Travel is nearly back to pre-pandemic levels, and business trips comprise a large segment. The corporate travel industry alone is worth over 700 billion dollars, making it a prime target for fraud.
But avoiding this integral piece of investing as part of your company policies just to prevent fraud isn’t fiscally wise. So what’s a smart travel manager to do?
Travel fraud is out there, and the longer you stay in business, the more likely your company will become a target. Getting proactive is the key to protecting your organization against this criminal behavior. Follow these tips, and you’ll reduce the risk of dealing with fraud from your corporate trips.
Every industry is a target for fraud, but what it looks like varies depending on your business. In the travel world, it’s common for most transactions to be a one-and-done type of expense. Fraudulent charges are easy to overlook unless you’re diligent about reviewing each item in your statement.
Fraudsters have increased their credibility, creating scams that look professional and legitimate. In some instances, the person trying to commit these crimes is your employee.
Before you can recognize attempts at fraud, you must know what the common schemes involve. Some of the most popular and damaging travel fraud attempts include:
Insurance fraud from an insured person claiming false injuries to get money from the insurer. This could be your employee or representative or someone who claims to be injured by that person.
Travel expense fraud from a traveler creating false travel expense claims or requesting more reimbursement than they paid. This often occurs when your traveler attempts to get you to pay for lodging or meals they used for a vacation instead of business.
Stolen credit card fraud from a cybercriminal who pulls the credit card info from a transaction and attempts to sell it on the black market or use it themselves. This happens via data breaches or malware through online transactions.
With these common fraudulent schemes in mind, the next step is to develop watertight practices in your travel policies to prevent them.
2. Implement Preventative Measures
Wholly preventing travel fraud is a challenging goal, but it's possible with proactive measures in place.
Start by creating steps in your workflows that minimize the likelihood of cybercrime. Analyze your processes and look for areas with a high risk of fraud, then adjust how they’re handled.
Here are some areas of business travel that are often susceptible to fraud and how to reduce that risk.
Booking Lodging Online
Booking corporate travel lodging online with your business credit card. Be sure to use legitimate travel booking sites and use a virtual card for every transaction.
Individual Bookings
Allowing staff to book transportation individually makes it easier on you but sets you up for fraudulent claims or hacking. Create a corporate account with multiple users underneath you so you can monitor the transactions and provide one-time-use virtual credit cards to each traveler.
Open Spending for Ease of Use on a Credit Card
Contact your bank and set up stricter terms of use, reducing the range of where the card is active. Before you leave that range, let them know when you’ll be there. It’s more of a hassle but significantly cuts down on fraud.
Email Renewals and Orders
Never click on a link unless you’re expecting the email. Scammers claim to be from a travel-related business with legitimate concerns that you’ve been “hacked” or your loyalty program (or other subscription) is about to expire. If you’re concerned about this, leave the email, and call or log in to your account.
Source: Pexels.
3. Boost Your Fraud Detection Programs
There is much to be said for manually reviewing transactions and establishing proactive fraud prevention. But catching it instantly is the best way to avoid expensive damage if it does happen.
Fraud detection technology is a crucial part of your business. The latest software programs are designed to recognize attempts at fraud and take steps to combat them.
Train your staff members on recognizing and avoiding fraud in your industry, but remember that we’re all human. Use technology to minimize the damage if someone accidentally opens your organization up to cybercrime. The best software includes:
Monitoring each transaction to watch for specific signs of fraud
Customer profiling to collect behaviors and identity data and alert you if typical patterns are broken
Customizable options for you to design risk rules to filter users from certain actions
Machine learning algorithms to learn from experience and predict future user behavior
Overall, your travel fraud protection program should match your company’s level of use. If it’s an occasional part of your business, a simple fraud detection program with the basics, plus manual steps, should work. But if your company racks up frequent flyer miles, you’ll need a sophisticated program designed for your unique situation.
Conclusion
Fraud protection is an essential part of your role as a travel manager. It includes strategic pieces of prevention and detection, as well as manual and technical aspects. Put all of these parts together, and you’ll have a strong anti-travel fraud program.
<!– /wp:gallery –Wholly preventing travel fraud is a challenging goal, but it's possible with proactive measures in place.ge segment. The corporate travel industry alone is worth over 700 billion dollars, making it a prime target for fraud.
But avoiding this integral piece of investing as part of your company policies just to prevent fraud isn’t fiscally wise. So what’s a smart travel manager to do?
Travel fraud is out there, and the longer you stay in business, the more likely your company will become a target. Getting proactive is the key to protecting your organization against this criminal behavior. Follow these tips, and you’ll reduce the risk of dealing with fraud from your corporate trips.
Source: Unsplash.
1. Understand the Types of Fraud Out to Get You
Every industry is a target for fraud, but what it looks like varies depending on your business. In the travel world, it’s common for most transactions to be a one-and-done type of expense. Fraudulent charges are easy to overlook unless you’re diligent about reviewing each item in your statement.
Fraudsters have increased their credibility, creating scams that look professional and legitimate. In some instances, the person trying to commit these crimes is your employee.
Before you can recognize attempts at fraud, you must know what the common schemes involve. Some of the most popular and damaging travel fraud attempts include:
Insurance fraud from an insured person claiming false injuries to get money from the insurer. This could be your employee or representative or someone who claims to be injured by that person.
Travel expense fraud from a traveler creating false travel expense claims or requesting more reimbursement than they paid. This often occurs when your traveler attempts to get you to pay for lodging or meals they used for a vacation instead of business.
Stolen credit card fraud from a cybercriminal who pulls the credit card info from a transaction and attempts to sell it on the black market or use it themselves. This happens via data breaches or malware through online transactions.
With these common fraudulent schemes in mind, the next step is to develop watertight practices in your travel policies to prevent them.
2. Implement Preventative Measures
Wholly preventing travel fraud is a challenging goal, but it's possible with proactive measures in place.
Start by creating steps in your workflows that minimize the likelihood of cybercrime. Analyze your processes and look for areas with a high risk of fraud, then adjust how they’re handled.
Here are some areas of business travel that are often susceptible to fraud and how to reduce that risk.
Booking Lodging Online
Booking corporate travel lodging online with your business credit card. Be sure to use legitimate travel booking sites and use a virtual card for every transaction.
Individual Bookings
Allowing staff to book transportation individually makes it easier on you but sets you up for fraudulent claims or hacking. Create a corporate account with multiple users underneath you so you can monitor the transactions and provide one-time-use virtual credit cards to each traveler.
Open Spending for Ease of Use on a Credit Card
Contact your bank and set up stricter terms of use, reducing the range of where the card is active. Before you leave that range, let them know when you’ll be there. It’s more of a hassle but significantly cuts down on fraud.
Email Renewals and Orders
Never click on a link unless you’re expecting the email. Scammers claim to be from a travel-related business with legitimate concerns that you’ve been “hacked” or your loyalty program (or other subscription) is about to expire. If you’re concerned about this, leave the email, and call or log in to your account.
Source: Pexels.
3. Boost Your Fraud Detection Programs
There is much to be said for manually reviewing transactions and establishing proactive fraud prevention. But catching it instantly is the best way to avoid expensive damage if it does happen.
Fraud detection technology is a crucial part of your business. The latest software programs are designed to recognize attempts at fraud and take steps to combat them.
Train your staff members on recognizing and avoiding fraud in your industry, but remember that we’re all human. Use technology to minimize the damage if someone accidentally opens your organization up to cybercrime. The best software includes:
Monitoring each transaction to watch for specific signs of fraud
Customer profiling to collect behaviors and identity data and alert you if typical patterns are broken
Customizable options for you to design risk rules to filter users from certain actions
Machine learning algorithms to learn from experience and predict future user behavior
Overall, your travel fraud protection program should match your company’s level of use. If it’s an occasional part of your business, a simple fraud detection program with the basics, plus manual steps, should work. But if your company racks up frequent flyer miles, you’ll need a sophisticated program designed for your unique situation.
Conclusion
Fraud protection is an essential part of your role as a travel manager. It includes strategic pieces of prevention and detection, as well as manual and technical aspects. Put all of these parts together, and you’ll have a strong anti-travel fraud program.
