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Hoteliers told to tighten security to stop credit-card fraud
The hotel industry and Facebook have been singled out for the roles they play in facilitating credit-card fraud.
The Airline Information Group says that while many instances of fraud begin with hackers stealing numbers, a large portion also begins with employees of "gas stations, restaurants and particularly hotels" stealing numbers from customers.
AIG managing partner Michael Smith, said front-line hotel employees can easily access and steal credit card numbers, paper copies of which often are stored at the properties.
These paper copies are "much less secure than the masked electronic credit card information standard in almost any other industry".
Hotels are responsible for nearly a third of all credit card fraud globally, and thieves often then use the numbers, combined with data they extract about the customer from Facebook, to buy airline tickets.
Facebook, by its very open nature, is an easy tool for the selling of credit card data, as well as for sharing information between fraudsters on how to successfully steal card numbers and commit identity theft.
Jan-Jaap Kramer, CEO of the Dutch fraud prevention consultancy FraudGuard, says criminal rings have set up many pages on Facebook to facilitate and share information about credit card fraud.
Many of these show all credit card details like CVC code, expiry code, the PIN code for online payments and personal data of the cardholder including home address, date of birth, social security numbers and more.
"We have asked Facebook to block these pages, but it takes no action," Kramer says.
"The result is greater fraud losses for consumers and merchants, ruined credit records and misery trying to sort out fraudulent transactions."
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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