Criminals sell hotels, flights and travel services on the Darknet that they have booked using stolen credit card details. They lure holidaymakers with supposed bargains - and the victims end up footing the bill.
It's hard to believe that hackers and the darknet are now also involved in vacation bookings. Criminals use stolen credit cards to book hotels or flights and sell them on illegal online marketplaces, so-called "darknet travel agencies", at knockdown prices. In this way, travelers go on vacation at the expense of others - while the injured parties receive the big bill on their credit card. This is what VPN provider "NordVPN" and travel eSim app "Saily" have just discovered as part of a multi-year study.
"Darknet travel agencies make their money by using stolen payment data," says Vykintas Maknickas, CEO of Saily. "If credit card details are exposed in a data leak, there is an increased risk that they will be used to finance a vacation for a stranger."
Darknet travel agencies function like normal booking platforms, but are located entirely in hidden, illegal forums and marketplaces. Cybercriminals act as intermediaries and purchase legitimate travel products - flights, hotel bookings and travel-related services - with stolen credit cards. They then sell them on at significantly reduced prices. Studies show that 92.5 percent of these offers are between 40 and 60 percent below the regular price.
Nevertheless, such supposed "bargains" usually have consequences: travelers who have bought the discounted service often have to expect canceled bookings or police investigations for fraud or are simply ignored by the hackers.
However, the original cardholders often only notice the fraud when illegitimate debits appear on their accounts. "Travel bookings are particularly attractive to criminals," says Marijus Briedis, Chief Technology Officer at NordVPN. "As these are often amounts that look like normal expenses, they may not immediately show up as fraud on a credit card statement. This buys time before the fraud is reported and the card is blocked." The experts also point out that criminals often test stolen cards with smaller charges before making more expensive travel bookings.
Hotel reservations are the most popular service offered by darknet travel agencies, accounting for 18.2 percent of all services. Flights follow with 13 percent, while Airbnb bookings and rental cars account for 5.6 percent and 5.2 percent respectively. These services, such as flights and accommodation, are often sold as a complete package.
At the same time, the investigation has uncovered a new trend on the Darknet: the suspected travel agencies are increasingly expanding their offerings to include vouchers for delivery services and online shopping. Uber Eats vouchers account for 21.7 percent of services sold on these platforms, followed by DoorDash with 16.2 percent and Amazon with around 10 percent.
