What is travel fraud?

Travel fraud is any deceptive activity targeting travel companies, airlines, hotels, online travel agencies (OTAs), vacation rentals, cruise lines, and the loyalty programs that span all of them. It splits into two layers that need different tools: Transaction layer: fraudulent payments and chargebacks: card-not-present fraud, friendly fraud, ticket reselling for personal gain, and refund abuse. Handled by a payment-fraud or chargeback-prevention platform; Account layer: one person operating many accounts to claim welcome bonuses, vouchers, referral credits, and first-booking discounts more than once (multi-accounting, account farms), plus account takeover of real travelers' loyalty accounts to redeem miles or points. Handled by an account-layer tool at signup and login. ShieldLabs covers the account layer: it surfaces abuse patterns indicating one person behind many accounts and logins from unrecognized devices, using persistent visitor and user identification that holds across sessions regardless of email, IP, or browser.

How do I prevent travel fraud?

You prevent travel fraud by combining a few layers, because no single tool covers all of it. The layers stack like this: Payment layer: a chargeback-prevention or payment-fraud platform screens transactions, cards, and card-not-present risk; Authentication layer: multi-factor authentication, strong password rules, and step-up checks on high-risk logins and redemptions cut down loyalty account takeover; Policy layer: your own promo rules (limits per traveler, device, payment card, or address; rate-limits on voucher redemption; delayed reward payouts until travel is completed) keep obvious abuse in check; Account layer: an identification tool surfaces the patterns of one person operating many accounts and logins from unrecognized devices, so your code can hold or step up before a discount is issued or miles are redeemed. ShieldLabs is the account layer: it installs in about 5 minutes, returns a risk score and abuse patterns on the first visit, and feeds your rules so they act before a welcome bonus, voucher, or miles redemption goes out.

How does ShieldLabs prevent travel fraud and abuse?

ShieldLabs runs through a single JavaScript snippet on your signup, login, or account page and returns the signals your rules need to act on a risky account before it costs you. On each visit it returns: a 0-100 risk score with a signal breakdown; persistent visitor and user identification across sessions; anonymity signals: VPN, proxy, Tor, anti-detect browser, IP reputation, and more; active abuse patterns in analytics, multi-accounting, account farms, and others. When many signups trace back to one device, browser, or identity, the multi-accounting pattern fires. ShieldLabs delivers the risk score and signals via API and Webhooks, so your code can flag, hold, or step up an account before a welcome bonus, voucher, or miles redemption goes out.

Does ShieldLabs work for any kind of travel company?

Yes. The mechanism is the same wherever one person can profit by opening many accounts or by getting into an account that is not theirs, so it maps onto each vertical's downstream abuse: Airlines: welcome-bonus farming and miles theft; OTAs and online booking platforms: first-booking-discount farming and voucher abuse; Hotel chains: points-program abuse and loyalty-account takeover; Vacation rental and short-stay platforms: referral fraud and fake-host or fake-guest account creation. ShieldLabs surfaces patterns indicating multi-accounting, account farms, and account-takeover logins at signup and login, identifying the visitor and user behind each account; your rules then decide whether to allow, hold, or step up.

Is ShieldLabs travel fraud prevention software?

Yes, ShieldLabs is travel fraud prevention software focused on the account layer, software a travel company integrates to surface fraud and abuse signals automatically rather than reviewing accounts by hand. Here is what that means in practice: What it is: one JavaScript snippet on your signup, login, and account pages that returns a risk score and anonymity signals through a REST API and Webhooks, with abuse patterns in analytics; What it is not: a managed review service or a chargeback-guarantee product; it is software you integrate and control; Where it pairs: for payment and chargeback fraud, run it alongside a dedicated payment-fraud platform. ShieldLabs identifies the visitor and user and surfaces anonymity signals and abuse patterns for the fake-account, voucher-abuse, multi-accounting, and loyalty-account-takeover layer; your own rules decide whether to allow, hold, or step up.

How do I integrate ShieldLabs into a travel platform?

You integrate ShieldLabs by adding one JavaScript snippet to your signup, login, or account page, integration takes about 5 minutes. The steps: Install the snippet and pass an optional UserHID (a hashed account or user identifier from your own system) once a traveler signs up or logs in; Read the risk score and anonymity signals, returned on the next visit and available via REST API and Webhooks for server-side flows; Review abuse patterns in analytics. ShieldLabs gives you 5,000 one-time identifications free with no credit card, so you can test on real traffic before enabling production rules.

Will ShieldLabs block customers automatically?

No. ShieldLabs blocks nothing automatically, it returns a risk score and a full signal breakdown, and your code decides what to do. A typical threshold setup looks like: Score 60 or above: flag the account for review, restricted booking, or capped voucher value; Score 85 or above: hold a signup or a high-risk login for manual review; Below your threshold: let the real traveler through with no extra friction. ShieldLabs gives you 5,000 identifications free to tune these thresholds on real traffic before enabling rules in production.

Travel Fraud Prevention

Stop travel fraud before
it eats into bookings and loyalty

Prevent loyalty miles theft, voucher abuse, multi-accounting, and fake account
creation across airlines, hotels, and online travel agencies at signup and login

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Keep loyalty miles and points where they belong

Stop one person from running many accounts to drain welcome bonuses, miles, and elite-status rewards

Protect promo budgets and voucher payouts

Keep welcome offers, vouchers, and referral credits with real travelers

Keep accounts in real travelers' hands

Prevent account-takeover logins from unrecognized devices and anonymized connections

Keep real travelers moving

Legitimate travelers sign up and log in without extra verification steps

How ShieldLabs prevents travel fraud and abuse

ShieldLabs combines 100+ device, OS, browser, IP, and network signals, surfacing anonymity signals and abuse patterns

Accurate Identification

Identify returning visitors and users across sessions, cleared cookies, incognito mode, and rotated IP, even when they sign up under fresh emails

Anonymous Traffic Detection

VPN, proxy, Tor, anti-detect browser, IP reputation and other anonymity signals

Ready Risk Score

A ready-to-use risk model that scores every signup and login 0–100 with signal breakdown

Detect abuse with in-depth pattern analytics

Pre-built patterns indicating multi-accounting, account farms, account takeover, and other abuse patterns

Real-Time Analytics

Aggregate risk score, traffic source attribution, per-session signal breakdown, and active abuse patterns

Prevent travel fraud and abuse in 5 minutes

Easily integrate into any signup, login, or account flow

1
Sign up
Sign up and get 5,000 free identifications.
2
Install snippet
Install one JavaScript snippet on your signup, login, or account page.
3
View analytics
View detailed analytics on anonymity signals, risk scores, and potential abuse in your traffic.
4
Use API & Webhooks
Use the API and Webhooks to prevent abuse.

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api.shieldlabs.ai/v1/visits/latest

{
  "request_id": "0c284695-cf0b-4755-8beb-0a2e9536595e",
  "visitor_id": "aa8c616a-8a25-4a5e-bee2-a9a08e5128a4",
  "device_id": "6a45967d-1371-9652-ba99-b01ea3992208",
  "user_hid": "u_9f2a41c7",
  "ip": "62.197.149.124",
  "country": "Lithuania",
  "connection_type": "vpn",
  "os": "Windows",
  "browser": "Chrome",
  "device_type": "desktop",
  "risk_score": 85,
  "signals": [
    { "name": "antidetect_browser", "weight": 60 },
    { "name": "vpn", "weight": 15 },
    { "name": "timezone_mismatch", "weight": 10 }
  ]
}

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Stop travel fraud beforeit eats into bookings and loyalty