Fingerprint Releases Analysis on Loyalty Fraud in Travel and Hospitality Platforms

Fingerprint has published a new analysis indicating that travel and hospitality platforms lose an average of $11 million annually to fraud, with loyalty program abuse identified as a significant factor.

Fingerprint has released findings on fraud trends affecting travel and hospitality platforms, reporting that these organizations experience average annual losses of $11 million due to fraudulent activity. The analysis highlights the exploitation of connections between identity, loyalty points, and payments as a key vulnerability.

According to Fingerprint’s analysis, global losses from loyalty rewards fraud are estimated at $1 billion to $3 billion annually. The report states that as travel and hospitality platforms increasingly unify identity systems, loyalty balances have become more accessible targets for attackers.

The analysis identifies account takeover (ATO) as a primary method for initiating loyalty fraud, with 52% of incidents beginning with unauthorized account access. Attackers use ATO to drain loyalty balances or modify account details, resulting in further fraudulent activity.

The report also notes a 30% year-over-year increase in hospitality chargebacks. Fingerprint’s analysis characterizes chargebacks as lagging indicators of fraud, reflecting where fraudulent activity is ultimately detected rather than its point of origin.

Fingerprint’s analysis advocates for a transition to session-level trust mechanisms. This approach involves continuous evaluation of device signals and risk assessment throughout the customer session, aiming to identify and halt suspicious activity before losses occur. The report states that session-level trust can enable platforms to intervene in real time during the customer journey.

Further details and the full report are available from Fingerprint.