Budget carrier AirAsia has reminded the public to exercise additional caution when making online flight and hotel bookings.
This warning is particularly important when dealing with suspicious online travel agents, as there has been a notable rise in reports of individuals being deceived by fraudulent online travel schemes.
AirAsia MOVE (formerly AirAsia Superapp) reports that based on the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group's statistics, it appears that in just two years, there have been 16 times as many internet frauds involving travel.
There has been a notable increase in the number of victims, reaching 842 in 2023, which is a significant rise compared to the 51 cases documented in 2021, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Nearly half of the victims were targeted by fraudsters pretending to offer inexpensive travel arrangements.
According to the anti-cybercrime group's record, online fraudsters managed to steal P13.2 million from their victims in 2023.
There are two types of travel scams, according to AirAsia quoting PNP.
Travelers' personal information is stolen by scammers through a practice known as "fakebooking."
In many cases, victims were persuaded to deposit a down payment or even a full payment to partake of a bogus discount, only to find out later that they had been conned.
Other cases include people who lost their money to scammers or fraudulent online travel brokers.
Police anti-cybercrime has advised air travelers that they must go to a legitimate site, page, or website to determine if there is something suspicious in their communication.
This will enable them to monitor the transaction when using legitimate applications or websites.
Rowena Rivera, AirAsia MOVE Head of Travel, urged travelers to use only legitimate booking apps like airasia Superapp, the only way to avoid scams, and avoid unverified groups and pages offering discounts on flight and hotels.
#Airlines #OnlineScam #AirAsia #OpinYon #WeTakeAStand