Posted on: Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Identity theft hits travelers

By laura Bly
USA Today

At the American Society of Travel Agents' first travel fraud conference nearly two decades ago, one popular scam promised a $29 airfare to Hawai'i. The fine-print catch: a required stay at an overpriced hotel.

Variations of that con game, some pitched via the Web or cell phone text messages instead of by telemarketers, are still tripping up unwitting vacationers, experts said at the agents' latest panel last week in Washington, D.C.

But the biggest danger facing would-be travelers is the growing threat of identity theft.

Though reports of travel-related fraud have decreased for the past three years, complaints about electronic heists of credit card numbers and other personal data now make up more than one-third of all those filed to the Federal Trade Commission's consumer protection bureau, the FTC's Eileen Harrington says.

And identity theft, which often is facilitated by downloading spyware through pop-up Internet ads that frequently target vacationers, "threatens to undermine everyone's confidence about electronic commerce," Harrington says.

But while electronic theft through spyware and "phishing" schemes that solicit personal information in official-looking e-mail and Web sites may be a new menace, vacation-certificate scams are "alive and kicking" despite new laws aimed at curbing telephone solicitation, says Noelle Nachtsheim of the National Fraud Information Center. The group offers consumer advice at www.fraud.org.

"Con artists don't care about the law, and they know a lot of people want to speak to a human being (before buying a vacation)," Nachtsheim says. "By using high-pressure tactics on the phone, they're able to influence people in a way pop-up ads could never do."

Tips for avoiding travel scams:

• Do your homework: "Free" trips often entail extra fees and taxes, a high-pressure sales pitch for a timeshare or vacation club, or are valid only if you buy other services.

Get details in writing, double-check reservations with hotels or other suppliers, and know whom you're dealing with; Web sites should include a physical address and phone.

• Give pop-up ads the slip: By clicking on them, "you're asking for spyware to be downloaded on your computer," Harrington warns. Similarly, avoid accessing links or cutting and pasting from questionable e-mail messages and sending credit card numbers or other data in response to an unsolicited pitch, no matter how official it seems.

• Pay by credit card: Though its provisions are limited, federal law protects cardholders against goods and services promised but not delivered.