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Worldwide: Marnie Wilking, chief information security officer at Booking.com, has issued a warning about the role that artificial intelligence [AI] is playing in the significant rise in travel scams over the last 18 months, which she estimates at “anywhere between a 500 to a 900 per cent increase”.
In particular, Whiting highlighted a noticeable increase in phishing scams – which involves internet users being duped into giving out their financial details – since the launch of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, adding that attackers are able to use AI to “mimic emails far better than anything that they’ve done to date”.
In some cases, people can be tricked into disclosing card details when receiving internet booking links, which are becoming increasingly convincing in their look, and Whiting urged internet users to be cautious against such phishing scams.
Consumers on online booking platforms such as Booking.com and Airbnb can often be targeted by scammers as hosts or property owners list their own places to stay. Airbnb and Booking.com both have their own processes for verifying listings – Airbnb updated its listing verification process in March – but it has not prevented either platform from coming under criticism for stays that did not meet guest expectations.
Phishing scammers sometimes disappear without a trace once a person pays them [not knowing that they are paying someone with malicious intentions] and platform users are left with nowhere to stay.
Signs that could be indicative of scams or fraud include spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.
In January in Australia, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission [ACCC] revealed that 363 people had reported scams in 2023 while referring to Booking.com – marking a 580 per cent on the 53 reports received the year before. Total losses also reached more than AU$337,000 over the 12-month period, according to the Australian consumer watchdog.
Booking.com’s Partner Hub explains the risks associated with phishing and email spoofing with regards to online security awareness, including techniques such as malware and social engineering. For more information, follow this link to the Booking.com page.
STRz is hosting a webinar on ‘Digital transformation: Driving the end-to-end guest experience through AI’ on Tuesday 9 July [4pm BST] – sign up at no cost via this link.
