Police and lawyers are turning the tide against firms driving fake holiday sickness claims with a flurry of investigations and private prosecutions. Merseyside Police has opened investigations into two claims management companies (CMCs). It is monitoring three cases lodged against tour operators by each of the firms suspected of encouraging bogus claims from holidaymakers, with […]
Category: Latest Fraud News
Law firm starts prosecuting dishonest claimants
A law firm that has defended 2,000 spurious holiday sickness claims is now pursuing the individuals and companies behind them. Ben Ireland reports, a year after the launch of Travel Weekly’s Fight Fake Claims campaign A zero-tolerance approach to dubious claims has helped one law firm overturn more than 2,000 made in relation to holiday […]
Booking.com customers targeted by hackers
BOOKING.COM has been targeted by hackers trying to steal hundreds of thousands of pounds in the most recent cyber crime attack in the travel industry. It was claimed payment was needed – and the messages seemed alarmingly genuine. Numerous hotels and guesthouses on holiday accommodation site Booking.com were targeted by bogus texts alerting victims to […]
Aito demands crackdown on illegal traders
Aito is demanding firms that sell packages illegally in the UK be prosecuted having secured the backing of the UK’s leading Trading Standards expert. The association will demand a crackdown by Trading Standards and the government supported by new legal advice from Jonathan Kirk QC, who edits a consumer law guidebook for lawyers. He has […]
Cybercrime now affecting more people than any other crime
The absurd and unrealistic forecasts seen in many Hollywood films have become reality. According to the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency, organised cybercrime is now affecting more people than any other form of crime – including drugs, firearms, organised immigration crime, and money laundering. Not because it is replacing these other forms of cybercrime, but […]
Travel firm at centre of fraud probe by police
Police are investigating a Huddersfield travel agent over claims that customers have been defrauded. Customer Asif Tanvir says he lost almost £1,000 after two flights to Dubai and Pakistan were cancelled the night before he and his wife were due to fly. Mr Tanvir, who runs a takeaway business in Huddersfield, booked the flights through […]
Tourist agency boss charged with fraud
A former president of the New Orleans Multicultural Tourism Network has been charged with defrauding the publicly funded agency. Tonnette Rice, aged 55, faces felony theft charges and filing false public records. She is accused of writing out agency cheques to herself to the tune of $70,000. She resigned from the position in January 2017, […]
Hajj fraud crackdown
Police and trading standards officers plan to carry out visits and spot checks on travel agents over the next few months in a new clamp-down on Hajj-related crimes, which rocketed 143% last year. Individuals planning pilgrimages to Mecca in Saudi Arabia were conned out of as much as £33,000 each, according to the national fraud […]
Butlin’s warns customers of scam Facebook promotions
Butlin’s has warned the public about fake promotions on social media promising free breaks and other big prizes. The UK operator has issued a statement on its Facebook page saying: “We have been made aware of unofficial Facebook pages being set up using the Butlin’s name and logo. “These pages are offering competition prizes and […]
Hajj travel-related fraud up 143% in 2017
A 143% increase in Hajj travel-related fraud was reported to police in 2017 on the previous year’s figures. Hotspots for recorded offending were London, the West Midlands and Manchester, with a total of 17 reported incidents, according to Action Fraud, the police national fraud reporting centre. Reports show that victims can lose anything from £1,000 […]
Man ordered to repay half a million for hotel fraud
A former carpet fitter has been orderd to repay more than half a million pounds to those who invested in his failed venture to develop hotel sites in Crete. Ralph Christie, aged 56 from West Yorkshire, was found guilty on five charges of fraud in 2015 and sentenced to seven years in jail. At the […]
Industry to combat fraud with new PROFiT system FIN
A new anti-fraud system to prevent travel agents such as Rita Hunter from committing crimes at different companies is set to be unveiled. It comes after convicted fraudster Hunter was jailed last week for six months for failing to repay £51,430 in compensation to travel companies she defrauded, including The Advantage Travel Partnership. The Fraud […]
Agent jailed for six months for fraud
A homeworker who defrauded The Advantage Travel Partnership has been jailed for not repaying the £33,000 she stole from the consortium. Rita Hunter, who ran Hunters Travel in Liverpool, had pleaded guilty to fraud charges and was given an 18-month suspended sentence back in 2016 and was ordered to pay back the amount. But having […]
Travel at risk from Russian cyberattacks
Travel firms, airports and airlines are among those at risk of a cyberattack by Russian hackers, a fraud expert has warned. The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre and the US’s Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department for Homeland Security issued a joint statement on Monday about “malicious cyber activity planned by the Russian government”. The […]
Homeworker jailed over £33,000 Advantage fraud
Rita Hunter, 63, who ran Hunters Travel in Liverpool, used former customers’ credit and debit cards for new bookings made via the consortium, only to funnel the cash into her own accounts. While many customers were able to claim the money back from their card providers, Advantage was lumbered with the bill under its obligation […]
Government finally closes sickness claims loophole
The government on Friday (April 13) announced it would fix the level of legal costs that can be claimed from package holiday sickness scams. In doing so, it shuts a loophole the industry has long said has fuelled a rise in bogus claims and risked pushing holiday prices up. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said […]
P&O Cruises issues warning over Facebook scam
Social media users have been warned against a fake Facebook page claiming to be from P&O Cruises offering a free cruise competition. The line issued an alert yesterday informing consumers that the posting was a fake. “Please be aware that the ‘golden envelope win a cruise’ is a scam and is not a P&O Cruises […]
Half of all airline website traffic comes from bad bots
Cybersecurity firm Distil Networks analyzed hundreds of billions of bad bot requests, anonymized over thousands of domains. For airlines, bad bots accounted for 43.9% of all traffic on their websites in 2017. That puts the airline sector second to only gambling websites, which had 53.9% of their traffic from bots. And it’s more than twice […]
Delta suffers cyber breach via online chat
Delta Air Lines has reported a cyber breach via an online chat service, highlighting the security risks of third-party technology providers. The breach affecting Delta occurred at IT services provider [24]7.ai between September 26 and October 12 last year. Delta said it was informed of the breach on March 28. The airline reported it on […]
Decisive move to curb claims company legal fees
Travel industry campaigning against the growing problem of bogus holiday illness claims today triggered a “decisive” government crack down. Abta, Jet2holidays and Tui all welcomed the Ministry of Justice’s action to fix the legal costs that can be claimed in package holiday sickness claims which have cost the sector millions of pounds. The action will […]