Scam Basics: Airline Ticket Fraud
While doing an online search to find the cheapest flight to your destination, you come across a website offering a great deal. You haven’t heard of the company before, but the website looks legitimate and everything seems to be in order. When you begin the payment process, red flags start to appear.
In the most common version of the scam, you pay with your credit card. But shortly after making the payment, you receive a call from the company asking you to verify your name, address, banking information, or other personal details – something a legitimate company would never do.
What makes this scam so believable is, once you pay, you receive a confirmation code that can be verified with the airline. However, after a day or two, your reservation is canceled and the company that charged you disappears. It appears the scammers booked the flight and charged your card – only to cancel it shortly after and make off with your money.
Air Travel Ticket Fraud
Be wary of deals on airline tickets offering prices that sound ‘too good to be true’
Think you’ve found the deal of a lifetime when you see last-minute airline tickets available for just a fraction of the usual price?
Be careful before you buy, or you could wind up with no ticket and losing your money to criminals – a victim of Airline Ticket Fraud.
How does airline ticket fraud work?
- Criminals use stolen, compromised, or hacked credit card details to buy airline tickets
- The criminals offer these tickets for sale at bargain prices via professional-looking websites or social networking accounts that appear to be for legitimate travel agencies or agents
- The