Marriott International is facing the biggest lawsuit yet relating to the Starwood data breach. The suit filed in Maryland federal district court was brought by more than 150 guests in numerous states. Plaintiffs are represented by five law firms. It is seeking compensation for ‘deceptive, unconscionable, and substantially injurious practices’. Marriott now believes the data […]
Category: Latest Fraud News
Tui customer dishonest sickness claim
A Tui customer has been ordered to pay nearly £20,000 to the operator after being found guilty of fundamental dishonesty for claiming to be ill while on holiday. Justin Miller, of Penarth in Wales went to Cape Verde with his father, brother and brother’s girlfriend for two weeks on May 31 2016, staying all-inclusive at […]
Scottish agent has online identity hijacked
A Scottish agency which had its online identity hijacked has warned of fraudsters targeting the sector as more than 70 bogus websites imitated travel companies in the past year. The Travel Bar, in Blairgowrie, started to receive calls from consumers who believed they had booked with the business but had in fact paid money to […]
Fraudsters sick as a parrot after losing court case
A Lancashire couple posed for holiday snaps with a parrot, despite claiming to Jet2holidays that they were suffering with a gastric illness at the time. The pair have been convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud and ordered to pay Jet2holidays almost £30,000 after making the bogus claim. A Manchester court ruled that Martin and Lindsey […]
Travel agent provides a fraud warning
A Perthshire business has issued a warning to holidaymakers after an apparent fraudulent site was create with an identical name in their mind. An investigation has been launched after some residents were duped into utilizing a fraudulent holiday company, calling themselves ‘The Travels Bar’, an identical name to a favorite, legitimate business, called The Travel […]
Black Tip Travel seeks insolvency advice
Business travel agency Black Tip Travel is seeking insolvency advice having lost its membership of Abta and The Advantage Travel Partnership. The agency, based in Tonbridge, Kent, put a statement on its website saying that it is “currently undergoing some issues” and asked customers to contact its customer services team for information on refund requests […]
UK travel industry faces scam email attack
The UK travel trade has been warned over an email phishing attack. People receiving an email claiming their company has been entered onto the ‘UK non-compliance register’ for GDPR should beware. A scam alert advising that the emails should be deleted without opening was issued by Prevention of Fraud in Travel, which has called in […]
Customer jailed for stealing agents passwords
A jobless man has been given a prison sentence for booking holidays worth £44,000 after admitting using travel agency staff passwords to get into systems. Adam Griffiths of Penlan, Swansea, used the passwords to access systems to book luxurious holidays in the Seychelles and Dubai. Griffiths, 28, who was described in court as a ‘Walter […]
Travel fraud database stops six criminals in first six months
Six criminals within six months have been prevented from “consortia-hopping” thanks to the trade’s first industry-wide fraud intelligence database. The Fraud Intelligence Network (Fin) is a database of more than 1,000 criminals. After a soft launch in June, it officially launches this week, at the culmination of the Prevention of Fraud in Travel (Profit) cybercrime […]
Up to 500 million Starwood customers hit by data breach
Marriott International has said 500 million customers of its Starwood division have been targeted in a data breach. he hotel company said the guest reservation database of its Starwood network, including those who have booked W Hotels, Sheraton, Le Méridien and Four Points by Sheraton, had been compromised by an ‘unauthorised party’. The unauthorised access […]
Fighting back against fraud
We saw a small but significant step forward in the industry’s fight against fraud this week with the formal establishment of the trade’s first Fraud Intelligence Network (Fin) and its database of more than 1,000 criminals. The network aims to prevent serial fraud by preventing those convicted of offences in travel from re-entering the sector, […]
Facebookers fall for fake Center Parcs competition
Tens of thousands of Facebook users have fallen for a fake competition which offered a free holiday to Center Parcs Longleat to users who liked, shared and commented on the post. The post, featuring a fictitious Center Parcs CEO Mark Frendon, offered the chance to win one of 30 breaks at Longleat. Wiltshire Trading Standards […]
Lawsuits filed after Starwood data breach
Private lawsuits are beginning to be filed and several state investigations are underway following the massive Starwood data breach that was disclosed by owner Marriott International on Friday. The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office is among national organisations looking into the hack and lawsuits have been filed by individual companies as well as lawyers intending to […]
Judge throws out fake holiday illness case
A man who claimed he had suffered food poisoning on holiday has had his case thrown out of court and could now be prosecuted for a crime. As well as ordering 30-year-old Tom Oakley to pay £9,000 in costs to TUI, the judge also referred the case to police and asked them to investigate whether […]
Cathay data breach lasted for months
Cathay Pacific has admitted that its recent data breach was much worse than it initially revealed and it was in fact a sustained attack on its system for more than three months. Internal and external IT security teams fought to contain the cyberattack from March until May, it said. Its security firewalls were repeatedly breached […]
Firms urged to put a cybercrime recovery plan in place
Travel companies need a disaster recovery plan geared for cybercrime – or could face a systems ‘meltdown’ for days or weeks after an attack. Recovery plans should include specific insurance against cybercrime and a strategy on how to run the business afterwards, warned Barry Gooch, chairman of travel anti-fraud group Profit. A cyberattack, such as […]
Former agent Rita Hunter sentenced to prison
Former travel agent Rita Hunter has been sentenced to four years and eight months in prison after pleading guilty to fraud. The fraud related to flights and accommodation booked for clients which were not supplied or paid for. Hunter, 63, of Sankey Road, Liverpool, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday morning. She was sent […]
Omega Travel collapse sparks investigation
Travel agency Omega Travel has collapsed less than two months after its Atol licence was suspended. Begbies Traynor has been appointed liquidators of the £300 million turnover travel company. An urgent investigation is underway to recover more than £20 million owed to creditors. The company launched in 1965 and specialised in travel to and from […]
Conman jailed following fake holidays and investments scam
A man who conned at least ten people out of more than £100,000 by pretending to be operating as a travel or investment company has been sentenced to seven years in prison. Keith Atkin, of Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, conned people out of money and sold fake holidays to fund a lavish lifestyle. He appeared […]
Travel firms can cut risk of cyberattack by up to 80%
Travel companies can reduce the risk of cyberattack by up to 80% using free technology, according to an expert. The Global Cyber Alliance (GCA), set up three years ago to prevent cybercrime, said most travel businesses were not aware such technology exists. In the fourth phase of Profit’s Secure Our Systems campaign against cybercrime, backed […]