Juliet Dennis explores a growing issue in the first of a three-part series
As the sector enjoys one of its strongest peak selling seasons on record, travel firms say fraud has become a major challenge.
According to the Prevention of Fraud in Trade (Profit) group, all forms of payment fraud remain rife across the UK travel industry.
86% is the proportion of fraudulent flight-only bookings ‘for travel within 14 days’
Cases of payment card data or passengers’ identities being cloned or stolen remain a “significant” method of fraud in the sector, said Profit chairman Barry Gooch, with criminals often using information to make last-minute bookings.
“Because criminals share stolen data and know it is only useful for a short time, our research identifies that 86% of flight-only fraudulent bookings are for travel within the next 14 days,” he said.
Types of fraud
Another type of fraud, which has become a “major problem” since the pandemic, is crime committed by bogus travel agents.
Typical cases reported to Profit include bogus agents using a legitimate company’s established brand, Atol and Abta numbers to give consumers confidence to book but then not fulfilling a booking.
Also common are cases in which bogus agents claim to be a franchise or partner of an established travel brand to dupe consumers into parting with their cash.
In recent weeks, suppliers have also contacted Profit after being targeted by people posing as agents from established firms and providing legitimate Abta or Atol numbers to make travel arrangements.
Bharat Gadhoke, head of commercial at Aito, The Specialist Travel Association, said fraud was an ongoing issue for the trade.
“It’s always been there, but I think fraudsters are seeing an opportunity [now],” he said.
“January is the busiest booking wave traditionally and companies are short-staffed – there are weaknesses that can be exploited.”
Agency consortia said they had made members aware of the dangers of fraud and suspicious activity.
Still ‘very rare’
Advantage Travel Partnership head of business development David Moon said instances of successful fraud in the industry were still “very rare”.
But he admitted: “They can cause significant cost and damage to the travel agents affected. We ensure members have access to in-depth tips, videos and information on topics such as phishing and stolen credit cards to help prevent them falling victim to fraudulent scams.
“We’ve also been working closely with Profit to share information of individuals involved in fraudulent activity and with other organisations.”
Abta urged members to report fraud attempts against their businesses to Action Fraud, the police department that deals with such crimes.
A spokesman said: “Though we’ve not seen a rise in members reporting fraudulent activity, there have been multiple press reports recently of companies being targeted by scammers. If you have been a victim of fraud, it is important to report it.”
Official data shows increase in fraud across UK economy
The latest official data for fraud across all sectors in England and Wales shows reports of fraud are rising and already above 2019.
The Office for National Statistics estimated there were 4.5 million fraud offences in England and Wales in the 12 months to March 2022.
In terms of reported fraud, according to the City of London Police’s Annual Assessment of Crime Trends, there were 798,000 reports in 2022, less than the 876,000 in 2021 but more than 2019’s 693,000.
In analysis specifically carried out for Travel Weekly by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, a keyword search of reports using the terms ‘travel agent’, ‘Abta’ or ‘Atol’ suggested travel-related fraud is nearing pre-Covid levels.
The search found 738 crime reports in 2022 included these travel keywords, compared with 830 in 2019.
In January this year, 48 crimes were reported using the same travel keywords to reporting centre Action Fraud – just nine fewer than the 2019 January figure and the highest number for the month of January in the past four years.
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