Security Issues And Frauds Related To Buying Airline Tickets
Do you love to travel? Is it more of international or a domestic destination? Do you book it online or get a travel agency to book your flight? How familiar are you with all booking options available for you?
There are three methods for availing airline tickets. First is going to ticketing offices, second is by online booking, and third is booking through the phone. In old days, travelers book their tickets by going to airline offices. People go to travel agencies or ticketing offices, where face to face transaction takes place. For airline business security this is safer than other booking methods because travelers pay cash and even if they pay by credit cards the travel agent employee could ask for an identification card and check if the cardholder is the real owner of the credit card but on consumer side, there are some victim travelers obtain tickets from fake travel agencies or malicious insiders this is the reason consumers still need to be careful about choosing legit travel agency.
To determine whether the travel agency is legit or fraud, the travel agent or ticketing agency should have a physical office, fake travel ticketing agency usually have no physical office address, make sure they have business name and accreditations displayed. It is essential to see proof that the ticketing office has a business permits, license, registration certificates and accreditations before dealing with the agency. The other cons on this method are; the people need to go to the ticketing offices which could take much of their time by traveling, worrying about the traffic, finding a parking spot at the ticketing office, by the time they arrive, sometimes they have to wait for a long queue to get the service and most of the travel agencies or ticketing offices are not open 24 hours to accommodate clients.
Later on, in late 90s and early 2000 people use online to book tickets. Online booking is a convenient method of finding and booking flights over the internet because they can do it any time of the day or wherever they are via computer or smartphone as long as they have internet connections. Unlike the first method where people oblige to book on the spot without thinking it through first, on this second method, it gives you more time to think and do some research on the best price available for your flight. Thanks to the Internet, booking airline tickets online is simple and easy. But as your ideas of a summer vacation take shape, remember to be cautious when making reservations or purchasing tickets online. Be watchful of travel phishing scams. These scam sites tempt travelers by presenting much lower prices for airline tickets than what is set on other sites. Once you click accept or click the link, the scammers’ capture all of your important credit card details and send you a message that the credit card transaction was declined. They will suggest; instead, you pay for the tickets by wiring funds or sending a money order. Just like that, they have stolen your card information and your money.
The number of fake travel booking websites is growing because they are so successful at scamming travelers. There are many websites available to book and buy tickets but it is better to check and go directly on the official website of a chosen airline because some third parties booking websites are not legit, certainly buying directly from the airlines’ sites is typically always safe. If you decide to use a third-party site, choose a well-known and reputable brand. Booking a ticket online is so easy; just click your desired destination, one way or a roundtrip booking, date of your travel, the passengers’ details, and lastly enter the mode of your payment, usually online booking accept credit card as a mode of payment. After you make an online booking, always call the airline company afterward to confirm. If there is no record of your booking, it is better to know sooner rather than later. You will be able to alert your credit card company, report the fraud, and still have time to book your ticket with the real deal. Remember, when it comes to beating the online travel fraudster, vigilance is the best form of defense. It will prevent you getting into trouble or put you in a bad situation, and prevent the airlines from losing revenue as well. When a credit card holder files a complaint and dispute with the credit-card issuer, chargebacks to an airline company will cause the loss in their revenues. This is an enormous thing in the airline industry that results in chargebacks and millions of income lost.
Nowadays travelers can easily book and buy tickets by a phone call. Criminals are taking advantage of airline call centers to purchase tickets with stolen credentials and take over customer loyalty program accounts such as Mabuhay Miles of Philippine Airlines, CebGo of Cebupacific Air and other airlines loyalty programs. Criminals can use email accounts and social media profiles to reveal or extract the identity of the target. These fraudsters could steal members’ passwords from another resource to dig up access to airline frequent flyer accounts. They can buy airline tickets with stolen miles and sold the tickets on the black market or take cash in rewards. The key for travelers to protect themselves from a fraudster is vigilance. We all know that the password is the first line of defense against frequent flyer frauds or airline loyalty program frauds. Definitely, the password is going to be a solution part in keeping airline program accounts secure. I would personally suggest a frequent change of password and use of a strong password with upper and lower case and a combination of alphanumeric characters. This could be a challenge, but it helps keep the travelers’ account and loyalty program account secure. This will not just protect the consumers but also the airline companies for losing revenues against the fraudsters. Staying one step ahead of airline reward program fraud is not easy, but by putting the right systems in place and increasing awareness we can reduce the risks. Loyalty programs are increasingly becoming a target of fraud. To prevent or correct this loyalty program fraud, airlines must progressively adopt fraud detection system and management techniques for their loyalty programs as they grow in impact.
The airlines typically utilize the service of call centers to accommodate flight bookings over the phone. I used to book airline tickets over the phone and use my credit card to purchase the tickets; obviously, as mater of a fact this method is not safe for the both customers and airline companies. Based on my experience, calling on airline call canter to book my ticket was so easy and effortless but there is always a risk doing so. The call center agent asked me for the flight details such as the origin of the flight and its destination, the date of the flight, etc. , then the call center agent provided me the best price available as I requested. After I gave my personal details such as my full name, birth date, nationality, email address for passenger details, I also gave my credit card details for the payment. After approved payment and successful transaction, the agent gave me my booking confirmation reference number and sent a copy to my email address. If you will notice, the move that I have made was risky. I gave my credit card details to a call center agent where there is no guarantee that the card will only be used in the way I intended. Compromised credit cards used to be the main method to purchase tickets illegitimately. As matter of fact, credit cards are the most common payment method accepted through direct sales of the airlines but credit cards also have the highest fraud incidence. Stolen credit cards or cards obtained using a fake identity are major source of fraud for the airlines today, but friendly fraud and insider fraud by airline employees remains a problem as well. Friendly fraud in airline industry is often goes overlooked. How terrible it is when passengers do pay for travel but dispute the charge after completing the trip. I will begin by describing a scenario that can be characterized as a friendly fraud. The fraudster will offer random people to book and buy ticket for them using his credit card. The fraudster will book them over the phone using a prepaid sim card. It will go through a normal process; the fraudster will talk to the call center agent like a professional one, make the booking and pay the tickets using his credit card. Just for a couple of minutes the fraudster will get the ticket confirmation and sell it to the buyer in a cold cash. After completing the trip of his customers he would immediately file a chargeback. Because friendly fraud deceptions as a rightful chargeback, there is nothing that out-dated fraud detectors or fraud filters can carry out to deal with the problem. Savvy friendly fraudsters continue to exploit loopholes and airlines still report considerable losses. The answer is not for airlines to channel fraud filters, but rather to make fraud filters work better and improve their system.
Inside Fraud by employees is a significant problem for the Airlines. According to Virgin Australia, they discovered loopholes in the system can be exploited by employees. A call center employee booked flights worth $225, 000 for her friends and family over a span of two-and-a-half years before the issue was noticed. To prevent employee misuse or inside fraud by employee there should be a check for every transaction in airline system, a series of checks to ensure it is legitimate. These checks should be automated as much as possible to prevent exploitation of more loopholes. These checks would confirm suspicious behavior whether it comes from consumers or employees.
According to the International Air Transport Association (AITA), airlines are losing 1. 2% of their revenue to fraud that originates in the call center. Revenue loss is the revenue that goes uncollected due to bookings being terminated for fraud. Bookings are being rejected or canceled due to suspicion of fraud. Some flight bookings are rejected by fraud filters and many of those declined transactions were actually valid.
