ACTA Takes Action Against Fraud
by Judy Jacobs /The Association of Canadian Travel Agents (ACTA) has created a Fraud Incident Report system that will allow its members to alert each other about fraud affecting their businesses.
According the organization, it’s time to take action.
“We concluded that fraud incidents and attempts were on the rise and that it is critical to start sharing information and stories,” said Robyn Cino, chair of ACTA’s Fraud Committee and director of operations and agent support for tripcentral.ca.
“Sharing information will help reinforce to our members the severity of the issue of fraud and provide live examples of how it can affect their business.”
Victims of fraud
The new Fraud Incident Report initiative grew out of the organization’s Fraud Committee, formed in February 2014 to help ACTA members learn to identify fraud trends and prevent losses.
It is composed of 16 travel industry professionals representing airlines, tour operators, IATA, travel agencies, and global distribution systems.
The committee came up with the Fraud Incident Report system, after realizing that many companies were reluctant to admit they were victims of fraud.
“We have learned that to share a story of how you have been defrauded is not easy for companies to do, as they can feel that it is a reflection of their business practices,” Cino said.
Because the Fraud Committee was unable to find a platform where industry members could share information about fraudulent activities, ACTA decided to create a secure area on its website where members can do just that.
Although the effort is still new and under development, the organization intends to use the Fraud Incident Report to disseminate information on how agencies can respond effectively if they become victims of fraud.
The goal
What does ACTA expect to achieve with its new Fraud Incident Report system?
“(We expect) to keep the conversation going,” said Cino. “To work together to speak up to prove to fraudsters that travel agents are not as easy of a target to pick on as they think.
“To educate our members on what types of fraud are occurring in the marketplace and to alert them,” she added.
“And to build strength in numbers ultimately making it difficult for fraudsters to work their trade and forcing them to move along.”
Mounting scams
In the meantime, ACTA has been seeing a variety of new and existing fraud trends in Canada that prove the need for action. Among recent incidents:
Corporate account fraud: The fraudster poses as an employee of a company. With a credible email address similar to the company’s, the person asks an executive assistant to book travel, which he or she does with a travel agency.
Fraudulent booking on travel agency websites: The fraudster books a departure one to two weeks in advance, then calls the airline directly to change the reservation to a same-day departure.
Phony request for payment: One member agency received an email from IATA Finance requesting payment of an invoice. The member had no outstanding payments to IATA and upon contacting IATA discovered the email was bogus.
Imposter booking travel: A person posing as a member of a medical foundation providing care to AIDS/HIV victims tried to book travel arrangements for the organization’s medical team in Massachusetts. A suspicious agent contacted the foundation to discover the person was not connected to it and had attempted the same trick before.