Travel is back; with more widespread vaccinations and relaxed travel restrictions, many people are making long-awaited vacation plans. But scammers are making plans of their own to separate eager travelers from their money via too-good-to-be-true vacation packages, fake airfare deals and other shady schemes.
During Covid, contact tracing and vaccine related scams were on the rise, because that was what was going on in the world. Now we’re seeing travel scams because everyone is getting vaccinated and want to travel again.
Consumer advocacy organizations around the world are issuing warnings about an increase in incidents involving scammers that often pose as airline ticket brokers and travel agents via telemarketing calls. Another common tactic is imposter or “spoofed” websites that mimic legitimate booking platforms for airfare, hotels, or rental cars — but do not deliver the product as promised. These kinds of scams are surging as leisure travel re-emerges — and are likely to remain a hassle in the near future.
Be a Human Firewall by paying close attention to links in unexpected emails and unverified websites. Always verify website authenticity before entering any personal or payment information, as cyber criminals can post attractive offers luring you into clicking on a sponsored ad or a spoofed website.
Remember that secure links generally begin with “https://” and include a lock icon on the purchase page. Misspelled words and pixelated images are also possible signs of a scammer. But, be on the lookout even if you don’t see these signs. Hackers are now making use of secure websites to trick users and infect user devices, checking their spelling, and presenting quality checked websites to make it harder to detect the scam.
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Original article posted on https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/travel-scams-pandemic-cmd/index.html
