With the international vacation season in full swing, people around the world are searching for enticing travel destinations, affordable accommodations, and reasonably priced flights. Kaspersky researchers have observed fraudsters taking advantage of unsuspecting users by offering cheap airline tickets, booking deals, and vacation packages.
To help travellers avoid vacation season scams, the company’s researchers have outlined common fraud schemes used to entice victims, along with valuable advice on planning a scam-free vacation.
Ticket Scams
It has been discovered that numerous fraudulent websites claim to offer cheap airplane tickets. These well-crafted phishing pages often mimic well-known airline services and ticket aggregators. Some even display real flight details by sending search requests to legitimate aggregators and presenting the received information.
However, instead of delivering the promised tickets, these scams aim to steal your money and exploit your personal information for malicious purposes. This may include selling your bank details and identifying information on the dark web.
Accommodation Scams
The second important step of trip planning is finding accommodation, which makes it a popular lure for fraudsters to exploit.
One common accommodation scam involves fake online listings for vacation rentals or apartments. Scammers create attractive listings on popular platforms, displaying appealing photos and offering low prices to entice travellers.
However, once the customer makes a booking and sends payment, they discover that the accommodation does not exist.
Another type of accommodation scam targets hotel bookings. Fraudsters may set up fake websites that mimic legitimate hotel booking platforms.
These websites often prompt users to log in using their Facebook or Google credentials, which enables scammers to gain unauthorized access to the victims’ social media or email accounts. This can lead to identity theft, unauthorized transactions, and other malicious activities.
Survey and Giveaway Scams
Scammers create deceptive websites or send emails claiming that participants can earn a substantial reward, such as USD100, by completing a travel survey. These scams often prey on people’s desire for financial gain and their willingness to share their opinions.
However, under the guise of eligibility requirements or prize distribution, these surveys are designed to collect personal information, including name, address, phone number, and even financial details.
In reality, fraudsters never deliver the promised reward, and they use the provided information for fraudulent purposes, such as identity theft or unauthorized access to financial accounts.
On top of this, the survey usually ends with a request to share the site with friends so that they can also receive a prize. In such cases, cybercriminals are using the victims themselves as a tool for spreading the scam further.
