Travel website scams tricking vacationers with nonexistent plane tickets, hotel rooms, car rentals

Fake travel websites are scamming vacationers and consumers with nonexistent reservations for plane tickets, hotel rooms, car rentals and more.

Fake travel websites are scamming vacationers and consumers with nonexistent reservations for plane tickets, hotel rooms, car rentals and more.

Fake travel websites are scamming vacationers and consumers with nonexistent reservations for plane tickets, hotel rooms, car rentals and more.

Fake travel websites are scamming vacationers and consumers with nonexistent reservations for plane tickets, hotel rooms, car rentals and more.

CHICAGO (WLS) — If you’re planning a trip, beware!

The ABC7 I-Team has a consumer alert about travel scams that look so real, you could get duped into booking a fake flight or hotel.

It’s a vacation nightmare. Travelers pay for plane tickets, hotel rooms, or car rentals, only to learn none of the reservations actually exist.

Scammers are getting more sophisticated, using fake websites, phony apps and social media ads to trick you.

The flight is booked, your hotel or vacation home reserved, but it’s all a ruse!

Yoav Keren’s cybersecurity company, BrandShield, says it’s seen a spike in cloned, travel websites. He showed the I-Team several examples his team found of scammers posing as legitimate companies.

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“These are known travel websites that sell everything from hotels through car rentals through flights,” Keren said.

They also mimic vacation home rental sites, airline sites and fakes that look like legitimate third-party travel booking sites.

“They might infiltrate your systems, your network,” Keren explained. “But definitely the biggest problem is if you book a flight, or you book a hotel or a vacation and you show up and you don’t have the ticket it’s not there. Or the apartment you just took for a week in a foreign country doesn’t even exist.”

And it’s not just the big names being copied.

“They’re impersonating a small hotel somewhere or not the biggest airline,” Keren said. “The reason for that is AI. AI is being used in the hands of scammers more often. It’s much easier to create these scams, to create fake websites, to create fake content.”

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The scams start with a social media ad designed to pressure you into booking fast.

“Many times these ads will show you there’s a sale now, and it’s for 30 minutes and, you know, you’re going to lose the option to get it half price,” Keren said.

So how can you avoid getting taken for a ride before you even leave town?

“If you’re going on a website, make sure that the domain name is the exact match of the company you’re looking to buy from,” Keren said.

Experts say when in doubt, don’t click the link. Instead, use trusted apps you’ve already installed or type in the website address yourself, or click from your bookmarks.

If you spot a scam, report it to the Federal Trade Commission or the FBI.