Banking

AIB warns consumers of ‘ghostbokering’ amid uptick in travel fraud

Criminals are using sponsored ads and sophisticated websites to defraud people searching for cheap trips

Carol Lawton, AIB’s Head of Financial Crime: “These scams are often sophisticated and even use sponsored ads to target people who may assume that the travel company is genuine”

AIB has warned customers to vet travel deals and agents before booking package holidays amid global reports of rising travel fraud.

The bank urged consumers to be wary of a new type of fraud called ‘ghost brokering’, whereby criminals target people searching for online holiday or flight deals using ads that appear to be legitimate but are not.

The ads often appear as ‘sponsored’, the bank said, and direct customers to sophisticated, fraudulent websites whereby ...