Digital Travel Frauds: How Are They Affecting Businesses?

Consumer support, account safety, and customer data protection are all important in the travel and tourism industry. Consumers' identities must be validated by various industries in the travel and tourism industry, such as aviation companies, hotels, train companies, and so on. Every day, many people travel from their native country to a foreign land. Organizations are responsible for properly monitoring their customers’ identities using a secure authentication mechanism during the travel cycle. As a result, they use identity verification systems to complete the customer on-boarding process.

Why ID Verification Is Crucial For The Travel Industry

Terrorism, human trafficking, corruption, and money laundering have also been orchestrated against the travel and tourism industry in recent years. Scammers steal people's identification data and move between countries using stolen IDs and commit crimes using their names. The victims of this kind of travel fraud are usually prosecuted by the authorities. It can bring undue stress to the victims. They can utilize appointments, vouchers, bookings, discounts, etc to cause pain to legitimate customers. However if users' identities are adequately verified at airports, train stations, or other transport terminals, all companies and passengers will be shielded from the impacts of travel fraud.

Different Types Of Digital Travel Frauds

There is a varying nature of digital travel frauds. Some directly affect organizations while others target the customers, which ultimately causes problems for businesses indirectly. Some of these digital travel frauds are outlined below:

Counterfeit Flight Bookings

To improve the passenger experience and increase the market appeal of their company, various airline firms give a cash-back option on cancelling the ticket for any reason. Scammers formulate strategies to book flights using stolen payment cards and then cancel the bookings they have already purchased. According to the cash-back procedure, the airline must issue a refund. Furthermore, the swindlers present the airline with another legal account for cash-back, which the airline then transfers to.
On the surface, this does not seem to be a significant financial failure for an airline, but as fraudsters exploit this mechanism repeatedly, it causes a significant effect on the airline industry. These chargebacks could result in significant financial damages for the company. Furthermore, the airline company's credibility and market value could be tainted as a result of it. In addition, the victim's experience is seriously hampered by these fraudulent schemes.

Fake Discounts and Vouchers

On behalf of hotels and airlines, swindlers provide bogus coupons on various online channels. They say that the offer is contingent on payment in advance. People who are desperate to get a coupon or a refund send the requisite instalment to the scammer. The con artists disappear with their loot after collecting the advance payment. This is a major problem that concerns the whole transport and tourism industry. Furthermore, genuine consumers begin to lose faith in the business.

Fake Police and Visa Officials

Someone can impersonate official visa offices and police stations to conduct fraudulent activities in their name. When abroad, the customers do not know the ins and out of that particular foreign country. Thus, fraudsters take advantage of their unknowingness and rip them off. They may claim that they have multiple offices in the area and their particular branch is offering a discount on the visa processing fee. To enhance their legitimacy, they may offer to drop you off at the reserved hotel. When the official authorities inform the victim that their visa is invalid, they have to face the wrath of confused customers who were just scammed by the fake travel agent.
Furthermore, fake police officials penalize foreigners and take on the spot challan fee. The victims, desperate to get out of the trouble and the hassle of visiting the police station, pay the fee at the spot. In this way, the money which should be going to the rightful organization ends up in the pockets of fraudsters. On top of that, the victims of the fraud lose their money unnecessarily.

Countering Digital Travel Frauds with IDV Systems

Employing third-party video KYC and AML service providers will help protect travel companies from fraud. The term KYC applies to the process of verifying consumers prior to on-boarding. Furthermore, the word AML denotes that the travel industry is not associated with those who are involved in money laundering.
Each person undergoes KYC and AML tests, regardless of whether they are making a flight booking or a hotel booking. These systems validate a traveller’s identity using government-issued identification papers such as identity cards or passports. A travel company can greatly reduce the chances of digital travel fraud by using these tools.