According to a new report, tourism is one of the most vulnerable sectors to be fraud, with scams rising 18% during the summer peak season and 28% during the winter peak season in 2024.

The report, published last Tuesday by the Mastercard Economics Institute, shows that fraud related to travel agencies and travel company bookings is more than four times the average level of fraud in other industries.

"Once payment is paid, the trip may never happen or be very different from what is promised," it said.

However, scam risks vary from city to city, said David Mann, chief economist at the Asia-Pacific region of Mastercard School of Economics.

“In some destinations, you may end up seeing more fraud from travel and travel companies. In other cities, it can even be in things like food services. So, a great example, in Los Angeles, (food is the biggest part of some of the frauds we’ve seen), he told CNBC’s “Squawk box asasia” on Friday.

According to Mastercard data, visitors reported the lowest fraud rate:

• San Francisco, USA
• Dublin, Ireland
• Seoul, South Korea
• Budapest, Czech Republic
• Edinburgh, Scotland

However, travelers to these cities reported higher levels of fraud:

• Cancun, Mexico
• Hanoi, Vietnam
• Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Bangkok, Thailand

The report shows that the types of scams commonly reported in cities also differ, with taxi and car rental issues accounting for only 2% of fraud cases in Hong Kong and Barcelona, ​​but 66% in Jakarta, Indonesia.

It shows that food service fraud is more prominent in the U.S. and the Middle East, accounting for 63% of New York City’s reported. According to Mastercard representatives, this includes overcharging restaurants for food, adding unauthorized tips or stealing travelers’ credit card details.

Besides the peak season, travel fraud is also rising during the booking phase, Mann said.

The report said travel planning fraud rose by more than 12% last year, either through tampered photos, malicious "confirmation" links that reveal bank details, or other forms of deceptive links.

Travelers should be wary of unusually low prices “too good, incredible”, especially among popular tourist destinations that attract large crowds.

It says that to protect themselves from fraudulent activities, travelers can use credit cards with fraud protection to build digital wallets, buy travel insurance or travel for books.