The company’s online security head, Marnie Wilking, mentioned that there has been a significant surge of “between 500 to 900%” in the last year and a half.”
She mentioned a significant rise in phishing scams, where individuals are deceived into sharing their financial information, following the introduction of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT into the market.
“Sure, phishing has been around ever since email became a thing, but the increase really kicked in right after ChatGPT was introduced,” she mentioned.
She mentioned that the attackers are for sure utilizing AI to carry out attacks that imitate emails much more effectively than any previous attempts they have made.
Phishing scams frequently attempt to trick individuals into providing their card information by sending them bogus internet booking links that appear very convincing.
Booking.com and Airbnb are frequently targeted by scammers due to their platform that enables individuals to list their own accommodations.
Once the payment is made, the scammers can either disappear completely, leaving the buyer stranded without accommodation, or they may attempt to deceive them further by sending additional messages in an effort to extract more money.
These sorts of scams have existed for many years, often revealing themselves through clear signs of fraud like spelling errors and poor grammar.
However, speaking at the Collision technology conference in Toronto, Ms. Wilking pointed out that AI is making these scams harder to detect because it can generate realistic images and much more accurate text across multiple languages.
She wants hotels and travelers to start using two-factor authentication, which includes an extra security step like entering a code sent to your phone. She believes it’s the most effective method to fight against phishing and credential theft.
She also emphasized the importance of being extra cautious when clicking on links.
However, even though she criticized the way scammers exploit AI, she mentioned that the technology also enables Booking.com to swiftly eliminate fraudulent hotels attempting to deceive people.
She mentioned that AI models have been established to identify and prevent those from accessing the platform or remove them before any bookings are made.
Jane Hawkes, a travel industry specialist focusing on consumer issues, emphasized the need for travel providers to increase their efforts in educating the public about scams.
She mentioned that it’s also their duty to help travelers avoid getting scammed.
She emphasized the importance of conducting thorough research to prevent falling for scams in the first place.
She mentioned to make sure that contact information is easily accessible on websites and that there is a phone number. Apparently, numerous scam sites intentionally omit this crucial detail.
