AI-powered travel scams Aussies need to know about

Aussies have been warned about a “convincing” scam targeting travellers when booking flights and accommodation.

Aussies have been issued a stark warning about AI-wielding fraudsters following a 900 per cent increase in travel scams over the past 18 months.

Booking.com recently announced the staggering figure fuelled by artificial intelligence (AI) with the firm’s internet safety boss, Marnie Wilking, saying there had been a particularly marked increase in phishing – where people are tricked into handing over their financial details.

“Of course, we’ve had phishing since the dawn of email, but the uptick started shortly after ChatGPT got launched,” she said, according to the BBC.

“The attackers are definitely using AI to launch attacks that mimic emails far better than anything that they’ve done to date.”

AI-powered travel scams are on the rise.

Scam reports mentioning Booking.com significantly increased in 2023 and caused Australians to lose more than $337,000, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

The ACCC said its Scamwatch program received 363 reports of scams in 2023 which mentioned Booking.com — one of the most visited travel booking sites in the world.

Phishing scams can look very convincing and often trick people to hand over their card details through by sending them fake internet booking links.

Phishing scams are the most common with Aussies falling for ‘convincing’ content.

In 2023, Australians lost a total of $2.7 billion to scams, according to Choice, with 20 per cent reporting they had fallen victim to holiday scams.

Nearly 1 in 5 victims lost $500 or more, as scammers use AI to craft highly convincing phishing content disguised as legitimate companies.

For example, you may receive a text or email claiming your flight is cancelled, and to avoid losing your reservation, you must click a link and enter your payment details immediately.

The pressure to act quickly could lead you to inadvertently put your financial information into the hands of fraudsters.

Christoph Cemper, founder of AIPRM, an AI management platform tool, revealed how to identify AI scams when booking holidays online – and what to do if you think you have fallen victim to an AI scam.

“I believe that a (false sense) of urgency, no matter how well explained (using Generative AI) is the top red flag for any kind of scams, including those for booking trips and holidays,” he said.

“Nowadays, nearly anything can be faked with AI so if it is ‘too’ well written, ‘too’ good to be true in the offer, or ‘too nice’ in pictures, then I would be especially careful.”

He said the most common form of AI scam is a phishing “offer”, that lures the user into providing their personal or payment details too soon/too early based on “vague promises that seem too good to resist”.

“Such impulse actions are used to harvest the data as quickly as possible, without much to do once the data is revealed,” Mr Cemper explained.

“If you think you have fallen victim to a scam, as painful as it is, any kind of revealed information needs to be rendered useless.

“You can hardly move to another place, so fake ecommerce orders can still happen, but locking down your credit card is the first and most simple thing to do. Contacting your bank as soon as possible is essential.”

According to the Booking.com partner hub, the booking platform will never ask customers for any urgent requests without sending prior communication.

“If you receive a suspicious email requesting urgent action, please refrain from taking any steps until you have contacted your Account Manager or Customer Service,” the site explains.

“This will allow us to review whether any internal updates have been made and to report the email to the Security team if necessary.”

It also released a bunch of trusted email addresses, urging customers not to open emails that look suspicious.

A few of the trusted emails include; [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail] and [e-mail].