Protecting yourself against travel fraud

The impact on the UK economy

Fraud has a significant impact on the UK economy:

• Cost of Fraud is estimated to be in excess of £200billion

•  Fraud increased from 41% to 45% of all reported crime (UK Government fraud strategy 2026)

• The travel industry loses an estimated $25 billion annually to fraud

• There is an impact on innocent victims, travellers and businesses

As we enter the peak holiday season, now is the time to act with the travel sector likely to be facing a sharp rise in fraud attempts, driven by fake travel agencies, cloned websites, payment diversion scams, and increasingly sophisticated social engineering attacks, with a surge in fake travel websites and online booking scams.

ATOL reported (24.02 2025) that people looking to snap up online holiday deals ahead of the summer are being warned to stay extra alert and do their research before booking their getaways, as new data reveals victims lost a total of over £11 million to holiday fraud last year.

ATOL further reported that new data shows there were 6,066 reports of holiday fraud made to Report Fraud last year, with July recorded as the highest month of reporting with 647 reports. Holiday makers lost a combined total of £11,183,957 in 2024, which is comparatively less than the £12.3 million lost in 2023. Despite the drop in reported losses, the average loss per victim remains at similar levels, with £1,851 the average in 2023 and £1,844 in 2024.

Report Fraud, the national fraud and cybercrime reporting service, has launched a fraud campaign urging the public to look out for suspiciously enticing offers online, including on social media, and do their research before booking their getaways .

The Insurance Fraud Bureau’s 2026 Strategic Threat Assessment has concluded that the threat rankings for travel are the most distinct of all insurance fraud types, with fraud arising from a wide-ranging set of circumstances that are not always easy to investigate or corroborate.

Three categories of fraud

Fraudsters constantly probe travel sector controls and processes exploiting gaps and opportunities to satisfy their nefarious gains. Fraud can be put into three categories.

Organised 

Well organised groups will constantly monitor systems and controls and target; accordingly, the current economic and global hostilities present fertile grounds for organised fraudsters to exploit. Supporting documentation is often highly sophisticated utilising AI driven technologies to produce high quality images and documentation.

Opportunistic 

These are normally genuine travellers who identify/exploit an opportunity to exaggerate a genuine claim but more likely wholly fabricate an incident in support of a claim. Supporting material can be of sufficient quality to get past first inspection and are often settled without challenge.

Exploiting legal loopholes

Normally exploited by those who have a good understanding of legal process, it could be argued this is not fraud. However, each case must be considered on its own merits. This activity is often used to elicit easy payments.

The UK government is taking a firm stance in reducing fraud. This is clearly defined within its new UK Government Fraud Strategy 2026-29 and is supported with the implementation of key legislation on 1 September 2025, being the Economic Crime & Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA) and the new corporate criminal offence of ‘Failure to prevent fraud’ . This is further supported with the introduction on 29 June 2026 of parts of the Crime & Policing Act 2026 which broadens the scope of ECCTA in terms of changes to the doctrine of corporate criminal liability and brings into play further criminal offences.

Failure to Prevent fraud what does this mean for the travel sector?

ECCTA introduces a new corporate offence for failing to prevent fraud (FTPF) committed by employees or agents for the organisation’s benefit.

For ABTA, ATOL, ABTOT, and its members this means:

• An Increase in anti-fraud controls and processes

• Tighter controls on procurement fraud

• Employee training increased fraud awareness

• Stronger oversight of subcontractors

• Robust employment checks

• Enhanced due diligence on supply chains

• Clearer internal reporting channels

• Documented anti fraud procedures

This new legislation shifts the burden, companies must prove they have/had reasonable fraud prevention procedures.

As the offence is both new and far-reaching, including extraterritorial implications, organisations should remain vigilant in maintaining and updating their fraud prevention procedures, documentation, and training programs.

In preparation travel organisations may wish to seek legal advice to navigate areas of uncertainty, this should include a review and advice on existing indemnity policies/risks.

Fraudsters will utilise AI driven technologies as well as standard desktop editing tools including standard Microsoft tools (e.g. PDF editor, Microsoft paint) to create false supporting documentation and images often referred to as shallow and deep fakes, which could include:

• Invoices

• Travel documentation

•  Images

• Screenshots

• Payslips

• Bank statements

• Court documents

• Identification

Weightmans has trained many clients on manipulated documentation, images and IDs with regularly seen examples and top tips to watch out for. Technology can also play a key part in detecting these shallowfakes, tech driven solutions are advancing at a fast pace to keep up with the fraudsters.

Consumers 

For consumers it is important that they understand the measures that can be deployed to protect themselves such as.

• Book through ABTA/ATOL/ABTOT protected providers and always verify membership on official sites.

• Avoid bank transfers and pay by credit card for Consumer Credit Act protection.

• Check images and listings by using reverse image search and contact property owners directly.

• Be cautious on social media and do not trust unsolicited digital media sites from “airlines” or “agents.”

• Verify URLs and look for HTTPS, check spelling, and confirm ATOL numbers.

• Stay safe online by using three random words to create a strong password for your email that is different to all your other passwords. If a two-step verification option is available, always set it.

• Beware of suspicious messages, be cautious of unexpected emails or messages offering unrealistic holiday deals. If you receive a suspicious email, report it by forwarding it to report@phishing.gov.uk

• Protect personal information by only filling in the mandatory details on a website when making a purchase. If possible, do not create an account for the online store when making your payment.

• Book with confidence and be sceptical of unrealistic holiday deals. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Exercise caution and research before making purchases.

• For further tips from ATOL and ABTA, visit https://www.atol.org/about-atol/how-to-check-for-protection/ or https://www.abta.com/tips-and-advice/planning-and-booking-a-holiday/how-avoid-travel-related-fraud

What to do if you think you have been scammed/defrauded?

• Contact your bank immediately as they may be able to stop or recover the payment.

• Use the Report Fraud service which is the UK’s national fraud reporting centre. Report Fraud online at UK's Home for Reporting Cyber Crime & Fraud - Report Fraud or by calling 0300 123 2040. If you live in Scotland, call Police Scotland on 101.

• Keep all evidence including emails, screenshots, receipts, and messages.

Travel Sector

Below are suggested anti-fraud recommendations that travel sector members may wish to consider assisting in mitigating organisational travel fraud risks.

Recommended Travel Sector Anti-Fraud Controls