Protecting Personal Information During Travel from Scammers

When preparing for a trip, you usually think you’ve done everything necessary by booking your flight and hotel, providing your personal details, and eagerly awaiting your vacation. However, your personal information’s security might be at risk once you confirm those bookings. Recently, many travelers discovered how easily their shared personal details can become accessible to others, including scammers.

Risks with Sharing Personal Information

With each travel booking, you provide a substantial amount of personal data. This can include your full name, home address, phone number, email address, travel dates, payment information, and possibly your passport details. By itself, each piece of information might seem harmless. Together, they form a detailed profile of your identity and your movements, which is something scammers are eager to exploit.

Scammers’ Tactics

Scammers can use this information to send messages that appear to be from your hotel or service provider. For example, they might send a message saying, “We couldn’t process your payment. Please re-enter your card details to secure your reservation.” This kind of message may not immediately set off alarm bells but feels more like an urgent administrative task. Scammers can also leverage your travel details to make fraudulent calls to your family, claiming a supposed emergency during your trip.

Vulnerabilities in Trusted Travel Companies

Many believe booking through reputable companies guarantees safety. However, even well-established brands have experienced data breaches. Recent incidents include:

• Booking.com (April 2026): Unauthorized access led to exposure of reservation data, affecting names, emails, and booking details.
• Amtrak (April 2026): Data breach affecting 2.1 million accounts, and included names, email addresses, and physical addresses.
• Carnival (June 2026): Breach exposed nearly 6 million individuals’ personal information, including identification numbers.
• KLM and Air France (August 2025): Breach through a third-party platform exposed frequent-flyer numbers and contact details.

These examples show that even trusted companies can be vulnerable, and your data might be exposed due to the larger network of service providers they work with.

Protecting Your Data Before Traveling

While stopping online bookings is impractical, you can take certain precautions to protect your information:

1. Verify All Booking Messages: Treat any message about booking issues with suspicion. Directly visit the airline or hotel’s official website or app rather than clicking on links in messages.
2. Use Credit or Virtual Cards: Credit cards offer robust fraud protection. Virtual card numbers add an extra layer of security against exposure.
3. Enable Account Alerts: Turn on transaction alerts on your cards and check security settings on travel accounts. Utilize strong, unique passwords and two-factor authentication.
4. Avoid Storing Sensitive Information on Apps: Don’t store your passport or credit card info in travel apps to prevent data exposure.
5. Create a Family Code Word: Choose a code word known only within your family to counter fraudulent “emergency” calls.
6. Reduce Data Footprint: Use data removal services like Incogni to minimize personal information available online.

These steps can help ensure that your personal information is less vulnerable to scams during your travels. Travelers should always remain vigilant and proactive in protecting their data.

Kurt’s key takeaways remind us that booking travel involves sharing a wealth of personal details. The interconnected web of booking platforms and service providers means your data might travel further than you expect, falling into the wrong hands. Taking these preventive steps can help keep your information safe from scammers.