Travel Scam Alert: Flight Ticket Scams, Airline Fraud and Cruise Ship Scams

As the peak travel season approaches, bad actors are beginning their travel scam activity, with an influx of airline ticket and cruise ship scams, designed to look legitimate while pressuring targets to acting quickly.

Travel scams are a recurring campaign that we see year after year, but for Communication Service Providers (CSPs), staying up to date with the latest tactics used by scammers helps strengthen ongoing consumer protection and fraud prevention efforts.

Travel Scams: Cheap Flight Deals

Airline ticket scams are one of the most common tactics targeting consumers around peak travel periods. For CSPs, understanding the tactics used to facilitate travel scams allows them to warn subscribers and help protect them. The main tactic used is impersonation scams, promising ‘too good to be true’ travel deals in an attempt to steal personal information from their targets.

Some of the tactics that TNS has seen include:

1. Travel agency impersonation scams

Scammers connect with targets via voice call or text message posing as an agent from a legitimate travel agent, with the promise of deeply discounted flights. Airline ticket scams exploit the hunt for a good deal when it comes to air travel in peak season.

2. Fake flight cancellations

A popular scam sees scammers calling customers of a legitimate airline, posing as a customer service agent informing them that their flight has been cancelled. While the cancellation is false, the panic and urgency to rebook often leads to targets bypassing skepticism and taking the scammer up on the offer to re-book the flight – providing scammers with personal financial information that is then used to defraud.

Travel Scams: Complementary Cruise Ship

Another scam that has been around for a long time is the cruise ship scam. Scammers offer a free cruise with the target just needing to return their call to claim the trip. Here is a transcript from a recent call:

“Hi, this is Brad with the Travel rewards department. I’m calling regarding your recent vacation with Hilton, Wyndham Carnivore or one of our other travel partners. As a thank you for traveling, you’re invited to enjoy a complimentary cruise with Margaritaville at sea. Your cabin, all meals, and entertainment will be included. We simply hope you have a great experience and share with your friends and family. So availability is limited, so please give me a call back at 888-941-0077.”

As frontline defenders against fraud, CSPs help safeguard consumers by deploying sophisticated call authentication and spoof protection technologies, sharing insights on emerging threats and reinforcing safe user behavior during high-risk periods such as peak travel season.

TNS Call Guardian® delivers industry leading reputation-profiling to identify call spoofing and unwanted robocalls in real-time. Analyzing more than 1.5 billion call events each day and leveraging DNO, unallocated, invalid and unassigned numbers alongside STIR/SHAKEN and advanced analytics, it helps CSPs protect subscribers from scam calls or texts.

TNS Enterprise Branded Calling solution enables calls to display a verified name and logo, reducing spam labeling, minimizing caller ID spam label exposure and helping stop caller ID blocks. For CSPs, deploying a branded calling solution allows subscribers to be better informed when their phone rings, helping to improve answers rates. Subscribers do not answer calls they do not recognize, enhance communications by providing rich call data straight on the incoming call screen.

John Haraburda is Product Lead for TNS Call Guardian® with specific responsibilities for TNS’ Communications Market solutions.

Call Guardian is a registered trademark for Transaction Network Services, Inc.