Travel brands are the latest high-profile targets of
"brandjackers" and online scam artists, reports market analyst
MarkMonitor.
In its Spring
report, MarkMonitor found brandjackers using fraudulent airline
voucher scams, search-engine optimisation and blended abuse
techniques to target those hunting for travel bargains and divert
traffic from legitimate e-commerce channels.
Discounts of 80% were used to lure unwary shoppers into more
than 150 online auctions for fraudulent travel vouchers for leading
airlines, the firm said.
"With the recent airline industry bankruptcies, we expect to see
an increased incidence of online fraud related to refunds, credits
and vouchers," said Irfan Salim, MarkMonitor's CEO.
Salim said scammers were using search-engine optimisation
tactics to divert online shoppers searching for legitimate travel
brands to illicit websites with questionable content, including
adult material.
Blended abuses that target travel brands combine multiple
techniques such as spam, pay-per-click fraud and malware to put
shoppers' computers at risk from viruses and spyware, he said.
Salim warned that some scammers were using these techniques to
sell questionable aircraft components on business-to-business
exchanges and auction websites. Components included valves,
springs, gears, flanges, gauges, radar parts and "unspecified
parts".
"Suppliers in China, the US and other countries are selling
questionable aircraft components in bulk online," he said. "58% of
questionable listings were with Alibaba and 41% of questionable
listings originated from China, followed by the US at 38%."
MarkMonitor found that cybersquatting, the registration of web
addresses similar to legitimate brands, grew by 40% in Q1 2008, and
pay-per-click fraud declined by 42%. Phishers were concentrating on
a few targeted brands just 14 organisations accounted for 90% of
all phishing URLs, it found. Eight were based in the US, and six in
the UK. Eleven were financial institutions, it said.
Although brand abusers can be located anywhere, the top
countries for websites that host brand abusers are consistent. The
US is home to two-thirds, Germany hosts 7%, the UK at 6% and Canada
at 4%, it said.
The MarkMonitor Index is based on daily searches of some 134
million public records for brand abuse in domain data as well as US
and international patent and trademark Office data.
The report's analysis of online travel risks is based on eight
leading brands including the largest U.S. and global airline
carriers, two of the most popular international travel websites,
two leading international hotel chains and two global leaders in
aircraft manufacturing.
The phishing data is based on feeds from leading international
ISPs, e-mail providers and other alliance partners. The company
processes as many as 16 million unique suspected phishing e-mails
daily.