Visa Data Shows Airline Fraud Drops 2.9%, but Total Losses Rise to $77.7 Million

Visa’s latest report reveals that European airline fraud losses have climbed to $77.7 million over the past year (VisaNet MIS Fraud Insights) even as overall fraud rates have declined by 2.9%. This rise has been driven by increasingly sophisticated cross-border operations, but as 99% of this fraud in the region now occurs through e-commerce, this gives airlines a significant opportunity to strengthen their defences.

These types of fraud occur across a small number of high-risk corridors, with international sales accounting for around two-thirds (65%) of total losses. 

Fraudsters exploit international transactions with complex schemes such as triangulation, where fraudsters act as middlemen by setting up fake travel sites with cheap deals,² and using synthetic IDs to open accounts in order to abuse BNPL deals.³:

These schemes underscore the importance of intelligent controls such as account‑takeover protection, tokenisation, and real-time risk scoring, technologies already helping many airlines reduce fraud exposure without affecting customer experience.

Additional findings provide airlines with clear insight into where targeted interventions can deliver maximum benefit:

• With a total fraud share of 64%, the Americas stands out as an area of high-risk fraud origination. This compares to just 8% in Asia and 4% in CEMEA.
• Inter-regional transactions make up three quarters (75%) of cross border fraud with a fraud rate of 15.1 basis points⁴
• 47% of Europe’s airline sales are now cross-border, while three quarters (75%) of cross border fraud involves an issuer outside Europe

Cora Constantin, Europe Tech and Risk Advisory at Visa, said: “Every booking and every journey depends on payments being secure and risks being managed proactively. Advanced analytics, real time fraud detection and AI driven risk intelligence, can help airlines stay one step ahead of fraudsters and protect both their revenues and their customers’ experiences. Travel is ultimately about connection: bridging distances, cultures, and opportunities. Together, we can ensure that those connections remain secure, resilient, and future-ready.”
The published whitepaper notes that airlines must rethink fraud prevention with strategies that protect revenue without disrupting the customer experience at both an intra-regional and inter-regional level. To stay ahead, they must deploy security that balances speed and protection without adding unnecessary friction for passengers.

More details about these findings, and how airlines can future‑proof their fraud strategies, can be found in Visa’s new whitepaper The next step in payment security: How airlines can get ahead of fraudsters whitepaper here.