Passport to Scam Island: Fraud in the Travel Industry (2026)

The global travel industry boomed in 2025, contributing a record $11.7 trillion to the global economy and accounting for 10.3% of global GDP, with many countries reliant on the industry. According to UN Tourism’s World Tourism Barometer, over 1.1 billion tourists traveled internationally from January to September 2025, about 50 million more than in the same period of 2024.

While destination policies still vary widely when it comes to visas and immigration, unfortunately, online fraud in the travel industry can’t be stopped by borders or visas. It’s just as global and sophisticated as the travelers themselves.

We have seen a staggering rise in fraud in the travel industry. Back in June 2024, Booking.com reported that they had seen up to a 900% increase in travel scams over the previous 18 months, an increase quickly outpacing the sector’s growth. Since then, the rapid development of AI has further increased the sophistication of fraud, including fraud affecting the travel industry.

So, how exactly does fraud impact the travel industry? What’s behind this monumental rise in scams, and how can identity verification help protect businesses and their customers?

Exploring the travel fraud landscape

Air travel

According to IATA, airlines were the vertical most affected by online fraud, accounting for 46% of all fraudulent transactions. Common forms of fraud include:

Payment fraud: Stolen card details may be tested on low-cost fares or add-on items. When they pass, criminals may escalate to expensive long-haul tickets, later reselling them to unsuspecting buyers.

Stolen or synthetic identities: Fraudsters may book flights using stolen or synthetic identities, exploiting the fact that identity verification typically occurs later in the travel journey, allowing fraud to pass undetected at the payment stage.

Ticket resale fraud: According to Interpol, black- and gray-market resellers often use illegitimate payment methods to purchase airline tickets, which are then sold at a discount. When chargebacks occur, airlines typically absorb the loss, and passengers may be left stranded.

Loyalty-point theft: Frequent-flyer accounts are valuable stores of digital currency. Compromised credentials allow criminals to redeem points for flights, gift cards, or upgrades.

Insider or employee fraud: Airline employees may also be targeted for account takeover, credential compromise, or misuse of staff discount programs.

How identity verification can help: Airlines increasingly need to adapt to more stringent travel requirements, such as complying with ETIAS, while also rolling out digital and automated processes like biometric check-in, self-service bag drops, and remote identity pre-checks. All of these can introduce new fraud risks if not properly secured and expose airlines to heavy fines. 

Robust identity verification providers can support these processes by enabling fraud screening at account creation, document checks for higher-risk or suspicious bookings, and biometric verification to balance security with a frictionless passenger experience.

Accommodation

Accommodation providers face both digital and in-person fraud threats. Common forms of fraud include:

Identity mismatch between booker and guest: Fraudsters may book a stay under one name and check in under a different name, helping to obscure payment fraud and, in some cases, facilitating further criminal activity.

Chargeback fraud: Guests may claim they never stayed, the property was misrepresented, or the booking was unauthorized, fraudulently requesting a chargeback. Generative AI is making it easier to commit this type of fraud.

Fake listings and host impersonation: Scammers may copy real property photos and create fraudulent listings on alternative platforms. Users pay directly, bypassing official payment rails, and discover upon arrival that they have not booked the property, potentially damaging the true host’s reputation.

Account abuse by hosts: Hosts may misrepresent inventory, cancel last minute to force a direct payment from their guests, or exploit review systems for promotional manipulation.

How identity verification can help: Identity verification can help platforms apply document checks, liveness detection, or database verification to confirm that guests and hosts are who they claim to be, strengthening accountability and reducing fraud and disputes.

Suggested read: What Is Chargeback Fraud and How to Prevent It in 2025

Travel tech fraud: Online travel agencies, metasearch engines, and travelers are targeted

Travel tech platforms face a high risk of fraud because of their position at the top of the booking funnel. Common forms of fraud include:

Account takeover: Fraudsters may hack into existing accounts to access saved cards, loyalty points, travel documents, or passport images stored in profiles.

Promo and coupon abuse: Criminals may use bots, multi-accounting, or synthetic identities to abuse sign-up vouchers, referral bonuses, and seasonal promotions.

Fake bookings and inventory manipulation: Bots can be used to generate fraudulent reservations that later cancel, distorting demand, skewing dynamic pricing models, or enabling arbitrage schemes.

Stolen payment credentials: Online travel agents are common testing grounds for stolen card numbers due to their high volume and focus on fast checkout flows.

How identity verification can help: While travel tech companies are not regulated financial institutions, adding risk-based identity checks during account creation, high-value purchases, or when suspicious behavior is detected can reduce fraud without harming conversion rates.

Travel fraud also impacts:

• Insurance providers
• Car-rental agencies 
• Event ticketing 
• Gift card sellers
• Corporate travel platforms
• Visa and entry authorization systems

Suggested read: Trust on the Move: Fraud Prevention and Verification in the Mobility Industry (2025)

Tackling fraud risks across the travel ecosystem

The travel industry presents a uniquely attractive environment for fraud. Unlike heavily regulated sectors such as financial services, most travel companies are not subject to strict KYC/AML requirements, and digital journeys are often designed to prioritize speed and conversion. High booking volumes during peak seasons, sales, and promotions create noise that allows fraudulent activity to blend in with legitimate demand, often remaining undetected until weeks later when chargebacks surface.

Recurring fraud risks in the industry include:

Stolen payment data

Stolen payment credentials can be used to book flights, hotels, or add-ons that can be resold. Techniques include credential stuffing, card skimming, phishing pages that mimic travel brands, or card testing on low-priced inventory. Risk-based identity verification can help flag suspicious users and reduce false positives during fraud screening.

Fake or forged identity documents

Fraudsters can use altered passports, forged visas, manipulated residence permits, and low-quality synthetic IDs to pass onboarding flows. Modern identity verification solutions can use AI-powered document analysis, liveness detection, and cross-database checks to detect fraud while maintaining user convenience.

Multi-accounting and promo abuse

Perpetrators can create multiple accounts to exploit discounts, sign-up bonuses, or referral systems. This can drive up costs and distort metrics. Device fingerprinting and behavioral analysis can help platforms tackle this issue.

Suggested read: Combating Multi-Accounting

Fake support scams and social engineering

Criminals may impersonate airlines or booking platforms through SMS or email, offering fake trip updates, baggage fees, or payment verification. These scams are becoming more believable as generative AI improves, severely harming brand trust. Platforms can provide information to educate customers about the risks of fraud as well as secure support channels. Linking accounts to biometrics could also improve security. 

Fake visas and immigration-document scams

Tourists, students, and migrant workers are targeted by fraudulent visa agencies promising expedited or guaranteed approvals. Victims may pay fees and often supply sensitive personal documents, exposing themselves and their contacts to more fraud.

Suggested read: More Sophisticated—and More AI-Driven—Than Ever: Top Identity Fraud Trends to Watch in 2026

Why is fraud on the rise in the travel industry?

Fraud is rising in the travel industry because high-value bookings are made quickly through low-friction platforms, while scammers are increasingly using AI to make their attacks more sophisticated. 

Generative AI helps fraudsters produce convincing phishing emails, fake booking pages, and customer-service messages that closely mimic legitimate travel brands. 

This makes scams harder for consumers and staff to spot, and as AI-assisted fraud tools continue to evolve, tackling fraud while maintaining trust is likely to become even more challenging.

Daniel Basilio, Senior Business Development Manager at Sumsub:

For years, the travel industry consciously accepted higher fraud risk in exchange for speed, conversion, and growth. The absence of strict financial regulation and the perception of low risk per transaction made this a rational trade-off at the time. Today, with far higher volumes and more sophisticated fraud, that equation has changed. Losses have scaled, and verifying users, partners, and businesses across the travel ecosystem has become a business-critical priority.

Coping with holiday travel fraud spikes

The winter holidays lead to one of the busiest and most vulnerable periods for the travel industry. This is because of:

• A surge in bookings making fraudulent activity harder to detect
• First-time or infrequent travellers who are more vulnerable to scams
• Increased phishing campaigns exploiting seasonal urgency
• Fraudulent holiday travel offerings when people feel pressure to save money

For companies, best practices include risk-adaptive identity verification during high-velocity booking periods, enhanced monitoring of promo abuse, and stronger account takeover protection for loyalty accounts. Educating customers is essential, especially around impersonation scams that occur outside official channels.

For travelers, it is important to book through official platforms, scrutinize anything that looks too good to be true, and treat any unsolicited communication with caution. 

Here’s a short checklist for travelers to protect themselves from travel fraud:

✅ Book only through official platforms or verified travel providers.

✅ Scrutinize deals that seem too good to be true—they often are.

✅ Verify emails and messages claiming to be from airlines, hotels, or OTAs; avoid clicking suspicious links.

✅ Check reviews and listings carefully, especially for unfamiliar properties or hosts.

✅ Use secure payment methods that offer fraud protection; avoid direct bank transfers to unknown parties.

✅ Keep personal documents safe and be cautious when sharing ID or payment information online.

Suggested read: ’Tis the Season… for Scammers: Your Guide to Holiday Fraud 2026

The travel fraud shield: Identity verification in action

Travel is inherently high-risk: bookings are often high-value, time-sensitive, cross-border, and completed remotely, making airlines, hotels, online travel agents, and travel platforms attractive targets for fraudsters.

Identity verification is crucial at multiple touchpoints, from account creation and booking to check-in, ticket changes, refunds, and loyalty program access. By verifying that a customer is a real person and that they are who they claim to be, travel companies can reduce payment fraud, account takeovers, fake bookings, and more. This is especially important as digital and mobile bookings dominate, and customer interactions increasingly happen without any in-person checks. Every new layer introduces convenience, but also opportunity for abuse.

As global travel continues to grow and fraud tactics become increasingly sophisticated, driven by the emergence of new AI-driven threats, identity verification has become an invaluable tool for balancing security, customer experience, and business resilience. 

Yet, identity verification alone is not enough. As fraud is evolving beyond simple identity checks, it’s increasingly important to use a full-cycle platform to secure the whole user journey, which combines identity verification with behavioral and transaction monitoring and fraud prevention, rather than relying on KYC alone.