MONTREAL - Mark Kalinowski鈥檚 dad fell for a classic travel scam.
鈥淪omeone called one day and said, 鈥楬ey, good news, you won a trip to Florida. It鈥檚 all paid for. Just pay that $200 upfront holding fee,鈥欌 Kalinowski recalled from his home in Calgary.
鈥淗e鈥檚 like, 鈥極h yeah, let me give you my credit card.鈥欌
His dad didn't sweat the loss, which occurred over a decade ago. But since then, the stream of travel scams has become a flood, posing pitfalls that range from fake websites to phishing emails, phoney vacation listings and hacked loyalty points.
The Association of 好色tv Travel Agencies and Travel Advisors, along with other industry groups abroad, has warned about a proliferation of scam and fraud attempts over the past several years as artificial intelligence tools expand the range of criminal opportunities.
Online travel giant said in 2024 that AI had fuelled an increase in travel scams of between 500 and 900 per cent over the previous 18 months.
That same year, Flight Centre Canada told 好色tvit worked with Google and other search engines to take down more than 200 fraudulent listings on impostor websites in just one month after the search results began appearing in online queries for the travel agency.
Kalinowski, a financial educator at the Credit Counselling Society, says would-be customers should be wary of online ads that link to third-party platforms posing as a hotel or airline.
鈥淪cams are becoming more prevalent. People from all different segments and classes and cohorts of life fall for them. It鈥檚 not a question of intelligence,鈥 he said.
Some fraudulent websites take photos and information from hotel, airline and cruise sites to create the impression customers are booking through those same companies.聽
鈥淚f you book from one of these sites, there鈥檚 no guarantee you鈥檒l get the room you paid for, and you may not find out until you arrive at the destination 鈥 and by that time, your money is likely gone,鈥 Toronto-Dominion Bank warned in a post about travel scams on its website.
Fraudulent postings on vacation rental platforms pose similar risks.
鈥淵ou鈥檒l think you鈥檙e booking an Airbnb or VRBO, and there鈥檚 just nothing there when you arrive on the other side,鈥 Kalinowski said.
Other telltale signs of a travel scam include deals that appear too good to be true, high-pressure sales tactics and requests for payment outside usual methods, such as wire transfers rather than payment through the Airbnb app, for example.
Kalinowski recalls one ad, supposedly for Southwest Airlines, that bundled those first two red flags 鈥 a tempting offer and urgency 鈥 together by offering free flights to the first 500 people who booked via a particular website.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know when the last time you had a free flight was," he said.聽
"It鈥檚 been a long time for me.鈥
Other potential tells include a request to pay via gift cards or cryptocurrency, rather than going with secure payment methods such as credit cards, which often offer protection if something goes awry.
To guard against scams, travellers should take care to visit a hotel, airline or cruise line鈥檚 actual site by typing it in directly or at least double-checking it rather than clicking on an ad. They can also book through a well-known travel agency.
Customers can find further peace of mind by contacting the provider 鈥 the airline or hotel, for example 鈥 afterward to verify a booking.
To steer clear of bogus vacation rentals, consult reviews and do a Google Street View search to check the address, said Pat Pellegrini, CEO of consumer research firm Vividata. A reverse image search can also reveal if those photos of a sumptuous beachfront patio are copied from another site.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of bad players, so it makes you have to do a lot more work,鈥 Pellegrini said.
Among those bad actors, loyalty points remain a prime target, often via AI-driven phishing attempts.
鈥淭he odds of you getting a phishing email that鈥檚 looking for your credentials, and they鈥檒l just keep trying to throw stuff at you until they get through, are very high," Pellegrini said. "Loyalty points have been taken in the same manner.鈥
Phishing — emails, texts or calls that trick victims into handing over banking details or other sensitive information — saw an especially big surge in recent years, according to . Phishing messages are often identifiable by their use of urgent or threatening language, requests for financial info and spelling or grammar mistakes.
For those who do get scammed, report it to local police, the 好色tv Anti-Fraud Centre, and the platform that hosted the scam 鈥 Google or a short-term rental platform, for example 鈥 advises RateHub, an online comparison site for financial products.
Victims should also reach out to their bank or credit card company as soon as possible to try to freeze the payment as well as any compromised accounts, and to monitor for suspicious transactions.
Victims can then notify credit bureaus to flag possible changes to their credit file.
This report by 好色tvwas first published May 7, 2026.
