Fake flight ticket and booking sites

How it works

• A cloned or lookalike website copies a real airline or travel agent's branding, sometimes with a URL only one character different from the genuine site
• Fares are advertised well below the market rate to create urgency ("only 2 seats left at this price")
• After payment, victims receive either a fabricated confirmation with a booking reference that does not exist in the airline's system, or no confirmation at all
• Some scam sites also harvest card details for later fraudulent use, beyond the ticket price itself

Red flags

• ⚠ A fare significantly below every other site for the same route and dates
• ⚠ Payment requested only by bank transfer or an unfamiliar payment link, rather than card
• ⚠ A web address that is slightly misspelled or uses an unusual domain ending
• ⚠ No phone number, physical address, or ATOL/ABTA membership details on the site
• ⚠ Pressure to book immediately due to "limited availability"

How to protect yourself

• ✓ Book directly on the airline's official website, or through a recognised comparison site or ATOL/ABTA-registered agent
• ✓ Pay by credit card where possible — this gives you Section 75 protection for purchases of £100 or more
• ✓ Check the seller's ATOL certificate number on the CAA's public database before paying for a flight-inclusive package
• ✓ Call the airline directly to verify a booking reference before you travel if anything about the confirmation looks unusual

If it happens to you

• Contact your card issuer immediately to dispute the payment and request a chargeback or Section 75 claim
• Report the site to Action Fraud (actionfraud.police.uk) — UK's national fraud and cybercrime reporting centre
• Report the fake site to the platform that hosted the advert (Google, Meta, etc.) so it can be taken down