Spot Travel Scams | How to Protect Your Vacation with E-IDV

In today’s digital world, individuals frequently travel from different parts of the world for business and entertainment purposes. The tourism and traveling sector is a highly susceptible industry as it regularly deals with thousands of travelers from different backgrounds.

The passengers face recurring travel scams in the form of stolen payment and credit card details. According to a report, approximately 4.5% of all online bookings were rejected due to malicious ticketing activities. The traveling agencies must secure the traveler’s details via electronic identity verification services. It protects the traveler’s confidential details from unauthorized access and prevents credit card fraud.          

Analysis of Travelling Industry – Identify Frequently Occurring Travel Frauds

Travel scams refer to the illicit activities associated with tourism and travel services. The traveling industry encompasses malicious ticketing and payment fraud, which affect the traveler’s experience. Scammers can affect the traveling experience by committing the following frauds:

• False Insurance Claims: Imposters manipulate the traveling agency by filing illicit insurance claims related to missing luggage and injuries and demanding financial compensation. 
• Credit Card Fraud: The scammers capture the traveler’s credit card information and use the details to book a flight with packages. Later, they try to refund the tickets and demand chargebacks from travel agencies in their accounts.   
• High Prices for Hotel Booking: This is a recurring travel fraud because the imposters cooperate with the hotels to raise the accommodation prices and traveling expenses, causing inconvenience for the travelers.           

EIDV for Travel Industry – A Seamless Travelling Fraud Mitigation Strategy

Travel scams can effectively be eliminated by incorporating electronic identity verification solutions. It protects online travel platforms from filing travel tickets to unauthorized identities. Electronic IDV solutions utilize biometric verification that prompts customers to validate their identities through face ID checks and fingerprint scanning. These facial characteristics are compared with the customer’s stored information in the official government directories, leaving no room for imposters to harm the traveler’s experience. The availability of electronic face verification kiosks in airports can further validate the traveler’s identity while providing them with a seamless onboarding experience.         

Document Verification – Combat Card Fraud and Ensure Contactless Hotel Check-Ins

The pre-verification of passenger’s documents can save time during the onboarding process. Travel agencies must validate the customer’s credentials before giving them access to digital hotel check-ins. Digital document verification can save traveling agencies from hefty amounts by limiting the access of imposters from breaching the traveler’s confidential information. As these verification services comply with the KYC rules, they authenticate the customer’s risk profiles with a due diligence service to prevent risky entities from accessing credit cards.    

EIDV Solution – Use Cases to Streamline the Passenger’s Travelling Experience 

Electronic identity verification can be used in the travel sector to streamline the traveler’s experience. EIDV solution can help customers book online flights by verifying their identities through biometric verification. It simplifies the airport check-in process as traveler’s documents can be verified digitally, saving time and effort before onboarding time-consuming flights. Online document verification can link the customer’s traveling details with their luggage to protect the items from being lost. These authentication solutions allow customers to quickly avoid the hefty queues and cross the checkpoints. The authenticated customers can board the flight easily by crossing the quick biometric verification checks.      

KYC Verification – Protecting the Travelers from Unauthorized Actions  

Digital KYC authentication backs the biometric verification solutions to protect travelers from unauthorized actions. KYC verification validates the customer’s identity with high accuracy as it uses a digital verification solution for secure operations. Digital KYC requires travelers to carry a few documents to simplify the traveling process while eliminating the risk of misplacing important documents during hefty check-in queues. Access only to authorized customers makes the traveling experience satisfactory for the customers, making them likely to revisit the same agency for future travels.      

Risk Assessment – Protecting Travel Companies from High-Profile Entities

KYC regulations require traveling agencies to conduct an elaborate analysis of customers during ticket registration. Travel companies must conduct extensive customer due diligence procedures to identify the risk patterns of potential customers. Companies must examine the customer’s past financial activities and validate their business documents. They are screened for international watchlists to identify their risk patterns. Authentic customers must not be included in the exit control and politically exposed person lists. Their income sources and addresses must be validated to prevent contact with high-profile entities.        

Summing It Up

Travel scams are significantly affecting the traveler’s experience. The arrival of electronic identity verification services can help travel companies reduce these threats as they use advanced verification technologies that prevent the imposter’s identity from accessing the legitimate customer’s confidential information. The biometrics can resolve the issue of illicit actions because they provide accurate validation of the traveler’s identity, leaving no room for credit card fraud and false insurance claims. The KYC compliance further secures the industry from money laundering risks and provides a seamless customer experience for travelers.