INDIANAPOLIS — Many Indiana families are making travel plans for this summer, but a dream trip can turn into a financial nightmare.
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The Federal Trade Commission received 64,000 reports of fraud linked to travel, vacations and timeshares in 2025.
Experts expect a surge in travel-related scams this summer as bad actors use AI to make their cons even more believable.
Roland Jones lives in Goshen, Indiana, but he’s currently visiting Disney World with his grandkids.
While doing an internet search for the trip, he ended up on a website offering specials on flights to Orlando.
“I booked it, and that same night I got a text message that said my flight was pending, and I needed to pay $400 to secure the flight,” said Jones. “I tried to call them. When they answered the phone, they told me that my flight was pending. I had to pay extra $400 to get it. I said that didn't sound right.”
Jones asked to speak to a supervisor and was told someone would call him back. No one from the website ever called him back, so Jones disputed the charges with his credit card company.
He also filed a complaint about the scam with the Better Business Bureau.
“I think the website itself is a scam,” said Jones. “You think you got a flight, but you don't actually have a flight.”
Dr. Chris Simpson, director of National University’s Center for Cybersecurity, said travel scams can come in many forms, including websites, pop-up ads, texts and phone calls.
“Scams seem kind of seasonal, right?” said Simpson. “A lot of it is typically related to airline travel, but recently there's been an uptick in hotel and booking types of scams, where people will do some type of fake booking, fake hotel site, and try to scam people that way.”
Expect travel scams to surge this summer and be more believable because of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
In a vacation rental scam, the scammers can “hijack real rental listings and advertise them as their own, so when you show up for your vacation, you find out that other people are also booked for the same property,” according to the FTC.
Scammers may copy a legitimate listing and add their own names and contact info, but they frequently list a seriously low price to attract potential renters, or they’ll tell potential renters that many people are interested in the property and that they need to wire money to be considered.
“With AI, it's really easy to copy a website,” said Simpson. “You take a popular hotel brand and just change one letter, so somebody types it in, if they have a typo, or they send them a phishing email, and they click on a link to the fake site that it looks real, and get people to enter their information that way.”
Roland Jones got his money back through his credit card dispute.
He used Magik Travel Planning by Christina to successfully book his flights to Orlando.
“I don't want nobody to experience what I had to experience and try to get my money back and miss your flight,” said Jones.
AARP TIPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM TRAVEL SCAMS:
- Determine if a website is real. You can look up a domain to confirm whether it’s legit using WhoIs.com; enter the site’s URL, and you’ll find out who owns it and where the owner resides. “When a site for Hyatt or Hertz is based in Nigeria, you know you’ve got a problem,” Weisman says. Also be suspicious if you don’t see a contact page or a physical address, phone number or email address on the site.
- Don’t trust phone numbers. Scammers can impersonate phone numbers through caller ID spoofing. If you’re renting a car, for example, confirm that you’re dialing a real customer service department (and that you’re using a legitimate company website to find contact info) before you call or click to reserve your rental.
- Do your homework. If you are planning to rent or use a travel booking agency, do some research before working with them. Search for the company’s name online, along with words like “scam,” “review,” or “complaint,” and see what pops up. Also check for complaints on the BBB website. “If you’re looking at a car rental company that you haven’t heard of, and it’s a great deal, be skeptical — especially if they tell you to act now because it’s such a great price,” Weisman says. Ask people you know and trust for referrals.
- Be cautious of travel businesses that ask you to pay before confirming reservations. “Most reputable travel agents will confirm before payment,” says the Georgia Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division. And stick with reputable companies.
- Avoid using search terms like “cheap rental cars.” Words like “cheap” can draw a higher number of bogus companies among your search results. And sometimes phony companies can appear higher in search results than real companies, says Weisman. A scammer might purchase an ad for the phony website, for example, which places it near the top of the search.
- Confirm who really owns a vacation rental. “Search online for the rental location’s address, together with the name of the property owner or rental company,” the FTC suggests. “If other ads come up for the same address but with a different owner or rental company name, that’s a sign of a scam.” When Weisman wanted to rent a place on Cape Cod, he went to the tax assessor’s website. “The name of the person who was supposedly renting it to me wasn’t the name of the owner,” he says. “That’s always a good indication that it’s not legitimate.”
- Never pay for travel services or rentals with a gift card or by wiring money. Scammers want you to pay this way — or with cryptocurrency — because “once they’ve collected the money, it’s almost impossible to get it back,” the FTC states. It’s safest to pay with a credit card, which has more protections than even debit cards. The same is true with services like Zelle and Venmo, adds Weisman. “They should never be used for commercial transactions, because they lack the fraud protection of a credit card,” he says.
- Be wary of Wi-Fi. Whether you’re at an airport or a coffee shop, connecting to public Wi-Fi can expose your personal information to hackers. Instead, connect to the internet via your smartphone’s hotspot or purchase a virtual private network (VPN), which encrypts your data.
- Avoid third-party visa programs. Americans are required to obtain visas when visiting certain countries, such as India and Australia. Third-party websites often promise to provide visas quickly for a fee, but many are scams that seek not only cash but personal information for identity theft. Instead, go to the U.S. State Department Bureau of Consular Affairs website. You’ll find procedures and links for the countries you’re planning to visit.
What to do if you’ve been targeted in a travel scam
- Report scams to local law enforcement and the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3.gov). Not every complaint leads to enforcement action, but the information can help officials spot trends and sometimes identify the criminals.
- For support and guidance, call the free AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline, 877-908-3360, to speak with trained specialists who can share information on what to do next and how to avoid future scams. The AARP Fraud Watch Network also offers online group support sessions.
