Safety Tips when Planning to Book a Vacation Online

A vacation can be one of the most exciting things for you, which will definitely involve a lot of planning. You may surf websites to get the best deals on flights, hotels, clubs etc. but there are certain things that you should keep in mind while making a safe travel booking.

Check if you are on the right travel booking website

Selecting the correct travel booking website is very important when you are planning your vacations. Every year, a number of people are duped by fake travel websites, which are created by hackers to steal your financial details or cheat you thousands of dollars.

Imagine, you have made a booking on an airline or hotel and when you reach there, they find none of your details. These travel sites float attractive advertisements, great deals and offers to lure visitors and trap them.

As per a news published on bbc.com in 2017, around 4,700 travellers fell victim to such travel scams, which included fake airline tickets.

On average the victims lost £1,500 each in 2017, as per the police department. There has been a 25% rise in the incidents compared to the year 2016. This clearly shows that these types of frauds are constantly increasing.

There have been cases where fraudsters hack into travel websites and ask the customer to be pay directly.

Fake websites are very difficult to detect as they exactly resemble the original sites. So, the question is how to detect these fake travel booking sites and remain safe.

• Check the URL of the travel booking website if it begins with ‘https’ which is a symbol of security.
• Do not click on random links that you get on your emails promising great deals on vacations.
• Go to the hotel website to cross-check the information if they are associated with the booking website.
• Only choose reputed 3^rd party booking website rather than choosing any random site you get.
• Search for reviews on popular forums such as Quora, trip advisor, moutshut.com etc. If it is a great site then users definitely will leave reviews on these websites.

Use Credit Cards instead of Debit Card or internet bank transfers

Try booking with credit cards rather than debit cards or internet banking as you are in a good chance of keeping your money protected. Even if cyber criminals get the details of credit card, you will be at a partial loss as your savings etc. will remain safe. Most credit card companies offer fraud protection, so even if you become a victim of credit card fraud, you can raise a dispute and may get your charges waived off.

Imagine, if your bank information is with the hacker, how much harm he can do to you. Probably you will be completely bankrupt. In this situation, there is nothing much that your bank can really do about when the money has been transferred to an account in any corner of the globe.

 VPN to protect your payments online

Use a VPN while booking, which will keep your financial information safe as those will be encrypted. You can download a VPN software online and use the same to perform searches or transactions. VPN has a strong authentication mechanism, which makes it very difficult for hackers to fetch your confidential details. It is considered as one of safest ways to send information over the web. However, better choose a quality VPN after reading its review on the web.

Use a top antivirus software which has safe browsing feature

As a PC user, you should always have a top antivirus software installed to provide protection from phishing and other types of cyber threats. PC’s which do not have an anti-malware have a greater chance of becoming a victim of cyber-attacks. Antivirus with safe browsing allows users to browse in private environment, which is free from cookies.  Also, antivirus notifies users if they are about to access a website, which is potentially unsafe.  So, you will be prevented from visiting websites, which are loaded with malware.

Adhering to the above tips, you can keep yourself safe from internet threats while trying to book a vacation online.