AI chatbots behind soaring number of travel scams, expert warns

Artificial intelligence (AI) has led to an explosion in online scams, a major travel firm has warned. 

Marnie Wilking, chief information security officer at Booking.com, said there has been an increase of up to 900% in the last 18 months.

In particular, she said scammers are now able to create more sophisticated phishing emails since the arrival of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools became public.

‘Of course, we’ve had phishing since the dawn of email, but the uptick started shortly after ChatGPT got launched,’ she said, reported by the BBC at the Collision technology conference in Toronto.

‘The attackers are definitely using AI to launch attacks that mimic emails far better than anything that they’ve done to date.’

Phishing attacks involving sending messages – usually emails or texts – with a link to a malicious website included. When the victim clicks on the link they may be tricked into handing over sensitive information, including card or bank details, or malware could be installed on their device.

In the case of travel scams, cybercriminals are sending what appear to be booking links. The victim then completes the process, including providing payment details, thinking they have secured and paid for accommodation.

Instead, the scammers usually vanish without a trace – or occasionally try to get even more money out of them.

Traditionally, phishing scams have often been possible to spot, often due to telltale signs such as poor spelling or grammar.

However, by using AI to translate or write copy in different languages – and create realistic images – malicious emails are becoming harder to spot, Ms Wilking said.

To help combat scammers, she is calling for the industry and customers to use two-factor authentication, offering an additional check, such as inputting a security code.

Consumer expert Jane Hawkes told the BBC travel companies need to ‘step up’ their efforts to make customers aware of scams, but that people also need to be aware of what to look out for and do their own research with ‘due diligence’.

‘Check that contact details are readily available on websites and that there is a telephone number – many scam sites purposely don’t have one.’

Using a credit card can also boost your protection, she said, as can booking package holidays, rather than separate flights and accommodation.