Sharp rise in fraud attacks on car rental firms and accommodation
There was a 19% rise in fraud attacks on land travel and accommodation last year, says a new report.
The Fraud Attack Index 2019, by fraud prevention experts Forter, says moves by hoteliers and transport companies to improve the customer experience are making it easier for fraudsters.
"As hotels, car rentals and train services aim to optimize for customer experience, they face challenges when it comes to fraud prevention," said the report.
"An ideal customer experience means removing some of the traditional barriers like requiring proof of identity. This provides fraudsters with an opportunity.
"Transactions and bookings where the payment is made online in advance are particularly prone to attack, but are also increasingly popular with good customers.
"This industry will need to be especially careful to emphasize accuracy in antifraud going forward, avoiding risk-averse approaches that often result in false positives while also minimizing fraud."
Meanwhile, fraud attacks against the air travel industry dipped 29% in 2018.
"This indicates that the large data hacks within the industry, some of which made passport information available along with other stolen data, have yet to be reused to commit air travel fraud," said the report.
"This data is valuable enough to be leveraged for fully fledged identity theft (which may have many stages) rather than ‘thrown away’ on a single fraud attempt."
The report also pointed out a ‘notable’ difference between the fraud attack rates seen by major airlines and by low cost airlines, with major airlines attacked 37% more.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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