and customers can easily distinguish them from malicious websites.
Sham Travel Refunds
In 2021, customers have lost $6.9 billion to online scams and travel fraud is one of the most prominent in this cause. During Christmas, cybercrimes see a skyrocketing increase, especially in airlines. Fraudsters are cold-calling travelers by impersonating legitimate travel company representatives claiming to transfer refunds for canceled bookings. This way, they steal personal information and money from customers and put the integrity of the whole airline sector at stake.
Integrating online KYC verification solutions is the travel companies’ reliable bet in safeguarding their operations from scammers. Moreover, with advanced IDV checks, they can ensure either the ticket-purchasing customers hold a legitimate identity or are a mere imposter. While fraudsters ask for bank details to deposit refunds, financial institutions can counter malicious money transfer attempts by using KYC document verification. In return, the travel sector won’t face reputational and legal repercussions.
Conclusion
Travel agencies are the most exposed to scams during Christmas. While they strive to facilitate customers with more offers and ticket discounts, fraudsters see this as an opportunity to trap legitimate passengers. Therefore, travel companies require online KYC verification to uphold their authenticity and worth, while protecting customers from scammers. Advanced IDV services help identify bogus offers in real-time and enhance convenience for customers by driving them through a user-friendly KYC process.
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