Online travel booking scams: Follow these tips to save your Hard earned money

In an attempt to get a bargain deal for a budgeted trip, many people end up losing their hard-earned money to fraudsters. The onset of the vacation season marks a sharp rise in online hotel bookings and ticket bookings.

Several reports suggest that as many as 94% of people booked their itineraries online, which makes it a perfect opportunity for fraudsters to fool people.

According to ‘Safer Holidays’ Travel report by McAfee Corp, around 51 per cent of Indians fell victim to online scams while trying to save money when booking travel. It is safe to book tickets on trusted websites, but lucrative discounts and offers often lead people to fake websites. Smartly planning a trip with simple precautions while surfing online can save you from such frauds and scams.

Follow these tips to save yourself from online booking fraud

Think before paying

After choosing the desired room as per your travelling dates, think once before hitting the payment option. Check all the refund policies of the company. Even talk to the customer care number provided on the website to get sure about your bookings. It is also important to find out if you searched for the website on your own, or if you landed there by clicking any random link. If it is the second case, you must be careful as it could be a phishing attempt.

Use VPN

Always use a Virtual Private Network, while doing bookings or at the time of accessing public WiFi connection with your device. VPN helps people in changing their device’s digital location to some other address to prevent hacking.

Public WiFi

Avoid using public WiFi as much as possible. Even though they are free, they also carry the risk of hacking and virus attacks on connected devices. It also makes connected devices prone to information leaks.

Do a reality check

Before booking a hotel, do you share research about that hotel, rental property, or hostel? Check its existence on other hotel booking sites, try to get its contact number, talk to the property owner and ensure its authenticity. It is advisable to choose the ‘Book Now Pay Later’ option.

Antivirus protection plan

Spend some extra money, and buy an antivirus protection plan for your device to ensure extra protection at the time of virus attacks and phishing attacks.

Too good to be true

If you are visiting a new website, you had never heard of before, for travel and hotel bookings, make sure to check its refund policy. If all the things, including hotel booking options, prices, and discounts, look attractive, take a step back and think if there are enough reviews to check its authenticity or not. If you can’t find enough reviews, just leave the website and do a booking from somewhere else.