Bank issues alert over ghost broker travel scam

People looking to book holidays or trips away have been warned about a new type of travel scam known as ghost brokering.

The warning was issued by AIB which said the scam which sees criminals targeting people searching for online holiday or flight deals by using ads that appear to be legitimate but are not.

The ads often appear as ‘sponsored’ and direct customers to fraudulent websites, the bank said.

The websites potential victims are directed to appear sophisticated and convincing and often request phone numbers and email addresses to use their search function.

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Fraudsters then use these details to contact the person via a messaging service such as WhatsApp, to entice them into buying cheap flights or holidays.

Because they have sourced the information themselves – the would-be victim believes the offer is legitimate, pays for the holiday and authorises it.

They often receive a booking confirmation from the fake travel company, to create the appearance of legitimacy.

Once the criminal harvests the person’s card and security details, they often make several other genuine holiday bookings with legitimate merchants using the stolen card details, to sell them on to someone else later.

“International intelligence shows us that this type of fraud or ‘ghost brokering’ is on the rise and as a result, customers should exercise caution when booking holidays online,” said AIB’s Head of Financial Crime, Carol Lawton said.

“These scams are often sophisticated and even use sponsored ads to target people who may assume that the travel company is genuine.

“Not only does the person lose out on the supposed holiday they booked, they are often further defrauded when the criminals use their stolen card and security details to buy genuine holidays to sell on at a later stage. We ask our customers to always think before they click the link.”