During the summer season, travel-related scams inevitably rise. Kaspersky and Musafir.com share advice for those planning to travel over this period, protecting vacationers against a range of cyber risks.
Seemingly obvious security best practices will ensure stress-free travel over the summer. Most importantly, by taking the below advice into consideration, holidaymakers will remain protected against the broad threat of travel-targeted cybercrime.
When booking your trip
As a general rule of thumb, if an offer seems too good to be true, it usually is. Taking the necessary precautionary steps to prevent travel spam and phishing will ensure that your trip is booked safely and smoothly.
- Remain vigilant. Be aware that messages in your mailbox, chat apps, or social networks might be fraudulent. Criminals often impersonate an airline, hotel, travel survey site, booking system or a travel agent, and aim to lead you to fake website. Always be careful and verify the URLs as well as the email addresses.
- Book your stay with trusted providers. Scammers will try to lure victims disguised as well-known travel agencies with extremely low vacation promotional prices. Always apply due diligence in these situations and only book trips through trusted travel providers, such as Musafir.com.
- Use a reliable antivirus with built-in protection against online fraud and phishing when sending credentials or making online payment. Solutions such as Kaspersky Premium will give you an early warning of sites to avoid.
- Enable two-factor authentication for your travel booking accounts. If possible, this adds an extra layer of security by requiring multiple forms of verification, like a unique code sent to your phone.
Rikin Sheth, AVP, Products, Musafir.com commented, “With the rise of online scams and data breaches, navigating the travel landscape independently can feel increasingly risky. While complete mitigation is impossible, booking with a reputable travel agency can significantly reduce the risks by prioritizing robust security measures, encrypting customer information and employing secure payment gateways. Additionally, their experience allows them to identify and avoid potentially fraudulent websites that might target unsuspecting travelers. This peace of mind allows you to focus on creating lasting travel memories, knowing your sensitive data is protected by industry-standard security protocols."
Whilst travelling
You should employ the same vigilance whilst travelling as when booking your trip, especially if you are sharing sensitive, financial information.
- Keep trip information private. Even after your trip is booked, don’t share reservation numbers with anyone or post photos of airline tickets with a visible barcode or PNR on social networks. Remember, the attackers’ goal is to extort money and user data.
- Monitor your financial statements. After you have paid for travel plans, regularly review your bank statements in case of any suspicious activity. Report about any unauthorized charges to your bank immediately.
- Protect your personal devices: don’t leave them unattended and lock when not in use.
- Take care when using public Wi-Fi. Using publicly accessible Wi-Fi in the hotel poses risks; credentials can be stolen by cybercriminals. When sharing sensitive, financial information, turn on a virtual private network (VPN). This ensures that your connection is encrypted when conducting an online payment, for example.
“Cybercrooks heavily rely on social engineering techniques. General advice not to fall victim of such scams is to pay attention to details, think twice and double check before sharing personal or financial information,” said Seifallah Jedidi, Head of Consumer Channel in the Middle East, Turkiye and Africa at Kaspersky.
