Whether you’re headed to a sunny beach, a buzzing city, or even just exploring another part of your own home, travel is an exciting opportunity to unwind, see new places, and make fun memories. Unfortunately, cyber criminals aren’t known to rest or relax – and they’re likely to target tourists with phishing messages when vacationers least expect it.
Phishing is a cyber criminal’s attempt to get sensitive information or money by pretending to be a person or organization you trust. While phishing scams can happen anywhere, you may be more vulnerable while travelling, especially when you’re excited or distracted while in an unfamiliar setting. Knowing how to spot the signs can help you avoid falling for these attacks. Here are a few phishing scams that tourists are more likely to encounter and how to avoid them.
Travel deals that seem too good to be true
When you’re booking your vacation, it might be tempting to book a flight, hotel, or excursion when it’s offered at a great price. And while amazing travel deals do exist, it’s important to recognize when you could be faced with a scam. For example, it might make sense for a private room in a hostel to be $50 a night – but it wouldn’t make sense for a five-star luxury villa to cost the same.
If you receive a message offering incredible discounts that seem too good to be true, there’s a good chance they are. Always verify who the sender is before you interact with the message. Avoid clicking links if the message seems suspicious and do your research before you book anything. Whenever possible, book directly through trusted well-known travel websites or apps. Reading online reviews can also help you decide if certain deals or activities are safe to purchase.
You should also make sure the website you’re booking with offers secure payments options. Booking a travel accommodation and paying through an e-transfer, for example, is suspicious. Book directly through a verified app, use a secure payment option online or through a trusted travel advisor.
Booking confirmation scams
Right before or during your trip, you’re likely checking your inbox for travel updates. During this time, you might receive an email or text claiming there’s a problem with your flight, hotel or booking. These messages might say your flight is cancelled or that there was an issue with your hotel reservation and that you need to click a link to confirm your stay.
If you receive an urgent, suspicious, or confusing message like this, do not click anything right away. These links can cause you to lose your information or infect your device. Verify the sender and make sure that the message is being sent from an official company account. If you receive a message from a business that you never booked with, you should be safe to delete and ignore the message. If you’re unsure whether the message is real, use a secondary verification or contact method, like checking their website or calling the organization to check your booking there. If there really is a problem, you can confirm it directly without revealing your personal information.
Urgent or emergency scams
When you’re far from home, anything that sounds urgent can feel even more stressful. Cyber criminals know this and use threats and urgent language to get you to act quickly. One of the ways they do this is by pretending there’s an emergency. They might imitate embassy officials, local police, or even a friend or family member. This might look like an email or text saying that your passport has been flagged, someone has been arrested, or that you need to pay a fine right away before entering or leaving a country. These messages often sound official and will ask for personal information or payment to resolve the issue.
It's important to know that real authorities will never contact you this way and would never ask for payment or personal information over email or text. If you receive a message like this, stay calm. Check the sender’s email address or phone number to make sure they are who they say they are and avoid clicking on any links. You can also report suspicious texts to 7726 (SPAM) to help keep others safe.
If you have reason to believe you’ve been scammed when travelling abroad, be sure to check with local laws and authorities on their reporting process.
Conclusion
Phishing scams can be stressful, especially when you’re far from home. But knowing how to spot the signs can help keep you safe. Booking your accommodations and activities from trusted websites and apps, knowing how to spot a suspicious message, and knowing how to think critically and stay calm in a situation that seems urgent can help you avoid phishing messages when you’re travelling.
If you believe you have experienced a scam, you can report suspicious activity to your local police and to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre’s online reporting system or by phone 1-888-495-8501. You can also report serious cyber incidents, like targeted phishing campaigns, malware, or other digital threats to the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security or by phone at 1-833-CYBER-88.