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Tricksters target travel agents

07 Sep 2016 - by Debbie Badham
Comments | 0

A DRAMATIC surge in travel

fraud has seen agents

become victims of a

sinister pattern of fraudulent

activity known as cyber fraud.

Travel fraud alone has

increased by 425% over the

past year, according to a

recent study conducted by

the City of London Police’s

National Fraud Intelligence

Bureau, and is representative

of what is happening in the

South African market too, says

national director: Forensic

Services of Mazars, Christo

Snyman.

Various methods are used to

perpetrate this fraud. Christo

uses the example of an agent

who fell victim to this crime

while making a booking with a

hotel in the Congo via email.

She was asked by a group

of corporate travellers to find

accommodation in the country

and she tracked down an

appropriate option online.

The agent emailed the hotel

with her enquiry. She received

a quotation from the hotel

and asked to pay via advance

bank transfer. The hotel then

provided its banking details.

That same day, the agent

confirmed that her client would

go ahead with the booking and

later that she would arrange

payment.

The fraudster then entered

the conversation with an email

from the same address as the

hotel’s, which said the hotel

was experiencing problems

with its banking system and

payment should be sent to a

nominated subsidiary bank

account. The hotel’s actual

email address is a Yahoo

account, which Christo says

makes it more vulnerable to

impersonation.

The agent then confirmed

that payment would be made

using the updated details and

the fraudster responded with a

booking confirmation.

In the meantime, the real

hotel started demanding its

money.

The agent on this occasion

had a lucky escape as once it

was realised fraudulent activity

had occurred, Christo was

able to have the bank transfer

halted.

He says, though, that

whether or not the agent

incurs the loss will depend on

the investigation outcome

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