Airline Fraud Prevention: How Carriers Verify Users and Stop Scams

Airlines handle tens of millions of bookings and payments every day. With 10.2 billion passengers forecasted in 2026 and 18.8 billion by 2045, the industry processes an enormous volume of digital transactions across booking systems, loyalty programs, and cross-border payments.

As total sales continue to grow, so does the risk: recent Visa research found airline fraud losses reached $77.7 million in the year ending March 2025. The threat is also changing. Fraud in aviation is becoming increasingly cross-border, more concentrated, and more targeted, with international transactions accounting for roughly two-thirds of losses.

That scale makes aviation a prime target for travel fraud—from stolen card purchases and account takeovers to loyalty point abuse and refund scams.

Fraud is also becoming more sophisticated, with criminals using automation, bots, and even AI-driven impersonation to exploit weak spots in digital systems. That’s why in 2026, airline security and airline fraud prevention are no longer just backend concerns. Carriers now have to protect revenue and passengers at the same time—stopping fraud without adding friction to the travel experience.

In this article, we’ll break down how airline fraud works, how tactics are evolving, and what airlines are doing to stay ahead. Fasten your seatbelts and get ready to discover how airlines are fighting back against airline fraud.

How airline fraud is evolving, and why airlines are still at risk

Fraud rates may be declining, according to Visa, but it’s becoming more complex. The sophistication and complexity of modern airline fraud—especially airline ticket fraud means carriers must be more vigilant than ever when protecting customers. This protection has to cover both domestic and international transactions, including intra-regional and inter-regional payments.

There are various other types of airline travel fraud that can generate significant sums for criminals, making the industry a popular target.

Reasons airline fraud can be attractive to criminals include the comparatively high value of airline tickets and the scale of the opportunity. Three-quarters (72%) of people buy airline tickets online, many of them through online travel agents. Criminals target these online purchasers for airline ticket fraud through various methods, including creating fake booking and travel agent websites through which they resell tickets bought with stolen card details. 

Fraudsters are also becoming increasingly sophisticated in their tactics, using methods such as hard-to-detect synthetic identities to bypass airlines’ anti-fraud systems. Airlines also tend to use fast, low-friction platforms for booking as they want to provide a fast, easy-to-use service to boost customer numbers.

The real cost of travel fraud

Travel fraud costs the global industry more than $25 billion per year. This includes not just airlines, but also hotels, tour operators, and other businesses that serve travelers. The impact of common types of fraud, including chargeback and payment fraud, has been growing in recent years, so travel businesses must take the right steps to manage these risks.

Common airline fraud types

In 2026, common types of airline fraud include:

• Airline ticket fraud. Criminals use stolen, hacked, or otherwise compromised card details to buy airline tickets, then resell them to innocent travelers through professional-looking websites and social media accounts. The resold tickets are typically offered at a significant discount, with payments taken in cash, virtual currency, or bank transfer.
• Account takeover fraud. Fraudsters gain access to legitimate travelers' accounts through hacking, phishing, credential stuffing, or buying credentials on the dark web. They then steal stored payment details or loyalty points, which can be resold or used to purchase travel.
• Loyalty fraud. Scammers abuse airline loyalty schemes to claim benefits they are not entitled to. This includes creating multiple accounts using false identities to repeatedly claim rewards, or accessing legitimate users' accounts to redeem points before the owner notices.
• Chargeback fraud. Chargeback fraud in airlines stems from both true fraud (stolen payment details used by criminals) and friendly fraud (legitimate customers disputing valid transactions). Criminals may purchase tickets using stolen cards, resell them, then report the transaction as unauthorized. The real cardholder may also later file a legitimate dispute—but in both cases, the airline loses the revenue and operational costs while the fraudster keeps the profit.
• New account and referral incentives fraud. Fraudsters use fake identities to create accounts and repeatedly exploit welcome bonuses, vouchers, and referral promotions.
• Fake travel websites and deals. Scammers set up fake airline or travel agency websites to harvest personal and financial data or resell fraudulently purchased tickets. Victims are often targeted through social media ads and limited-time “too good to be true” offers.

Emerging and advanced airline fraud schemes

• Synthetic identity fraud. Instead of stealing a real identity, criminals combine real and fake information to create entirely new personas that pass verification checks. These accounts build history over time and are later used to make large fraudulent bookings or launder loyalty value.
• AI-powered impersonation and deepfake support scams. Fraudsters increasingly impersonate airline agents using voice cloning, deepfake video, or convincing chat interactions. Victims are tricked into sharing booking references, verification codes, or payment details during fake “customer support” interactions.
• Bot-driven inventory hoarding and scraping. Automated bots rapidly search routes, hold seats, hoard reward inventory, test stolen cards, or monitor fare changes. This enables large-scale airline ticket fraud and gives criminals an advantage over legitimate customers.
• Mule networks and travel credit laundering. Organized groups recruit intermediaries (“mules”) to move or redeem fraudulently obtained tickets, vouchers, and loyalty points, making the activity harder to trace.
• Insider threats and partner vulnerabilities. Employees, contractors, vendors, or third-party partners may abuse legitimate system access, while attackers increasingly target weaker partner integrations to gain unauthorized entry into airline systems.

Identity verification at booking

Robust passenger verification at the point of booking can make it harder for criminals to purchase tickets using fraudulent or newly created accounts. It also helps airlines link bookings to a real individual, improving risk scoring and enabling stronger monitoring across accounts and transactions.

Requiring identity verification for travel does not directly prove who will physically travel, but it can help airlines detect suspicious patterns—for example, when multiple identities, cards, or accounts are used to purchase tickets for unrelated passengers, a common sign of airline ticket fraud.

Card verification and 3D secure

3-D Secure (3DS) is an authentication protocol used to verify online card payments. It allows the issuing bank to confirm the cardholder during checkout using methods such as one-time passcodes, banking app approval, or biometric confirmation.

This process helps prevent unauthorized card use and shifts liability for many fraudulent transactions from the airline (merchant) to the issuing bank when authentication is successful. As a result, 3DS is one of the primary tools used to reduce payment fraud and chargeback losses.

However, 3DS does not stop all fraud—particularly account takeover or authorized push payment scams—so it is typically combined with additional fraud detection controls.

Device fingerprinting for fraud

Device fingerprinting helps detect suspicious activity by analyzing technical attributes of a user’s browser and device, such as configuration, environment, and behavior patterns, to recognize returning devices or unusual access attempts.

It allows airlines to identify behaviors associated with fraud, including:

• multiple bookings made rapidly from the same device
• card testing attempts
• account takeover activity
• automated bot transactions

Because fraudsters often reuse infrastructure at scale, device intelligence is highly effective for detecting airline ticket scams when combined with behavioral and payment risk signals.

Biometric boarding technology

Biometric boarding will be ubiquitous in the near future, with 98% of airlines saying they either currently use the technology or will be implementing it soon. Tools such as airport facial recognition can make air travel much more secure by adding a strong additional layer of protection against the risk of people using fake or stolen identities when traveling.

How biometric gates work

Biometric boarding gates are used for facial recognition in airports. They capture biometric data such as fingerprint, iris, or facial scans, then instantly compare this against the data stored on a traveler’s passport or a trusted database. The gate will only unlock and allow the passenger to continue their journey if their biometric data matches that on record.

TSA PreCheck and Touchless ID

TSA PreCheck is a system offered to US citizens, nationals, and lawful permanent residents that provides a faster, simpler security experience when traveling through US airports. It allows travelers to have their identity checked at a trusted location, after which they are issued a Known Traveler Number (KTN), which they can add to their booking. They can then use the dedicated PreCheck lanes to clear airport security screening much faster.

From Spring 2026, TSA PreCheck users can also benefit from a new Touchless ID system, which uses facial comparison technology to allow passengers to pass through security using only their face for identification purposes (although carrying a physical ID as a backup is recommended).

Airlines using biometric boarding

US airlines that will be offering biometric boarding under the TSA Touchless ID system are Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines.

But biometric boarding is only the first step. Across APAC, airports are expanding this concept into full digital identity systems. Governments and airports are introducing reusable digital IDs that link a passenger’s verified identity to their biometrics, allowing travelers to verify themselves once and use it throughout the journey—from payment and check-in to passport control and boarding. Major hubs in the region are rolling out biometric verification across multiple touchpoints, showing how air travel is moving toward a document-free passenger experience.

Suggested read: The Future Is Frictionless and Verified: How Digital ID Is Reshaping APAC

Protecting airline loyalty programs from fraud

Loyalty fraud prevention doesn’t just stop criminals. It also maintains customer trust and protects brand reputation. Effective protection requires both securing customer accounts and identifying loyalty program fraud early to reduce losses.

Account takeover prevention

Strong account takeover prevention measures reduce the risk of criminals accessing customer accounts to redeem rewards. Multi-factor authentication is a core safeguard, requiring users to verify their identity through an additional step such as an authenticator app, SMS code, or email confirmation. While not foolproof on its own, it significantly increases the difficulty of unauthorized access when combined with monitoring controls.

Detecting loyalty points fraud

Behavioral monitoring and AI-assisted tools support real-time loyalty fraud detection by flagging unusual activity, such as sudden point transfers, rapid redemptions, or logins from new devices or locations. These systems help airlines quickly investigate and stop loyalty points fraud before significant value is lost.

AI and machine-learning detection

Modern fraud detection is heavily reliant on AI and machine learning to help keep up with the scale and sophistication of criminals’ tactics. Machine learning fraud detection tools can allow much faster and more accurate fraud prevention, while also reducing friction for customers by making anti-fraud checks less onerous.

Real-time transaction scoring

AI-powered transaction monitoring facilitates real-time fraud detection by allowing transactions to be checked for signs of fraud as they occur. Transactions can then be given risk scores based on how likely they are to indicate criminal activity, with high-scoring transactions being flagged for further investigation.

This approach is increasingly necessary for payment fraud prevention, especially as fraudsters are now often using AI technology themselves to carry out transactions at a speed and scale beyond the capacity of non-AI anti-fraud systems.

Adaptive fraud rules

Traditional fraud detection systems use set rules to decide whether a particular transaction or other activity shows signs of fraud. This can lead to more sophisticated fraud slipping through the net, as well as a high rate of ‘false positives’ where legitimate activity is flagged as suspicious.

AI-driven fraud detection tools can be much more effective, with the ability to adapt and learn from new data. This type of fraud detection using machine learning can better spot new and more complex types of fraud, as well as reduce false positives by not relying on an overly rigid set of criteria to determine what activity indicates criminal activity. 

Regulations shaping airline fraud prevention compliance

Some travel businesses—particularly those handling payments or stored value—may fall under anti-money-laundering (AML) and fraud-prevention obligations that require customer identity checks. For airlines, requirements vary by jurisdiction and business model: carriers are not regulated like banks, but they may still need verification measures for payment risk controls, sanctions screening, and certain cross-border transactions.

Many regions have also introduced broader payment security laws affecting airlines as online merchants. For example, the Revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) in the European Economic Area strengthened payment protection requirements, while jurisdictions such as the UK and Australia have introduced corporate duties to prevent fraud affecting consumers.

PSD2 and payment security

Under PSD2, online payments may require strong customer authentication, meaning the payer must verify their identity using two independent factors, such as a password, device, biometric, or one-time code.

Airlines commonly meet strong customer authentication requirements using 3D Secure authentication (typically 3DS2). However, authentication is risk-based—exemptions allow low-risk transactions to proceed without step-up verification to reduce checkout friction while maintaining security.

The future of airline security

Airline security is increasingly moving toward identity-based travel. Biometric screening is expected to play a growing role by linking a traveler’s face or fingerprint to a verified identity and boarding pass. This helps confirm that the person flying matches the passenger associated with the booking while also speeding up airport processes and reducing queues.

Digital identity builds on this approach by allowing passengers to verify themselves once and reuse that verification across check-in, bag drop, security, and boarding. Instead of repeatedly presenting documents, the traveler’s approved identity can be securely shared between trusted systems, improving both security and convenience.

AI and machine learning are also becoming key tools in preventing airline fraud. They enable faster identity verification and support real-time monitoring across large volumes of bookings, helping airlines detect suspicious behavior and prioritize high-risk activity for review.

However, fraud tactics continue to evolve. Criminals constantly adapt their methods to bypass controls, so airlines must continually update detection strategies and combine identity verification, monitoring, and behavioral analysis to keep risks low.

✈️ 👤 Traveller awareness: How passengers can avoid travel scams

While airlines invest heavily in security, travel fraud prevention also depends on passenger awareness. Understanding how to avoid travel fraud can significantly reduce the chances of criminals successfully exploiting stolen tickets or compromised accounts.

Safe booking practices

When booking flights, travellers should use official airline websites or reputable travel agencies and only pay through secure pages (those beginning with https). Suspiciously cheap last-minute tickets or requests to pay in cash, cryptocurrency, or bank transfer are common warning signs. Staying alert to these signals plays an important role in the prevention of fraud in travel.

Monitoring your accounts

Passengers should also keep an eye on their bookings and loyalty balances. Unexpected reservations, missing points, or unfamiliar login activity may indicate account compromise. Reporting these quickly allows airlines to intervene before losses escalate, and some carriers provide alerts or a loyalty fraud monitoring service to help detect suspicious activity early.

Remaining cautious online and regularly reviewing account activity helps travellers protect both their trips and their rewards.

FAQ

• What is biometric boarding?

  Biometric boarding is a method airlines can use to verify travelers’ identities using facial recognition technology. It involves checking a traveler’s face against their ID by having them look into a camera.

• How does facial recognition work?

  How facial recognition technology works is by using special cameras and software to analyze a user’s face, mapping key measurements (such as the distance between their features) and the shape of features such as their nose, eyes, and jaw. This is then compared against the information held for the user in a trusted database.

• What is account takeover fraud?

  Account takeover fraud is where criminals use stolen credentials, hacking, and other means to access legitimate users' accounts. They can then make money in ways such as ordering tickets with users’ payment details, then reselling them and redeeming any loyalty rewards they are owed.

• How to prevent chargeback fraud?

  There are various ways to prevent chargeback fraud, including strict identity requirements to stop fraudulent users and effective transaction monitoring to identify any suspicious patterns of behavior.

• What is loyalty fraud?

  Loyalty fraud generally involves any fraudulent exploitation of a loyalty scheme, either through criminals creating fake accounts to claim loyalty rewards or accessing legitimate users’ accounts to redeem their unclaimed loyalty rewards.