TAMPA, Fla. — Officials are tracking an increase in travel scams.
“The fact is that about 1 in 4 Americans are falling victim to travel scams,” said Abhishek Karnik, the head of Threat Research and Intelligence for McAfee.
According to a recent summer travel report from McAfee, about 25% of them are losing at least $1,000.
As more Americans are predicted to travel this summer, experts believe more scammers will be on the prowl.
One of the most common scams this summer will occur during the booking process.
“So you’ll see these crazy discounts being sent through text notifications or emails,” said Karnik.
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Be wary of clicking on any unsolicited links through text or email.
Also, look out for imposters posing as travel or booking agents.
Another way scammers can take advantage of you is while you’re traveling, something you may not notice until you get to your destination.
“They might realize that while they’re traveling, either the booking that they made didn’t actually show up. They reached the travel destination and the booking was fake,” said Karnik.
You can also run into issues with your accommodations— maybe the photos don’t match what you booked, or you put down a deposit for a fake excursion.
Be careful how you pay for things too.
“If people are looking for payments in cryptocurrencies or non-standard forms like I would recommend using your credit card, but if you see that if people are asking for cryptocurrency and asking for gift cards, that’s a pretty big giveaway. That’s a huge red flag,” said Karnik.
Officials warn there’s also a large increase in scams using QR codes, so think twice before you scan one.
“Like you go to an airport, and you have people who override the QR codes with fake QR codes and get you to move to a different website,” said Karnik.
Additionally, the use of artificial intelligence is making it even more difficult for people to discern what’s real from what’s fake.
“You are potentially more susceptible to fall victim to engaging with somebody who has autogenerated either an email or a text message which makes it sound very genuine, which makes it sound very believable,” said Karnik.
Overall, experts stress everyone should keep their guard up and don’t share any information with anyone unless they can verify their legitimacy.
