Scammers pose as airline customer support to help with your complaints and then steal your credit card info

Date:
Thu, 17 Sep 2026 11:50:00 +0000

Description:
Fraudsters are taking advantage of people venting on social media to inflict even more damage.

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spoof airline customer support on social media to steal payment data Hundreds of fake accounts created daily, luring frustrated passengers into private chats or forms Campaign active since 2024; mirrors earlier fake support scams seen during crypto wallet fraud Scammers are now posing as customer support for airlines, tricking already frustrated customers into sharing payment details and possibly losing money, too.

People who have had poor experiences flying would often vent their
frustration on social media, be it X, Facebook, Instagram, or any other platform. They would tag the company and demand help, or at least an explanation. However, according to new research from security experts Check Point, the airlines social media department is not the only one monitoring these complaints - hackers do it, too. Not only are they monitoring the channels, they are actively preparing to hop in and talk to the customers. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here: Years-old campaign Every day, hundreds of new social media accounts are created - some are built to spoof the airlines themselves, others are built to look as if theyre used by the airlines customer support or similar department. When the customer leaves a post or a comment, the criminals swoop in, publicly apologizing for the inconvenience, and offering assistance in a different, private channel. Sometimes those are the platforms DMs, and sometimes it is WhatsApp or a different platform entirely.

The end result differs from case to case. Sometimes, the criminals would try to get the victims to share their personal and payment information and would later try to make a wire transfer. In other instances, the crooks would prepare a fake form for the victims to fill out, possibly creating a database for later use. You may like NordVPN warns of fake Ryanair, Emirates, Qatar Airways websites used to spread malware Experts warn Airbnb scams are on the rise as summer holidays arrive '$3.7B lost to deepfakes' Why social media is the perfect launchpad for AI fraud

Check Point doesnt know exactly when the campaign started but found some of the impersonation accounts dating back to before 2024, with the majority
being created either in 2024, or later. This suggests that the activity has accelerated over the past two years. The campaign remains highly active, with hundreds of new accounts appearing daily and new scam techniques continuing
to emerge, they said.

However, we can confirm that this type of fraud has been around for a lot longer than that. Fake customer support scams were rampant on X even in 2021, during the crypto ICO craze, during which crooks were taking advantage of people losing access to their wallets, or making transactions towards nonexistent wallet addresses in the same way. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me
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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/scammers-pose-as-airline-customer-suppo rt-to-help-with-your-complaints-and-then-steal-your-credit-card-info


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