With the rapid rise in AI over the last several years, we’ve also seen a massive increase in AI-assisted scams. You may have heard of that use voice-cloning, (scams in which a cybercriminal uses AI to mimic a person’s voice over the phone), deepfakes (AI generated images or videos of a real person), or fake AI-generated websites, ad listings, phishing emails, etc. Although AI can be a convenient, helpful tool in everyday life, it is also a dangerous tool that can be quite easily used by bad actors to enhance their scams. One new AI-related scam that may be important to look out for during the upcoming holiday season is AI-generated fake travel destinations.
Every holiday season, a major rise in scams related to typical holiday activities occurs. Since scammers know that there will be an increase in online shopping, traveling, and so on, they tend to target those areas around the end of the year. According to TechRadar, cybercriminals have recently started using AI to create fake travel destinations, itineraries, websites, and videos to lure people into booking vacations to destinations that don’t actually exist. In some cases, the listings can be extremely convincing, accompanied by realistic photos, videos, and even positive reviews.
These listings can typically be found first in targeted email or social media ads that ultimately lead you to the fake listings by creating a sense of urgency. Once the victim decides to book the trip due to the enticing AI-generated images, videos, and reviews, they can pay a deposit or the full fee for the trip. Eventually the victim will discover that the destination doesn’t actually exist, but their money will be long gone.
Due to the rapidly-improving nature of AI, these sorts of scams are getting harder and harder to spot. AI can resolve problems like spelling errors or sketchy-looking websites that were obvious signs of a scam before. When surfing the web, you should always start with a healthy dose of skepticism. Always verify travel destinations on sites like Google maps or travel forums or a travel agent before spending any money. If a deal feels too good to be true, it probably is. If you get a targeted ad for a destination you may be interested in, especially if the location or resort is brand new, try doing outside research on the destination rather than clicking through the ad.
There’s nothing worse than having a planned special trip for the holidays to turn out to be completely fake – you lose out on both the trip and the money!
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