With passengers returning to the skies in record numbers for the holidays, fraudsters have unfortunately returned as well. Many of the fraud schemes that targeted our industry pre-COVID continue to cause financial losses in the agency community.

Ensure front-line staff are aware of how fraudsters operate to commit fraud:

Credit Card Fraud: Fraudsters will use social-engineering methods to manipulate agents into accepting compromised credit cards. This includes emailed or texted passports or driver’s licenses and credit card images that may have been Photoshopped.

Corporate Booking Schemes: Some fraudsters are adept at portraying themselves as existing corporate or university clients and attempt to obtain tickets through agent manipulation. They may also portray themselves as working for a non-governmental agency or charity and request tickets for immediate departures on international travel. Always be careful when a caller claims to be a corporate executive requesting tickets for unprofiled travelers.

Unauthorized Ticketing: Ensure that all staff are aware of unsolicited emails that urge the user to click links to take them to a fake GDS login screen. Fraudsters use these phishing emails to harvest GDS login credentials. With these credentials, a fraudster can remotely access a GDS to issue tickets for the fraudster’s own customers.

For additional information on these schemes and more, please visit the ARC website.

Alert ARC Revenue Integrity to any fraud incidents at 855-358-0393 or StopFraud@arccorp.com.