The scam: When searching for travel deals online, you might uncover a great deal on a travel site you’ve never used before. The site will be fully functional and branded, with auto-complete search results and functional calendars that will let you book a flight or hotel (either directly on the site or through a customer hotline). Unfortunately, the website is a scam, and exists only to take your money and credit card information.
How to avoid this scam: Research any unfamiliar site before sharing your personal information, and stay away from travel sites that don’t have the little padlock icon next to “https://” in the address bar when making a booking. Also, these sites often have a lot of typos or nonsensical dummy text that’s meant to be seen, not read, so look carefully.