Tourist Scams in the US 2026
Tourist scam in the US point to a problem that is growing faster than most travelers realize, fueled by a combination of AI-generated fake listings, compromised booking platforms, and increasingly convincing impersonation schemes. While no single US government agency tracks “tourist scams” as one standalone category, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), and the Better Business Bureau (BBB) all maintain detailed, complementary datasets that together paint a clear and concerning picture. According to the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network, total fraud losses reported by US consumers reached a record $15.9 billion in 2025, up from $12.5 billion in 2024, based on roughly 3 million complaints filed with the agency — and travel-specific fraud has been rising in lockstep with this broader surge.
Drilling into the travel category specifically, the FTC’s December 2025 analysis of Consumer Sentinel data found that consumers reported nearly 65,000 rental scams between January 2020 and June 2025, with total losses of approximately $65 million and a median loss of $1,000 per victim. The BBB’s Scam Tracker logged 9,403 separate travel, vacation, and timeshare complaints in 2025 alone, while a broader 2025 Apartment List survey found that over 5.2 million Americans fell victim to rental scams of all kinds that year. Perhaps most alarming for the 2026 outlook is the rapid rise of AI-enabled fraud: deepfake-related incidents surged to 580 in just the first half of 2025, nearly four times the total recorded across all of 2024, with cumulative deepfake fraud losses reaching $897 million. This article compiles the latest, most current verified statistics on the scams targeting US travelers in 2026, along with the safety facts every tourist should know.
Interesting Facts About Tourist Scams in the US 2026
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Total US fraud losses reported to the FTC, 2025 | $15.9 billion — up from $12.5 billion in 2024 |
| Total fraud reports filed with the FTC, 2025 | ~3 million complaints |
| Total internet crime losses reported to the FBI IC3, 2025 | $20.9 billion — a 26% increase over 2024 |
| Rental scam reports, FTC data, Jan 2020–Jun 2025 | ~65,000 reports, $65 million in total losses |
| Median loss per rental scam victim | $1,000 |
| BBB Scam Tracker travel/vacation/timeshare complaints, 2025 | 9,403 complaints |
| Americans who fell victim to rental scams (all types), 2025 | Over 5.2 million people (Apartment List survey) |
| Online renters who encountered fake listings, 2025 | 43% |
| Young travelers (18–29) — relative rental scam risk | 3x more likely than other adults to report losing money |
| Rental scams that began on Facebook (12 months to Jun 2025) | ~50% |
| Rental scams that began on Craigslist (same period) | 16% |
| FTC fraud reports tied to travel, Q2 2025 specifically | ~10,000 reports, $40 million in losses |
| Increase in travel scam losses, Q2 2025 vs. Q2 2024 | +$5 million year-over-year |
| Deepfake-related fraud incidents, H1 2025 | 580 incidents — nearly 4x all of 2024 |
| Cumulative deepfake fraud losses (through mid-2025) | $897 million, including $410 million in H1 2025 alone |
| Social media fraud losses, 2025 (all categories, FTC) | $2.1 billion — nearly 30% of all reported scam losses started on social media |
| Older adults (60+) — total fraud losses, 2025 (FBI IC3) | $7.7 billion — a 60% increase over 2024 |
| Passport renewal scam typical loss (per BBB Wisconsin reports) | $100–$150 per fraudulent “renewal,” often doubled for couples |
Source: Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2025 (March 2026) and “Rental Scams” Data Spotlight (December 2025); FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), 2025 Annual Report (April 2026); Better Business Bureau, BBB Scam Tracker 2025 data; Apartment List, 2025 Rental Fraud Survey; Moneywise, citing FTC Q2 2025 data and deepfake incident tracking (December 2025)
The facts table above confirms that travel and tourist-targeted fraud sits within, and is growing alongside, an overall US fraud landscape that reached record levels in 2025. The jump in overall FTC-reported losses from $12.5 billion in 2024 to $15.9 billion in 2025 provides essential context for the travel-specific figures: when consumer fraud as a whole is climbing by double digits year over year, it would be surprising if travel and tourist scams were not climbing too — and the data confirms they are. The FTC’s specific rental scam analysis, covering January 2020 through June 2025, found nearly 65,000 reports and $65 million in losses, but the agency itself cautions that “these numbers represent only a fraction of actual incidents, as most scams go unreported,” a pattern consistent across virtually every fraud category the FTC and FBI track.
The demographic and platform-specific data add useful texture for understanding who is most at risk and where scams originate. The finding that travelers aged 18 to 29 are three times more likely than other adults to report losing money to a rental scam runs counter to the common assumption that older adults are always the most vulnerable group — though older Americans do bear the largest dollar burden across fraud overall, with the FBI IC3 reporting $7.7 billion in losses among adults 60 and older in 2025 alone, a 60% increase over 2024. Meanwhile, the finding that roughly half of all rental scams in the 12 months to June 2025 originated on Facebook, with Craigslist a distant second at 16%, gives travelers a clear, evidence-based signal about exactly where to apply the most scrutiny when searching for accommodations.
Vacation Rental & Booking Scam Statistics in the US 2026
Vacation Rental Scam Origin Points (12 months to June 2025, FTC Data)
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Facebook │████████████████████████████████ ~50%
Craigslist │██████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 16%
Other platforms (combined) │██████████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ~34%
└──────────────────────────────────────
(Source: FTC Consumer Sentinel Network,
Rental Scams Data Spotlight, Dec. 2025)
| Rental & Booking Scam Metric | Data |
|---|---|
| Total rental scam reports, FTC, Jan 2020–Jun 2025 | ~65,000 reports |
| Total reported losses, same period | ~$65 million |
| Median individual loss | $1,000 |
| Rental scams starting on Facebook | ~50% |
| Rental scams starting on Craigslist | 16% |
| Americans affected by rental fraud, 2025 (all rental types) | 5.2 million+ (Apartment List) |
| Online renters encountering fake listings, 2025 | 43% |
| BBB travel/vacation/timeshare complaints, 2025 | 9,403 |
| AI-driven fake listing/phishing image surge on major platforms | 500–900% increase |
| New OTA-impersonation fraud campaign identified | “Paid Twice” — guests tricked into paying reservations a second time (late 2025, Sekoia.io) |
| OTA phishing → malware campaign identified | January 2026 — fake Booking.com emails leading to remote-access malware (DCRat) |
Source: FTC Consumer Sentinel Network, “Rental Scams” Data Spotlight (December 2025); Apartment List, 2025 Rental Fraud Survey; BBB Scam Tracker 2025 data; Nuvision Federal Credit Union, citing FTC/BBB/industry data (April 2026); TabiVista, citing Sekoia.io and The Hacker News reporting (April 2026)
The vacation rental and booking scam data reveals an ecosystem of fraud that has evolved well beyond simple fake listings. The classic scam — where fraudsters steal real photos and descriptions from legitimate listings, or generate convincing fakes with AI, then post phony ads on rental sites or social media — remains the most common entry point, with scammers typically pushing victims toward urgent, off-platform payment methods like wire transfers, Zelle, Venmo, or gift cards that offer little to no recourse once money changes hands. The finding that AI-generated phishing images and fake listings have surged 500% to 900% on major platforms is a critical 2026-specific development, since it means the traditional advice to “look for amateurish photos or obvious red flags” is becoming less reliable as a detection method with each passing month.
Two newly documented attack patterns specifically targeting legitimate bookings deserve particular attention heading into 2026. The first, dubbed “Paid Twice” by cybersecurity firm Sekoia.io in late 2025, involves guests who have already made a legitimate reservation being contacted with fake payment verification requests containing real booking details — including correct dates, property names, and partial payment information — tricking them into paying for their reservation a second time. The second, identified by The Hacker News in January 2026, involves fake Booking.com emails sent to hotel staff that redirect recipients to fraudulent “Blue Screen of Death” pages designed to install remote-access malware. Both patterns represent a meaningful escalation from older, more easily detected scam formats, since they exploit compromised platform data and trusted communication channels rather than relying solely on fake listings that a careful traveler might otherwise catch.
AI & Deepfake Travel Fraud Statistics in the US 2026
Deepfake Fraud Incidents — Full Year 2024 vs. First Half 2025
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
All of 2024 │████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ ~150 incidents (est. baseline)
H1 2025 alone │████████████████████████████████ 580 incidents (~4x all of 2024)
└──────────────────────────────────────────
(Source: Moneywise, citing 2025 deepfake
fraud tracking data, December 2025)
| AI/Deepfake Fraud Metric | Data |
|---|---|
| Deepfake-related fraud incidents, H1 2025 | 580 incidents — nearly 4x all of 2024 combined |
| Cumulative deepfake fraud losses (through mid-2025) | $897 million |
| Deepfake fraud losses, H1 2025 alone | $410 million |
| Time of voice needed to create a convincing AI voice clone | 15–30 seconds |
| Notable case: AI-cloned CEO voice authorizing fraudulent transfer | $243,000 stolen via cloned voice instruction |
| FBI-reported AI-related fraud losses, 2025 (all categories) | $893 million |
| Older adults’ (60+) share of AI/voice-clone-related losses, 2025 | $352 million |
| AI capability flagged as a 2026 travel-specific risk | Identifying traveler locations from vacation photo backgrounds (architecture, pool design, restaurant interiors) without geotags |
Source: Moneywise, “Scammers are targeting travelers with fake rentals and sites” (December 2025); FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, 2025 Annual Report (April 2026), as cited in AARP reporting (April 2026)
The rise of AI-enabled fraud represents the single most significant shift in the tourist scam landscape heading into 2026, and the growth curve is genuinely steep. Deepfake-related fraud incidents nearly quadrupled in just the first six months of 2025 compared to the entirety of 2024, a trajectory that, if sustained, points to deepfake and AI-voice fraud becoming a routine feature of travel-related scams rather than a rare, exotic threat. The mechanics are sobering: AI voice-cloning tools now require only 15 to 30 seconds of someone’s voice to generate a convincing replica, meaning a traveler’s own voicemail greeting or a brief phone call could provide enough material for a scammer to impersonate an airline representative, hotel manager, or customer service agent convincingly enough to extract payment information or redirect a refund.
Beyond voice cloning, AI is also being used for a more passive but equally invasive form of targeting: cybersecurity researchers have specifically flagged that AI tools can now identify a traveler’s specific hotel or location purely from visual cues in vacation photos — background architecture, distinctive pool designs, or restaurant interiors — without needing geotags or any explicit location data. This represents a meaningful escalation in the privacy risks of casual vacation photo-sharing, since even travelers who deliberately strip location metadata may still be inadvertently revealing where they are staying. Combined with the finding that social media-originated fraud losses reached $2.1 billion in 2025, accounting for nearly 30% of all reported scam losses, the data makes a strong case that social media is now the single most important platform for travelers to exercise caution on, both as a scam vector and as an unintentional source of targeting information.
Common Tourist Scam Types & Tactics in the US 2026
Top Tourist Scam Categories Identified by BBB & FTC (2025–2026)
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Fake vacation rental listings │████████████████████████████████ Most reported category
Fake third-party booking sites │██████████████████████████████░░ Sponsored-ad scam sites
Fake airline/cruise customer svc │████████████████████████░░░░░░░░ Fraudulent "support" numbers
Timeshare resale scams │██████████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ Ongoing BBB complaint category
Fake passport renewal sites │██████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ $100-150 per fake "renewal"
Hotel front-desk card-skimming │██████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ Post-payment verification calls
└──────────────────────────────────────
(Source: BBB Top 5 Vacation Scams;
Wisconsin BBB, March 2026)
| Scam Type | How It Works | Key Red Flag |
|---|---|---|
| Fake vacation rental listings | Stolen or AI-generated photos/descriptions posted on rental sites or social media | Pressure to pay via wire transfer, Zelle, Venmo, or gift cards instead of credit card |
| Fake third-party booking sites | Sponsored search ads mimicking legitimate travel sites with subtly altered URLs | Slight misspellings, extra hyphens, deals far below market rate |
| Fake airline/cruise “customer service” | Scam numbers rank highly in search results above real airline support lines | Caller asks to verify full banking details or demands surprise fees for an existing booking |
| Timeshare resale scams | Promises of guaranteed buyers or below-market vacation packages | Upfront “deposit” required with no verifiable construction or inventory |
| Fake passport renewal websites | Sites mimicking official government passport services | Charges of $100–$150 (vs. free/low-cost official channels); official site is usa.gov/passport |
| Hotel card-skimming follow-up calls | Victim pays by card, then receives a call asking to “verify” payment details | Legitimate businesses never call back to re-confirm full card or banking details |
Source: Better Business Bureau, “Top 5 vacation scams to avoid” and Wisconsin BBB regional reporting (March 2026); AZ Big Media, “Spring breakers: 6 trending travel scams” (March 2026); WHSV, BBB Western Virginia reporting (June 2026)
The range of scam types currently being tracked by the BBB illustrates just how many distinct touchpoints in the travel-planning process have become vulnerable to fraud. Fake third-party booking sites have emerged as a particularly persistent and current concern: as Julie Wheeler, president of the BBB serving western Virginia, explained in June 2026 reporting, the most common pattern involves a sponsored advertisement appearing at the top of a generic search for flights or hotels that “acts like it has great trips, great hotel deals, great airline deals, but it’s not a legitimate site.” This tactic is especially dangerous precisely because it exploits consumer trust in search engine rankings, leading travelers to assume that a prominently placed result must be legitimate.
The fake passport renewal scam offers a particularly clear, quantifiable example of how these schemes operate at scale: Wisconsin BBB’s Lisa Schiller reported in March 2026 that victims are commonly paying “roughly $100, $120, sometimes $150 to renew a passport on a fake site,” with losses frequently doubling for couples renewing two passports simultaneously through the same fraudulent service. This scam is especially effective because legitimate passport renewal does involve real government fees, making a slightly inflated “convenience fee” on a fake site seem plausible to a traveler in a hurry — the official channel remains usa.gov/passport, and the BBB’s core advice across nearly every scam category in this dataset converges on the same fundamental principle: verify independently rather than trusting a link, ad, or unsolicited phone call, regardless of how official or urgent it appears.
How to Protect Yourself: Verified Safety Statistics & Recommendations
FTC & BBB Recommended Protection Measures (Effectiveness-Ranked by Source Emphasis)
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Pay by credit card, not wire/Zelle/gift cards │████████████████████████████ Top recommendation
Book/pay only through official platforms │███████████████████████████░ Strong recommendation
Reverse-image search listing photos │██████████████████████░░░░░░ Strong recommendation
Verify address via Google Street View │██████████████████████░░░░░░ Strong recommendation
Call (don't just message) the host/company │████████████████████░░░░░░░░ Moderate-strong
Limit vacation photo-sharing in real time │██████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ Emerging recommendation
└──────────────────────────────────────
(Source: FTC, BBB combined guidance, 2025-26)
| Protective Action | Why It Matters (Data-Backed Rationale) |
|---|---|
| Pay only by credit card | Provides chargeback protection under the Fair Credit Billing Act; wire transfers and gift cards offer no recourse |
| Book and pay through official platforms (Airbnb, Vrbo, etc.) | Platforms hold funds until after check-in, creating built-in dispute protection |
| Reverse-image search listing photos | Catches stolen or AI-generated images reused from other properties or sales listings |
| Verify the address via Google Street View/Maps | Confirms the property physically exists and matches the listing description |
| Call the host or company directly | Vague or evasive answers to specific questions are a documented red flag across BBB case reports |
| Search “[company name] + scam” before booking | Standard FTC-recommended due diligence step before any unfamiliar transaction |
| Be skeptical of urgency (“book now,” “deal won’t last”) | Scammers consistently use artificial time pressure to prevent victims from verifying details |
| Limit real-time vacation photo posting on social media | Reduces exposure to AI-based location identification from background imagery |
| Report suspected fraud to IC3.gov and BBB Scam Tracker | Helps law enforcement identify patterns and connect cases, per FBI guidance |
Source: Federal Trade Commission consumer guidance; Better Business Bureau, “Top 5 vacation scams to avoid”; AARP, citing FBI/FTC 2025 reporting recommendations (April 2026)
The consistency of protective recommendations across the FTC, BBB, and FBI is itself a notable data point: despite tracking somewhat different scam categories and using different reporting mechanisms, all three organizations converge on the same small set of core defensive behaviors, suggesting these genuinely represent the highest-leverage actions a traveler can take. The single most heavily emphasized recommendation across every source reviewed for this article is paying exclusively by credit card rather than wire transfer, payment apps, or gift cards, since credit cards alone provide legally backed chargeback rights under the Fair Credit Billing Act — a protection that simply does not exist for the payment methods scammers most frequently request specifically because those methods leave victims with no recourse.
For travelers heading into the remainder of 2026, the data points toward a clear shift in where vigilance needs to be concentrated: traditional red flags like blurry photos or broken English in listings remain relevant but are becoming less reliable given the 500-to-900% surge in AI-generated fake listings and phishing content documented on major platforms. The newer, more sophisticated attack patterns — “Paid Twice” reservation re-payment scams, malware-laden fake booking-confirmation emails, and AI voice-cloning of customer service representatives — share a common thread: they exploit genuine, real booking data and trusted communication channels rather than relying purely on a traveler’s ability to spot something that “looks fake.” Given the FBI’s explicit acknowledgment that “these figures likely represent only a fraction of the true toll, since fraud so often goes unreported,” the safest posture for any US traveler in 2026 is to treat every unsolicited payment request, urgent verification call, or last-minute booking change with the same skepticism recommended for any other unexpected financial transaction — and to report any suspected scam to IC3.gov or the BBB Scam Tracker.
Disclaimer: The data research report we present here is based on information found from various sources. We are not liable for any financial loss, errors, or damages of any kind that may result from the use of the information herein. We acknowledge that though we try to report accurately, we cannot verify the absolute facts of everything that has been represented.
