Travel anti-fraud group offers firms free protection from malicious emails Anti-fraud in travel group Prevention of Fraud in Travel (PROfiT) has launched a new free Domain Main Service tool for firms. Quad9 filters emails to prevent spam from known malicious IP addressed from entering users mailbox’s. PROFiT estimates that 40% of all spam contains malware […]
Category: Fraud Prevention News
Homeworker found guilty of defrauding Advantage
A homeworker who defrauded Advantage Travel Partnership of tens of thousands of pounds has been handed a suspended jail sentence. Rita Hunter, who ran Hunters Travel in Liverpool, was ordered to pay back £33,000 to the consortium. Hunter admitted using former customers’ credit and debit cards to pay for new bookings through the consortium, while […]
Cooperation in combatting on-line travel fraud
The On-Line Fraud Affecting the Global Tourism Industry Conference held in Faro last Thursday achieved its objective by bringing together over 200 people to learn about the threats that this type of fraud poses to the industry and ways in which these threats can be reduced, thus protecting local businesses involved in tourism as well […]
Abta call for holiday sickness legal fees cap
Abta is calling on the government to limit the cost of legal fees charged by lawyers when making holiday sickness claims. Court concept – scales and gavelSHARELINESTwitter Facebook The hope is that a cap would prevent many spurious claims Following a 500% increase in the amount of claims made since 2013, and with no sign […]
Iata issues fraud warning
A warning has been issued by Iata over the fraudulent use of the airline trade body’s named to extract money from industry partners. Fraudsters have been known to impersonate Iata staff members or to misuse the organisation’s logo and name. Iata urged air transport industry participants to be on the alert for fraudulent activities. Examples […]
Holiday sickness firms to be hit by cold-calling ban
ABTA has hailed the government’s plan to ban cold-calling by claims management companies as a welcome advance in the industry’s battle against holiday sickness fraud. The House of Lords has backed an amendment to the Financial Guidance and Claims Bill that would make it illegal for such firms to make unsolicited calls. ABTA believes that […]
Nearly 200 arrested for airline ticketing fraud
An international law enforcement operation targeting airline fraudsters has resulted in the arrest of 195 individuals, according to Europol. Those arrested are suspected of traveling with airline tickets bought using stolen, compromised or fake credit card details. Between 16 and 20 October 2017, 61 countries – including the UK, 63 airlines and 6 online travel […]
False sickness claims – Tui blacklists 500
Tui has blacklisted a further 500 customers it believes to have made false or exaggerated claims of holiday sickness. The tour operator revealed its latest move against the alleged fraudsters when approached by Travel Weekly after a couple were jailed for trying to claim nearly £20,000 from Thomas Cook. Tui, which officially changed its name […]
Husband labelled dishonest in failed holiday sickness claim
Leading operator bosses and travel lawyers have urged the industry to keep up the fight against fake holiday sickness claims after the first pair of fraudsters were jailed. The sentencing of Deborah Briton and her partner Paul Roberts, who submitted a claim for nearly £20,000 in compensation from Thomas Cook, came as the government launched […]
Fight against fake sickness claims
Leading operator bosses and travel lawyers have urged the industry to keep up the fight against fake holiday sickness claims after the first pair of fraudsters were jailed. The sentencing of Deborah Briton and her partner Paul Roberts, who submitted a claim for nearly £20,000 in compensation from Thomas Cook, came as the government launched […]
Stamp out false holiday sickness claims
Travel industry bosses and trade bodies are being asked to help the Government put together new rules designed to crack down on false holiday sickness claims. They are asking the trade to submit evidence in the next four weeks to help give ministers a greater insight into the rise of false claims for gastric illnesses […]
Hyatt hotels in data breach
Hyatt Hotels Corp has warned customers it suffered a data breach at point of sale (POS) terminals in dozens of hotels earlier this year. It discovered malware infected POS systems in 41 hotels globally, with a total of seven hotels in US territories Puerto Rico, Guam and in Hawaii impacted. In a letter to customers, […]
Bogus agent jailed for £80,000 holidays scam
A fraudster who posed as a travel agent has been sentenced to two years in jail after police arrested him at Gatwick as he tried to leave the country. Jonathan Richman, of no fixed address, spent four years between 2011 and 2015 pretending to be an agent dealing in cheap last-minute holidays. But Richman was […]
British couple jailed for faking holiday sickness claim
The government has today launched a call for evidence to get travel industry guidance on how to tackle the plague of fake holiday sickness claims, which Abta says has so far cost £240 million. Experts will be asked to help inform the next step in the false claims epidemic to help the government, has vowed […]
UK card fraud falls after banks tighten security
The amount of money stolen from credit and debit cards has fallen sharply, with banks claiming they are now managing to stop 67 per cent of attempted fraud. New figures reveal that card theft in the first half of the year was £287m, down 11 per cent compared with a year ago, according to the […]
UK financial fraud losses dip 8%
Financial fraud losses of £366.4 million in the first half of 2017 were 8 per cent lower year-on-year, figures from UK Finance show. The data, which covers payment cards, remote banking and cheques, also shows that the industry prevented over £750 million of fraud during the same period, or 67 per cent of attempted fraud. […]
Thomas Cook puts stop to 3,000 fake illness claims
The fight against fake holiday sickness claims is building momentum ahead of a government call for evidence. Amie Keeley and Ben Ireland report Thomas Cook has stopped 3,000 fake holiday sickness claims by writing to law firms warning them about fraud. The operator asked law firms handling sickness claims to review files following the rapid […]
Police probes law firms role in £50m holiday illness scam
The involvement of UK law firms in a £50 million holiday illness scam is reportedly being investigated by Scotland Yard. The disclosure came from a lawyer from a Spanish hotel group. Carolina Ruiz of Monex, a legal firm in Spain challenging hundreds of bogus sickness claims that cost the Mac Hotel Group £4 million, told […]
Hotel sickness scam ringleader is taken into court
The heavily pregnant British expat being held in Majorca suspected of masterminding a holiday food poisoning scam was today taken to court in handcuffs. Laura Joyce, 28, and her mother Deborah Cameron, 59, were arrested at a luxury family home in the upmarket suburb of Bendinat on the Spanish island earlier this week. It has […]
Lowcost Group – reason for collapse still unknown
Administrators appointed following the collapse of Lowcosttravelgroup last summer owing tens of millions of pounds have still to establish a cause for the company going under. The latest progress report by administrators at Smith & Williamson says an investigation is continuing into the business and its various trading arms. Total claims received against against lowcosttravelgroup […]