Marko Maras, chief executive of fraud prevention tech provider Trustfull, shares his insights on how travel firms can prevent criminals from exploiting their websites in the AI agent era
The golden age of digital travel bookings has brought convenience to millions – but it has also opened the floodgates for fraudsters.
No longer confined to financial institutions, fraud is now a daily battle for the travel industry, where criminals are finding new and sophisticated ways to exploit vulnerabilities.
From fake reservations that sabotage competitors to stolen hotel accounts and refund scams, travel fraud is surging at an alarming rate, with 75.7% of travel merchants reporting an increase in fraud cases between 2023 and 2024.
Meanwhile, the rapid adoption of AI-powered digital travel agents is reshaping the industry. This new technology is blurring the lines between legitimate automation and malicious activity, creating even more complexity for travel firms. As with any new technology, bad actors are quick to exploit it for malicious purposes.
These factors present a difficult set of challenges for travel companies striving to protect their businesses. On one hand, rising fraud will result in financial losses, reputation damages and reduced customer trust.
At the same time, the industry’s ability to adapt to AI-driven travel agents will be crucial to remaining competitive and secure, as they offer both business opportunity and fraud risk.
Recognising the difference between “good” agents and “bad” bots will be essential.
The vulnerabilities of the travel industry
By its nature, the travel industry is vulnerable to fraud. The high value of transactions – flights, hotel stays, and vacation packages – makes it an attractive target for scammers.
Additionally, the overwhelming shift to online bookings means millions of transactions occur daily, leaving companies struggling to verify users in real-time. Criminals have twisted this to their advantage to disguise their identities and make detection difficult.
Moreover, because hotel booking sites and management platforms store huge amounts of customer information on their systems, once criminals are in, there is no shortage of data for them to exploit.
The growth of new fraud tactics
As criminals seek to increase their gains from travel fraud, their methods are becoming more diverse – it’s no longer just a case of a stolen credit card being splashed on a five-star stay.
One developing area of travel fraud is account takeover – up 52.6% in 2024 compared to the previous year. Criminals have been targeting traveller accounts with this method for a long time, squandering stored payment methods or loyalty points to make bookings.
Interestingly, fraudsters are now targeting business accounts as well, taking over hotel accounts on management platforms before tricking customers into making payments through unofficial channels like email or WhatsApp, as reported by the Action Fraud watchdog in January 2025.
Finally, fake reservations have become a real issue for travel companies, with cases of sabotage bookings and last-minute cancellations growing in recent years. Fraudsters flood competitors’ platforms with fake bookings to make them seem unreliable and drive customers elsewhere. These cancellations and no-shows hurt relationships with hotels, airlines, and other partners, damaging the platform’s reputation and trust.
Many of these types of fraud have benefitted from the ease of access to generative AI tools. Fraudsters often rely on the likes of ChatGPT to generate authentic-looking emails – from the likes of Airbnb or booking.com – asking for credit card details and sending these to customers.
The rise of AI Agents in travel
The aptly named 2024 Bad Bot report highlights that 44.5% of internet traffic in the travel sector comes from bots. The hangover left by “bad” bot attacks is significant for travel companies, as these attacks lead to skewed data analytics, lost revenue from blocked inventory, and strained booking systems that hinder business operations.
However, changes are underway, and hastily painting all bots with the same brush may turn into a costly mistake for travel-management platforms.
AI-powered travel agents are in fact reshaping the booking experience, acting as digital assistants that find and book flights, accommodations, and personalized itineraries. Their ability to streamline the booking process makes them increasingly popular among consumers.
As AI agents gain traction, the ability to distinguish between legitimate assistants and malicious bots will become critical. Verified AI agents, backed by authenticated identities and credible digital footprints, enhance the user experience and drive revenue. In contrast, fraudulent AI bots disrupt operations by hoarding inventory, inflating demand metrics, and overwhelming booking systems.
Being able to instantly distinguish between “good” and “bad” bots will be key as AI continues to shape the future of travel.
Adapting to a new era in digital travel
To tackle the dual challenge of increasingly sophisticated fraud tactics and the rise of AI agents, travel companies should seek to gain a deeper understanding of their customers’ identity and behaviour.
In practice, this means being on the lookout for clear indicators of fraud, such as the use of newly created email addresses, multiple bookings in different names from the same IP address or improbable itineraries.
Crucially, this solution applies whether a human is booking directly or delegating the task to an AI assistant.
While this all sounds straightforward enough, most travel companies still lack automated systems to detect these red flags in real-time.
Safer travels, with no disruptions
Leveraging digital signals and open sources to verify users and their AI agents is how travel companies can protect themselves against current and future challenges.
By cross-referencing customer-provided information with digital signals tied to the user’s phone number, email address, IP data, and device, travel companies can correctly identify synthetic profiles – online identities made up from a combination of fictitious and real data – and stop criminals from operating on their platforms. All without unnecessarily blocking “good bots” with every right to purchase plane tickets or hotel stays for their humans.
As fraud techniques evolve and AI reshapes the industry, travel companies must stay ahead by embracing advanced tech solutions built to adapt to new challenges as they arise.
By doing so, they can ensure secure, trustworthy, and efficient travel experiences for their legitimate customers.
Fraudsters, meanwhile, are sent packing.