Thomas Cook, the travel agent, will pay a £150,000 fine after banking details of more than a million holidaymakers were stolen from one of its subsidiary companies by a computer hacker. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) imposed the fine on Essential Travel Ltd after what it described as a “staggering lapse” in security. Link to […]
Month: July 2014
Six charged over StubHub e-ticket heist
Six suspected cybercriminals have been indicted over their alleged involvement in a hack attack on eBay-owned ticketing website StubHub. Thieves got into more than 1,600 of StubHub customers’ accounts and used their credit card details to fraudulently buy tickets for events through the online ticket reseller. The scam – reckoned to have cost the eBay […]
Police arrest suspects in StubHub fraud
Cybercrime ring in US, UK, Russia and Canada hacked into accounts held by more than 1,600 of the eBay site’s users. An international crime ring that hacked into accounts held by users of a ticket website to stage a $1m fraud has been dismantled in a transatlantic crackdown involving British and Canadian police. More than […]
3 in 10 Consumers Don’t Trust Retailers
China and India have highest rates of prepaid card fraud, 17 percent and 18 percent, respectively, according to latest global consumer fraud study from ACI Worldwide and Aite. A global fraud study of more than 6,100 consumers across 20 countries revealed distrust among global consumers in retailers to protect their data. Link to article
Holiday villa fraud
The summer break has only just begun and I’ve already had my first case of holiday villa fraud. It’s a horribly simple scam that involves criminals taking payment for holiday properties they don’t own. All they do is cut and paste the details of rental flats and cottages from one online listings site and put […]
Travel firms face impact of Visa chargeback fee
Visa is poised to impose a €12 (£10) charge on credit card acquirers for some chargebacks associated with fraudulent transactions. The card-payment processing firm plans to bring in the fee on October 1 for certain transactions in Europe, including a range of ‘cardholder not present’ (CNP) payments. Link to article
Travel firms hit by 070 call centre scam
Travel firms have been warned to not call back any clients on premium line 070 numbers after a number of firms were targeted by fraudsters. Travel industry anti-fraud group PROFiT has highlighted the scam in its latest alert. It is believed around six firms have reported falling victim to the scam. Link to article
Scam email from companies house
From: Companieshouse.gov.uk [mailto:web-filing@companies-house.gov.uk] Sent: 15 July 2014 08:32 To: Subject: FW: Case – 7569901 A company complaint was submitted to Companies House website. The submission number is 7569901 For more details please click : https://companieshouse.gov.uk/Case?=7569901# Please quote this number in any communications with Companies House. All Web Filed documents are available to view / download […]
Hotels urged to tighten business center PC security
The US Secret Service and the Homeland Security’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) agency are urging the hospitality industry to improve security of hotel business center PCs following the arrest of a group of ‘keyloggers.’ NCIC officials said a Dallas based gang used stolen credit cards to check-in as guests of hotels and […]
Rocketing value of fraud reflects growing problem
The value of fraudulent bookings has shot up over the past year, according to travel sector anti-fraud body PROFiT. The latest annual study of data from PROFiT’s FIN anti-fraud system found the value of flight-only fraud had more than doubled from an average of £729 per booking to £1,561. Link to article
Iata expects conclusion to talks with AirFastTickets
Iata says it hopes to have concluded negotiations with online air ticket retailer AirFastTickets early next week over the €45 million it says it owes in payments. The airline association placed the US-based firm, which originated in Greece, into default in the UK on June 18 due to a monthly deadline being missed to pay […]
Illegal sale of World Cup tickets
Brazilian police have arrested the chief executive of a Fifa partner company as part of investigations into the illegal sale of World Cup tickets. Ray Whelan from Match Hospitality was held at the Rio de Janeiro hotel where officials from the world’s football governing body were also staying. He was freed after questioning. Match Hospitality […]
Conman faces jail over £26k flight ticket deception
A conman who duped customers of his Birmingham based travel agency into buying non-existent flight tickets in a £26,000 scam is facing a long jail sentence. Victims of the fraud were left panicked and stressed when the promised tickets failed to arrive with planned holidays going “up in smoke.” A jury at Birmingham Crown Court […]
Campaign aims to protect Hajjis from fraudsters
Those booking trips to Mecca this October to celebrate Hajj are being warned about the threat of fraudsters trying to con them with bogus travel packages. City of London Police has launched a national campaign targeted at keeping people out of the clutches of fraudsters as they search for the best deals to take them […]
Don’t fall victim to travel scams this Hajj
London Muslims booking trips to Mecca to celebrate Hajj are being advised to be on the look-out for bogus travel packages. City of London Police have launched a campaign to stop illegal travel operators scamming would-be pilgrims after 200 people fell victim last year. Every year up to 25,000 British Muslims make the journey to […]
Hoax Jetstar Account Catches 20,000
A fake Jetstar Airways Facebook page offering giveaway tickets to Fiji has fooled nearly 20,000 unsuspecting Aussies. “Great news, we’re giving away 5 tickets each to 40 people for a 2 week trip to Fiji in a 5 star hotel with $4,500 spending money,” announced the lone post from the fake account. Despite looking suspiciously […]
Vishing fraud nets £21 million in first 5 months of 2014
In the first five months of this year, some of the UK’s main high street banks have reported losses of over £21 million from vishing attacks, wherein consumers are tricked into handing over personal financial information. The fresh data equates to over 2000 vishing attacks resulting in an average loss of over £10,000 per victim. […]
Firms could face fines for failing to prevent fraud
Companies could face multi-million pound fines over corporate financial crimes committed by rogue workers if they do not take steps to stop fraud and other swindles. Ministers are considering bringing in a new offence of “failure to prevent financial crime”. Solicitor General Oliver Heald QC has said he sees such a shake-up of corporate criminal […]
UK Worst in Europe for Card Fraud
ACI Worldwide study finds 28% of British consumers were affected over the past five years. Over a quarter of Brits have experienced card fraud in the past five years, making the UK the worst offender in Europe, while the US sits fourth globally with over 40% of consumers affected, according to a study by payments […]