The travel scam hiding in your inbox.
Planning a trip? Make sure the confirmation email is legit.
You have your flights booked, hotel sorted, inbox filling up with confirmations.
Everything looks normal.
Yet, every year around travel season, fake booking emails start showing up.
They look like they’re from airlines, hotels, or travel platforms you already use.
And they’re good.
Not obvious scams. Not broken English. Not suspicious enough to raise alarms right away.
Just normal-looking emails, at the right time.
How It Starts: The Fake Confirmation Email.
An email lands in your inbox.
It looks like a confirmation or an update.
Maybe it’s from a familiar name like Expedia, Delta or a hotel chain.
The branding looks right. The format feels right.
Even the tone sounds like something you’ve seen before.
Subject lines usually push you to act:
“Your itinerary has been updated.”
“Action required to confirm your booking.”
“Final step to complete your reservation.”
Nothing extreme.
Just enough urgency to get you to click.
What Happens: The Click That Causes the Problem
You open it. You click the link.
It takes you to a page that looks exactly like the real thing.
Login screen. Clean layout. No obvious red flags.
So you log in.
Or you enter payment details.
Or you download what looks like your itinerary.
That’s the moment it happens.
Your credentials get captured.
Your card details get stored.
Or something gets installed on your device.
And you don’t notice anything right away.
Why This Fake Email Works So Well
It doesn’t rely on tricks.
It relies on timing.
You’re already expecting travel emails. You’ve probably received a few real ones already.
So when another one shows up, you don’t question it.
You’re either busy or distracted or just trying to get something done quickly.
And that’s all it takes.
Where It Gets Risky: Businesses Are Victims.
This isn’t just a personal issue.
It can become a business problem pretty quickly.
Most companies have one person handling travel planning: the flights, hotel bookings, car rentals, expense tracking, etc.
That person sees dozens of emails like this.
So when a fake one slips in, it doesn’t stand out.
One click can lead to:
- Company card details are being exposed
- Login credentials for travel accounts are getting compromised
- Malware entering your system
All from something that looked routine.
How to Protect Your Business
You don’t need anything complicated here.
Just a few habits that slow things down slightly.
- Don’t click links in travel emails if you can avoid it. Go directly to the website instead.
- Check the sender’s email address and name. Scammers sometimes alter the words, for example writing @westin.hotel.com instead of @westin.marriott.com
- Train your employees to recognize phishing scams, especially those handling company travel bookings.
- Add Multifactor Authentication. Even if credentials gets exposed, MFA adds an extra layer of security.
- Enable e-mail security measures on businesses accounts to block malicious links and attachments.
If something asks for login or payment details, pause for a second. Real services don’t rush you like that.
A Quick Check Before Travel Season Picks Up
If you travel for work, or someone on your team handles bookings, this is worth paying attention to.
If your business already has basic checks in place for things like this, you’re in a good spot.
If not, you should take a quick look at how booking emails and travel-related logins are handled.
We can walk through it with you. Book your 15-minute Discovery call here
Nothing complicated. Straight answers. No pressure.
Just making sure one email doesn’t turn into a bigger issue.
You might not be able to stop scams completely.
But you won’t fall easily for them.
