Shocking information was published the day before by the non-profit American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), which studied fraud statistics in the online hotel booking market. According to AHLA, about 15 million tourists in different countries (about 6% of the total) fall victim to fraudsters every year, and the total amount of money stolen by criminals reaches 1.3 billion dollars.
According to AHLA Vice President Maryam Kop, the most popular scheme deceiving tourists when booking hotels, is the creation of a network of fraudulent sites that copy in detail the web resources of popular and reputable online booking systems.
Fraudsters post advantageous offers on "fake" websites, organize unprecedented promotions and discounts, forcing visitors to immediately pay for a reservation without proper verification. Maryam Kop noted the ever-increasing quality fraudulent sites, which are practically indistinguishable from the originals. They publish real photos of numbers, logos of large companies, official information, which lulls users' vigilance.
The cop recalled that criminals regularly try to fake the websites of the leaders of the online hotel booking market, and called on tourists to be vigilant.
Let us add that a few weeks ago, the database of users of the largest booking site fell into the hands of criminals Booking.com. Fraudsters, using their database of email addresses, sent users offers on behalf of Booking.com to pay for the rooms booked in full, contrary to the original booking conditions.
