Arc Reports 50 Percent Drop In Unauthorized Ticketing But Warns Of New Travel Fraud Threats

Published on August 19, 2025

The hose and recreation manufacture is seeing immoderate occurrence successful curbing unauthorized ticketing, pinch a important 50 percent alteration successful fraud involving recreation agency credentials, according to the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC). This alteration follows nan implementation of caller information measures, including mandatory multifactor authentication and regular cybersecurity training for accredited U.S. recreation agencies. Despite these advances, nan wide level of fraud successful nan recreation manufacture remains a increasing concern, pinch new, progressively blase threats emerging.

ARC, successful collaboration pinch Mastercard and fraud prevention exertion institution Riskified, has highlighted that fraud continues to beryllium a important challenge. While unauthorized ticketing has been reduced, different forms of fraud, specified arsenic in installments paper theft and loyalty points fraud, person seen important increases. ARC’s head of gross integrity, Cornelius Hattingh, warned that nan manufacture must stay vigilant, arsenic fraud schemes germinate rapidly.

Cybersecurity Measures Have Helped Reduce Unauthorized Ticketing

Unauthorized ticketing, which occurs erstwhile cybercriminals usage stolen recreation advisor credentials to rumor fraudulent tickets, remains a important threat. In caller years, criminals often get these credentials done phishing schemes, successful which they instrumentality individuals into disclosing passwords aliases delicate information. ARC’s caller information policies, including nan request for multifactor authentication and mandatory cybersecurity training, person played a captious domiciled successful reducing this type of fraud.

The measures look to person made a noticeable difference. In 2024, nan incidence of unauthorized ticketing was importantly higher, pinch cybercriminals often gaining entree to recreation agency systems done phishing attacks. But pinch nan implementation of ARC’s information protocols, nan complaint of successful attacks has dropped by half successful 2025, demonstrating nan effectiveness of these protective steps.

Fraud Continues to Threaten nan Travel Industry

Despite these gains, ARC acknowledges that fraud remains a awesome problem for nan recreation sector. Phishing attacks proceed to beryllium a superior method for fraudsters to bargain recreation supplier credentials. Additionally, fraudsters are progressively turning to stolen in installments paper accusation and loyalty points to make fraudulent purchases.

Fraud successful nan recreation manufacture has been connected nan rise, pinch reports from Mastercard and Riskified showing an alarming uptick successful fraudulent activities. Riskified noted that nan dollar worth of fraudulent transactions successful nan hose manufacture was astir 2.5 times higher than nan mean crossed different industries. In fact, nan complaint of fraudulent formation bookings has risen by 14 percent YoY successful 2024, pinch edifice transaction fraud besides seeing an summation of 49 percent.

New Fraud Schemes Pose Emerging Threats

Fraudsters are perpetually evolving their tactics, creating caller challenges for recreation agencies and operators. One specified emerging threat involves scammers approaching recreation agencies for seemingly morganatic partnerships, offering incentives successful speech for entree to nan agency’s system. Once nan agency provides this access, nan fraudster fails to transportation nan promised funds, resulting successful important financial losses.

This peculiar strategy has already resulted successful 1 agency losing astir 1 cardinal USD. According to ARC’s Hattingh, this is simply a increasing interest for nan industry, and agencies request to beryllium other cautious erstwhile entering into caller partnerships. Agencies are advised to behaviour thorough owed diligence and verify nan authenticity of imaginable business partners.

Additionally, fraudsters are taking a much observant attack erstwhile booking flights. By utilizing matching IP addresses from nan aforesaid geographic location arsenic nan booking, they trim their chances of detection. Criminals are besides progressively favoring last-minute bookings to debar chargebacks, making it moreover harder for agencies to place and forestall fraudulent activities.

The Rise of Fake Travel Agencies and Account Takeovers

Another troubling inclination identified by fraud prevention experts is nan summation successful clone recreation agencies that mimic morganatic online recreation agencies (OTAs) to bargain in installments paper information. These fraudulent agencies create convincing websites and usage clone branding to look legitimate, attracting unsuspecting customers. As nan request for recreation continues to rise, these fraudulent entities person go a much important threat to some travelers and nan recreation industry.

Account takeovers, wherever fraudsters summation entree to customer accounts done phishing attacks, are besides connected nan rise. Once they person control, fraudsters tin make fraudulent bookings, often utilizing stolen in installments paper information aliases loyalty points. This type of fraud not only affects customers but besides damages nan estimation of morganatic recreation agencies.

Staying Ahead of Fraud: Industry Collaboration and Vigilance

To combat these evolving threats, nan recreation manufacture must proceed to fortify its cybersecurity measures and activity collaboratively crossed sectors. ARC’s caller information measures person made advancement successful reducing unauthorized ticketing, but arsenic fraud schemes turn much sophisticated, ongoing vigilance is essential.

Travel agencies must guarantee their unit are regularly trained connected information protocols and that they are equipped to admit imaginable threats. Agencies must besides put successful robust fraud discovery and prevention technologies to place suspicious activity and protect their systems from cyberattacks. Strengthening partnerships pinch fraud prevention tech companies for illustration Riskified tin besides play a important domiciled successful minimizing nan consequence of fraud successful nan industry.

The Path Forward: Ensuring Security successful nan Travel Sector

Travel remains a apical target for cybercriminals, moreover aft sizeable investments successful security. Fraud is catching up, spilling from fraudulent summons purchases to clone account-access edifice bookings. For agencies to enactment up and succeed, addressing cyber consequence is nary longer optional; they must cook resiliency into each customer and operating acquisition and support defenses existent pinch a perpetually shifting threat model.

American Airlines and Airlines Reporting Corp. (ARC) teams, for instance, are building analytics capabilities to floor plan patterns summons fraud has ne'er shown before. Unauthorized summons issuance, nan astir visible threat 2 years back, has fallen by double digits since nan deployment, offline citation by analysts, and ingestion of behavioral data. Security improvements are encouraging, but fraud rings accommodate faster; technological support must lucifer nan complaint of onslaught evolution. Mutual investments successful move sac, precocious analytics, and instrumentality learning are manufacture levers disposable to support pace.