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FTC warns of airline customer service scam

Agency: Fake accounts lurk on social media

By: Betty Lin-Fisher
USA Today

..... Scammers are always looking for new ways to target vulnerable people. Now they're taking to the skies.
..... The scammers are lurking on social media looking for posts from upset travelers dealing with flight cancellations and delays - and posing as airline customer service agents, the Federal Trade Commission warned in a recent alert.
..... "Most people can probably agree that there airline delays or cancellations that leave you stranded at the airport," the FTC said. "Whether the issues are the result of an unprecedented event like the CrowdStrike glitch that grounded thousands of flights worldwide, or more common disturbances like weather delays, desperate travelers often turn to social media for help from the airlines."
..... The FTC continued, "Opportunistic scammers know this, and they're lurking behind fake accounts trying to steal traveler's information."
..... These scammers ask passengers for information such as their booking confirmation number, phone number or even their bank account, the FTC said. "Or they send passengers to a spoofed site that harvests their personal information and use it to steal the passenger's identity or rack up charges on their account."

The cost of cybercrime

..... "Cybercrime is the fastest growing business on earth,: said Eric O'Neill, a national security strategist at NeXasure, a cybersecurity firm that offers advisory service.
..... O'Neill has predicted that by 2026, the cost of dark web cybercrime will exceed $20 trillion. If that were a country, it would have the third-biggest gross domestic product in the world, "bigger than Germany and Japan put together," he said in an email.
..... Criminals have emulated spy agencies "to launch deceptive attacks that gain the trust of their target so that the criminal can coerce them into handing over their most sensitive data with a smile," O'Neil said.
..... In particular, cybercriminals "have mastered the art of inserting themselves into a crisis," he continued. "They use deceptive and impersonation attacks that prey upon a target's fears or desire to believe a thing to be true."
..... During July's CrowdStrike outage, and cancellations, We saw countless scams," O'Neill said. Criminals poised as airlines, CrowdStrike and various vendors' support staff, claiming to help their target get where they needed to go.
..... Tech support scams are a common go-to for cybercriminals, beginning with an email or text alert that targets information that has been compromised or identified on the dark web, said O'Neill.
..... "When the victim calls for assistance, the criminal sitting in the dark web call center walks them through a process to install a helper application on their device," he said. "this download grants control to the attacker, allowing them to dateline information, lock the device with ransomware or lad other malicious software."

Scammers target people seeking help in social media

..... One hunting ground: social media, where frustrated people turn to connect to a company's customer service.
..... Scammers have tried to target people who use social media to try to engage an airline for customer service before, said Jason Rabinowitz, co-host of FLighttradar24's AvTalk podcast. Flightradar24 is a global flight tracking service that provides real-time data on flights.
..... Rabinowitz has a series of posts in October [2023] on X highlighting fake accounts pretending to be airlines.
....."This has been going on for a while now, and it doesn't seem to have gotten better," Rabinowitz told USA Today. "The only real charge since then is that a number of airlines have given up on (X) as an official channel altogether."
..... But more airline passengers than normal turned to X during the CrowdStrike glitch because the technical hiccup left some airline websites and apps inaccessible, Rabinowitz said.

Tips to pretext yourself

..... Here are some more tips form the FTC for what to do when you have a travel issue and to avoid getting rerouted to someone impersonating an airline employee.
* Contact the airline's customer service directly through the airline's official app, website chat or phone number and long into your account.
* Speak to a customer service representative in person if you are at the airport.
* If you go through social media, make sure to find the airline's official social media page on their website,. look for a verification symbol or badge. Never give out personal information on social media.
* If someone stole your personal information go to Identity.Theft.gov to report it and get next steps. Report impostors to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov .
* Visit FlightRight.gov to learn about the airline passenger protections you are entitled to, or to file a complaint with the Department of Transportation if you feel an airline is not treating you fairly.

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