First considered as a precious sesame before boarding the plane, once arrived safely, the ticket immediately seems obsolete and we get rid of it carelessly. Big mistake! Far from being trivial, your plane ticket says a lot about you, because it holds a certain amount of sensitive information. Don’t be fooled, air hacking is a very common practice: cybercriminals are redoubling their inventiveness to steal travelers’ banking information. Here’s how to guard against fraudulent attempts to avoid unpleasant surprises.
What are the risks of scamming related to airline tickets?
Whether you pick up your flight ticket at the check-in counter, print it yourself or save it on your smartphone, this type of document contains sensitive information about you and your travel history. It includes your full name, flight number, seat, etc. At this stage, the danger is not really noticeable. The real problem lies in the barcode that hides additional data. Of course, the average person will not pay attention, but criminals have technological tools to scan it and easily access all your private information.
Barcode: How do hackers change your data?
Thus, the barcode allows any malicious person to identify your reservation number or gain access to your frequent flyer number. All they have to do is scan this code and use specific websites or applications that recognize and analyze different types of barcodes. Without warning, you run a great risk! Which one? By having your booking and loyalty numbers, the cybercriminal can easily change your travel dates, cancel the scheduled flight or change your booking. All they have to do is go to the airline’s website, enter your name and booking number to make the potential changes. And all this, without your knowledge of course. In addition, when third parties use your booking number, they may also access your general user account with an airline. From there, they can view all your next flights and modify them as they see fit!
No traveler is immune to this type of attack. Even less the one that underestimates cybercriminals. It is recalled that these attacks are common and that many have already paid the price! To guard against this threat, it is essential to adopt the reflex to protect your plane ticket at all costs! To prevent malicious actors from accessing your personal information, you must remain vigilant about your flight documents. Make it a habit to keep your ticket in a safe place. Also, avoid throwing it away when you reach your destination and don’t even consider throwing it away at the airport. Remember, safety always comes first!
Here’s a tip to know: If you want to avoid becoming an easy target for thieves, avoid posting your flight details online as many influencers do. By publicizing your travel plans, you announce your absence and leave your home vulnerable to burglary. Also, by taking a picture of your boarding pass, anyone can get your personal information. Save yourself headaches and keep your travel plans to yourself.
Unfortunately, the majority of airlines are often victims of fraud perpetrated by cybercriminals. The latter then take advantage of the gullibility of users to lure them by using attractive promotions. To do this, they involve the name of large companies, such as Air France for example, when this is a pure and hard scam.
The procedure is as follows: the victim receives a message on his mobile phone from one of the friends on his contact list informing him that tickets are distributed free of charge. By clicking on the link sent, the page will even display comments from lucky winners who thank the air campaign by displaying the image of their tickets. Motivated by this “evidence” that seems conclusive to you, vYou are immediately excited to enjoy it in your turn. Except that, for some strange reason, by pressing the “Get Tickets” tab, nothing is displayed and you are instead redirected to another site, which sends you back to a third and so on. It smells like a scam, but some naïve users continue the journey until they end up on a dubious site that offers unsavory goods or services. This is usually a support site where the owners of the fake page are paid for the traffic. As you will have understood, in order not to fall into the trap, you must always be very careful and never open any suspicious link received on your mobile phone or by e-mail. This is the best way to get scammed or be the victim of a malicious intrusion!
