Travel warning: Scammers impersonating TSA pre-check to steal your money and information
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- A new warning as we head into the busy holiday travel season. It would be best to be on guard for fake TSA precheck websites.
"We are seeing a disturbing trend of mimicking TSA-like sites," says Karin Zilberstein with Guardio, a browser extension that identifies fake websites and other malware. She says Guardio has discovered several fake TSA precheck websites.
"The quality of the sites, obviously, scammers are getting better, using generative AI in producing more and more realistic sites," Zilberstein adds.
She also says looking at URLs may not even help you identify the website as a scam. Zilberstein says the URL may have, " Something that you can relate to it, says the words TSA pre-check-in, and there are no fishy numbers, words, or symbols."
Zilberstein warns if you type TSA pre-check in a search, don't just click on any website that claims to be with the TSA, "With those scams that we're seeing specifically around TSA, it's very, very complicated because they also use malvertising, which is advertising that is bought for malicious purposes."
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To protect yourself, always take the time and make sure you're on the official TSA website which ends in .gov, and look for the lock symbol or https, which the s means the website is secure. Also, be careful about sharing your travel plans on social media.
"Many times scammers will use the personal information they see on social media that they scrape from social media to address phishing attempts that are more targeted."
The goal of these scammers is to not only get your money but also your personal information. Again, to protect yourself, when it comes to TSA pre-check make sure you're on the official website, which ends in .gov.
