Fraud can happen anywhere, anytime to anyone. And the impact can be devastating to your travelers, your travel program and your company’s bottom line. For example, a business consultancy recently lost over US$125,000 when a travel arranger failed to identify an impostor and confirmed a request for dozens of tickets. The bookings were bogus, and the purchases were made using stolen credit cards.
But companies and their travelers can fight back. BCD Travel is doing just that with security practices that safeguard company and client data and curb fraud. The TMC’s layered prevention system uses tried and tested methodology to detect fraud. It’s designed to keep up with constantly changing fraud schemes and increasingly sophisticated attacks. BCD’s strategy combines dedicated resources, strong technology and ongoing industry collaboration—most importantly with clients.
Here’s what you can do right now to prevent fraud, protect your travelers’ personal data and reduce your company losses if fraud does happen:
- Validate employment of any travel requestor. It’s common for fraudsters to pose as employees from another country or region and request approval for travel. If you don’t know the person making the request, validate their employment with the country or region before authorizing travel.
- Consult with your BCD account manager about how to strengthen fraud-preventing booking and approval processes for non-employees; groups; travel to high-risk destinations; trips with unusual routing requests (i.e., to cities that require transit visas); and online booking tools.
- Communicate fraud-preventing processes to all employees.
- Contact your BCD account manager as soon as you suspect any type of travel fraud.
- Let your travelers know what they can do to avoid fraud.
To learn about the comprehensive programs and processes that BCD Travel has in place to combat fraud, talk to your account manager. Ask what BCD can do to support your company’s efforts to stop travel-related fraud.
