Travelling soon? Scammers are impersonating booking sites to steal your money
Dubai: Travellers booking flights, rides and hotels are increasingly being targeted by cybercriminals impersonating familiar travel brands, with nearly 270,000 attack attempts detected by Kaspersky over a 12-month period. The cybersecurity company recorded 262,663 detections linked to attacks masquerading as major transport brands…
Cybercriminals are increasingly impersonating travel brands to steal money from travellers, with Kaspersky detecting nearly 270,000 attack attempts in a 12-month period. Attacks using Emirates' branding accounted for 61% of transport-related detections, while Uber was targeted 37% of the time. The threat comes from various tactics, including phishing pages, fake applications, and fraudulent offers.
Banking details are the main target, as Trojan malware, which aims to steal credentials and payment information, made up 30.5% of the detected threats. Some scammers even offered fake compensation to travellers, requiring them to enter account details or pay a fee. Fake hotel bookings were also a risk, with 5,414 attack attempts detected involving travel and accommodation service brands.
To stay safe, travellers should book directly through official websites or apps, beware of deals that require immediate payment, use strong passwords and multi-factor authentication, monitor bank statements, and verify website addresses before entering payment information.
Written by urgent.news from Gulf News's reporting — not their text. Machine-written; read the original for the full account.
