The holiday season is always a busy one for air travel and  we can expect delays and cancellations due to a variety of reasons.  Unfortunately, scammers will be taking advantage of the situation. Delays and cancellations occur for a number of reasons including bad weather  and air traffic control issues.  Weary travelers are always looking for help and assistance from their airline.  Often the inconvenienced travelers will turn to social media for help and scammers who monitor social media for posts from disgruntled travelers respond posing as airline customer service representatives. The scammers lure their targeted victims into clicking on links to go to phony airline websites where they are manipulated into providing personal information that can be used to make them victims of identity theft.  Scammers are using AI to make these phony websites appear very legitimate and convincing.

TIPS

Never click on a link in any email, text message or social media post that purports to take you to a company with which you do business.  The risk of it being a scam or downloading dangerous malware is too great.  Instead, go directly to the website of the company through a URL that you know is legitimate.  In the case of an airline, contact customer service through the airline’s official website or app or phone number you have confirmed is legitimate.

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