A Chicago-based travel agent has been convicted of seven counts of fraud for scams involving clients who paid for—but did not receive—air bookings to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois last month convicted Rashid Minhas with help from the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC) fraud prevention team whose […]
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Appeal by Goldtrail defendant dismissed
The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by Turkish carrier Onur Air against a judgment which found it liable for a £3.64 million compensation claim by Goldtrail Travel liquidator PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). PwC brought a double claim following a three-year investigation in 2014. At that time former XL Leisure boss Phil Wyatt, his business associates […]
UK phishing scams rise by 20 percent in 12 months
New figures released by Action Fraud suggest that phishing scams in the UK have grown by 21 percent over the past 12 months. Action Fraud, which works closely with City of London Police and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, said that the number of reported phishing scams between November 2014 and October 2015 totalled 95,556. […]
Rise in reports of bogus travel websites
A high number of bogus travel websites have emerged since before Christmas, the industry’s anti-fraud body warns. They are either direct facsimiles of genuine websites or sites that use confusingly similar names and domain names as genuine companies. Prevention of Fraud in Travel (PROFiT) is urging all companies to be vigilant and regularly check their […]
Hyatt names hotels hit by malware
The Hyatt hotel chain has posted a global list of hotels hit by malware that was found on its customer payments system last year. The list includes Hyatt premises in Canada, the US, the UK, Jordan, Chile and Indonesia and involves almost half of its properties. The firm is offering one year’s free protection to […]
Airline Scams That People Actually Fall For
Sometimes the most expensive part of planning a vacation is booking your airline ticket. And I can imagine nothing worse then preparing for your trip, only to realize that your ticket isn’t real. Here are three common airline scams, and how to avoid them. Link to article
Booking scams: Helping guests helps hoteliers
With 15 million deceptive bookings last year, hoteliers must educate and assist guests who were victimized by booking scams. Although online booking scams are a problem that should be resolved by the hotel industry as a whole, they also can cause headaches for individual front-desk employees at properties. According to research from the American Hotel […]
Criminals hack into wi-fi hotspots to get bank details
Criminals are hacking into public and commercial wi-fi hotspots to steal people’s private data and credit card details, police warned today. Detectives say victims of the attacks are often not aware of how cyber-hackers gained access to their bank accounts, and warn that the attacks are hugely under-reported. Only 33 people have said they have […]
Aviva puts brakes on party bus whiplash claim
Insurer lashes out at ‘outrageous scale’ of fraud as it revealed successful fight against 46 claimants whose party bus collided with a Ford Fiesta. When a Ford Fiesta collided with a double-decker party bus packed with revellers on a roundabout in Crewe it could have been a very nasty accident. Luckily the Fiesta was travelling […]
Scams that can turn your holiday into a nightmare
Booking a holiday can sometimes be as exciting as the trip itself. Sadly, fraudsters take advantage of judgement being clouded by the thrill of buying tickets for that dream destination with fake websites and tickets and even fraudulent resort presentations. Here, MailOnline takes a look at some of the warnings signs to watch out for, […]
The ‘bogus boss’ email scam costing firms millions
You return from a trip to find that hundreds of thousands of dollars has been transferred out of company accounts – apparently at your instruction. But you have no idea what your accountant is talking about – you didn’t give any instructions. This is what happened to Carole Gratzmuller, boss of a medium-sized French company […]
Iata deploys high-tech fraud prevention solution
Action to crack down on payment fraud in the air travel industry is being stepped up by Iata by including agents in a high-tech prevention method. Payment fraud costs the industry an estimated $858 million a year, with $639 million borne by airlines and the remainder by other participants in the travel value chain, including […]
The rise of social engineering fraud
Most of us like to think we’re too clever to be caught out by email and telephone scams, but in fact any of us can get caught out by fraudsters. Their tricks have gone far beyond the infamous fax from a “Nigerian prince” you’ve never heard of asking you for money. Now frauds are increasingly […]
Holiday spike in fake emails from banks
Consumers are being warned of a seasonal spike in “phishing” emails purporting to be from HSBC, NatWest and other major banks. Fraud experts say conmen are taking advantage of consumers’ higher-than-usual spending over the holiday period to trick them into thinking there is a problem with their account. The emails – which typically warn customers […]
Fraudulent travel company websites
ABTA warns public about dangers of fraudulent travel company websites. ABTA, the Travel Association, is reminding consumers about the risks of booking their flights and holidays on fake websites, after seeing an increase in the number of customer enquiries reporting fraudulent travel company websites. The Association is particularly concerned that in the run up to […]
Fraud warning – complaints against travel firms rise
Abta has sent out a warning over the dangers of booking with fraudulent travel companies, as the peak booking season gets underway. In a release, the association said it wanted to remind consumers about the “risks of booking their flights and holidays on fake websites. It comes after Abta said it had seen an increase […]
Hajj pilgrims conned out of £34k
A fraudster who advertised on television, conned pilgrims out of thousands of pounds for non-existent Hajj trips, a court heard. A jury at Bolton Crown Court was told how Mudassair Shaheen set up Karwan al Madina Travel in 2013 and placed adverts for flight packages to Mecca on the Sky broadcast Ummah Channel. Several people […]
Are these messages from banks or fraudsters?
Fraudsters are getting more sophisticated – our quiz shows how easy it is to get caught out. Fraud emails used to be far easier to spot, often containing spelling mistakes and gramatical errors. You knew that the Nigerian prince or oil merchant millionaire was never going to leave you their life savings and lots of […]
Fighting fraud this shopping season
With the continuing growth in online shopping a less glamorous side of this trend is the increase in online fraud. As we head into the major shopping season of the year, expectations are that this year will be no exception. Globally online retail fraud now accounts for over one per cent of all online sales, […]
Criminals target high-end items on Cyber Monday
Fraud prevention experts say e-retailers need to be vigilant this holiday shopping season to prevent fraud. Cyber criminals are likely going to be setting their sights on such higher-end items as Rolex watches and MacBook Air computers on the Monday after Thanksgiving, commonly known as Cyber Monday, as well as digital gift cards. That’s according […]