Skift Take
There’s perhaps more opportunity than ever for cybercriminals to take advantage of consumers who are increasingly getting lured in by deals that are literally too good to be true.
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Nearly 51 percent of Indians have fallen victim to online scams while trying to book holidays to save money, according to digital security company McAfee Corp’s Safer Summer Holidays travel report. Amid the financial pressures of today’s economic environment, Indians are more likely to seek out a bargain deal online (54 percent), move quickly to snap up a deal (50 percent), try a new booking site (44 percent) and even a new destination (47 percent), to save money, the report said. Travel scams can take many forms, with the report finding 27 percent of Indians have been tricked into making payments through fraudulent platforms and 36 percent have had their identity stolen when booking online. Of this portion, 13 percent entered passport information and 23 percent provided other personally identifiable information to a fake website, it said. Overall, 59 percent of Indians are estimated to be more concerned about digital threats than physical ones, such as being pickpocketed, and 94 percent of Indian adults hold either some or high concern about their identity being compromised as part of their travel, the report noted. The report is based on a survey of 7,000 people across seven countries, including 1,010 from India. Earlier in March, the Google pa