Accertify Report Finds Uneven Airline Booking Fraud Risks Across Regions
KUALA LUMPUR, April 24 (Bernama) -- Accertify, in its Global Air Travel Fraud Report: Q1 2026 unveiled that airline booking fraud risks vary significantly by route origin, with higher concentrations of prevented fraud in parts of Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and South and Southeast Asia.
The quarterly report, based on more than 180 million airline booking transactions processed between January and March 2026, analyses fraud rates by departure city as a proxy for route origin, offering airlines insight into where fraud prevention systems intervene most frequently at the booking stage.
“By looking at fraud rates by route origin, airlines can better see where controls are intervening most often and how fraud prevention maturity differs across markets,” said Accertify Director, Strategic Risk Services, Theodore Esser in a statement.
According to the report, routes originating in North America and Australia continued to show relatively low fraud rates, generally remaining below one per cent even among high-volume departure cities.
By contrast, several regions such as Latin America, parts of Africa, the Middle East, and South and Southeast Asia show materially higher concentrations of prevented fraud, with certain origin cities recording fraud rates multiple times higher.
The report said the figures represent prevented fraud, or transactions denied for fraud reasons before travel occurred, rather than realised fraud losses.
It also found fraud trends across Asia were mixed, with East Asia showing relatively low and improving fraud rates, while parts of South and Southeast Asia faced higher and more uneven fraud pressure.
Latin America and the Caribbean recorded some of the highest concentrations of prevented fraud, particularly across several Brazilian and Colombian origin cities.
The report said lower fraud rates tended to emerge in markets where airlines have invested in layered and consistently applied fraud controls over time.
-- BERNAMA