For many, December is a time to relax and enjoy time with family. But fraudsters don’t take a break — in fact, they’re eager to take advantage of this period when spending is high and consumers’ guard is down.

The end of the year is a good time to review your travel agency’s risk guidelines, risk appetite and fraud prevention measures. Here are some areas you should examine to ensure your agency is well-equipped to prevent fraud, both for the holiday season and for the new year.

• Revisit how your agency validates new customers.
• Review any fraudulent transactions from 2019 that resulted in chargebacks and debit memos, and identify any trends or areas for improvement.
• Make sure your terms and conditions are clear and specific for sales (particularly regarding cancellations and refunds).
• Review best practices to ensure agents are wary of phishing emails (e.g., requesting their GDS login credentials).

Listed below are some helpful tools and training materials to help you get ready for the season.

• ARC Risk Check can help your agency validate travelers with confidence.
• 10 tips to help agents identify possible phishing emails
• ARC’s webinar, You Have What Cybercriminals Want – Data Protection and Pitfalls
• A playlist of ARC’s fraud prevention webinars

As always, please report all fraud incidents, attempts or suspicious emails to ARC’s Revenue Integrity team at stopfraud@arccorp.com or 855-358-0393.