Frauds and scams can take a toll on the travel agency’s business.  They have to be alert and well-networked in the industry to avoid falling prey to them. There are numerous ways available to tour operators and travel agents to identify them.

How can travel agents avoid scams & fraudulent activities from their suppliers and customers?

1. Disguised identity

• Have you checked the personal details of the customer who is insisting on making a purchase? Often a fraudster will call you as a new customer and make an urgent request.

• It will be an urgent travel requirement, medical emergency, etc.

• The fraudster might claim to be belonging to a charity organization or a reputed organization. They might ask you to book for the staff or volunteers.  

• Fraudsters often disguise themselves as new customers calling or mailing you with an urgent request.

• Your business revolves around keeping your customer happy and creating a positive experience, resolving their challenges, and planning the entire tour. 

• It’s time to pause for a moment. Before you start making further arrangements to fulfill the requirement it’s best to research about the customer.

• You might get trapped since you will perceive it as a situation that needs immediate and quick action.

• Verify your customer’s information before you book the trip. 

• You need to verify the personal details if the customer is a new contact.

• If the person appears credible enough to gain your trust, then it will be rather tricky to identify.
  
  
  

   

2. User Profiling

• Learning and getting complete details of the user will also be beneficial and save a lot of mishaps in the long run. 

• Cyber security experts verify using the feature of Device Fingerprinting, as it reveals if the same device was previously associated with the fraud.

• We can do an email address analysis, which keeps a check on the usage of email addresses.

• It can indicate if the email address is disposable or if it has been linked to multiple social media accounts.

• Just search the email address on any search engine like Google and you will find people posting the same email address associated with the fraud.

• High-risk domains should also be avoided. Search the IP address, it indicates the geolocation. It can reveal if VPN is being used.

• If it’s an inquiry asking for a corporate booking just recheck the email address and verify the nature of the business and other details of the company.

• Is there a company existing in the name mentioned by the person making an inquiry? Confirm the domain name of the company.

• You can also email a trusted contact in that company to confirm its validity.

   

3. Monitoring the transaction initiated by customers

• Frauds can be detected before you fall prey to them by way of identifying the patterns during the payment process.

• A typical pattern or process is followed by fraudsters and you should be aware of this.

• At times in the daily routine, we are in a hurry to make bookings and close deals.

• Fraudsters often take advantage of this impatience. So your staff should be aware of these patterns, so guide and educate them. 

• Frauds can be detected before you fall prey to them by way of identifying the patterns during the payment process.

• A typical pattern or process is followed by fraudsters and you should be aware of this.

• At times in the daily routine, we are in a hurry to make bookings and close deals.

• Fraudsters often take advantage of this impatience. So your staff should be aware of these patterns, so guide and educate them. 

• At checkout, your focus should be on the type of currency and amount of transaction.      

• Check the location from where the payment is made because a few of them are at higher risk.    

• Check the type of credit card. There are a few common credit cards typically used by fraudsters.

• Never initiate payment to receive further payments, this generally is a common fraudulent pattern.

4. Do you know your corporate travellers

• On a mission to scam travel agencies, fraudsters target larger travel agencies and destination management companies, while having done a good amount of research on them; they can research an agency’s clients and employees. 

• So to avoid this, it’s important to know the following details

  ·        Official domain of the company.

  ·        The common destinations the company sends its employees to.

  ·        Travel habits of the company.

   

5. Recheck the documentation

• When a customer sends scanned copies of the credit card or passport, recheck the details.
  
  
• You might find a discrepancy or a loophole.
  
  
• Photos can be poorly edited; spelling mistakes might indicate some mischief.
  
  
• Check the backside of the card as well.

6. Impersonating your company; tarnishing your brand image

• Fraudsters can impersonate your company, they can present themselves as a representative of your company, a team member and dupe your client.

• They can ask for their credit or debit card details, and share their card details or OTP. Through these fraudulent transactions, they can extract money from your clients.

• This can tarnish your brand image forever and you will lose clients.

• Educate your team and clients.

• Request clients not to share any bank account details, credit card details, OTP, CVV, debit card details, passwords, etc. Take them into confidence that your team will never ask for these details as they are not authorized to do so. Keep reminding them about these facts. Ensure they stay alert and aware.

• Send regular emails and SMS to them to keep reminding them.

   

To be cautious and detect fraud, travel agents are advised to:

• Review all the firewall settings at your office.
  
  
• Make sure that the passwords to all systems are renewed often and kept up to date.
  
  
• Double-check the employees and agents who can access your systems. They should be validated. If they aren’t then close them immediately.
  
  
• Considering the fact that every customer is anxious and eager to book the travel, your team members would walk the extra mile to keep the customer happy.
  
  
• So a speedy delivery of services becomes necessary in the travel industry.
  
  
• Thus, it’s easy to be trapped by scammers and fraudsters as they disguise themselves to express their urgency.
  
  
• But here you need to train your team to pause for a while and recheck the details that we have mentioned in this blog post.
  
  

All that you need is a bit of alertness. So, make it your habit to be alert.

ETOS has various travel management software for destination management companies and many other products that will help your business efficiently.

Get in touch with our team at http://www.etosglobal.com/request_demos to know more and choose from our range of products.