Travel industry warned of ‘tsunami of fraud’ as AI fuels new scams - Travel Weekly - Home

Speaking at the Abta Travel Convention in Madeira, cybersecurity expert Jenny Radcliffe, known as 'The People Hacker', warned that advances in technology were creating new opportunities for fraudsters to exploit human behavior in the travel industry.

AI-powered scams

Radcliffe highlighted the growing sophistication of voice cloning and deepfake videos, which criminals can use to impersonate people convincingly. 'What me and my crew can do is limited by human resources, human energy. But what AI can do is do it faster, quicker, almost as well,' she said.

Vulnerabilities in travel

Travel businesses are particularly vulnerable because employees frequently have to respond to genuine emergencies and make decisions under pressure. Fraudsters deliberately exploit these situations by creating a sense of urgency, encouraging people to act without checking legitimacy.

Radcliffe identified five common warning signs of attempted fraud: money or something of value, an unusual context, heightened emotion, urgency and a request for action. She also warned that smaller businesses and suppliers could provide criminals with routes into larger organizations.

Human defense

Radcliffe stressed that cybercrime was not simply a technological problem, with criminals increasingly using information shared online to construct convincing scams. Social media posts can reveal personal details, relationships and routines that could subsequently be used to target individuals or their employers.