Automatically Block High-Risk Orders on Your Travel Booking Website

Travel websites handle valuable transactions and sensitive customer data, making them prime targets for fraud. A single security breach can damage your revenue, reputation, and customer trust.

To stay ahead of fraudsters, you need the right tools in place.

Secure travel booking plugins like WP Travel Engine help protect your business, while dedicated security solutions such as Dotstore’s WooCommerce Fraud Prevention plugin add a layer of defense.

In this article, we’ll explore how to block high-risk orders on your travel website using these powerful plugins.

Read on to learn how to keep your business safe from fraud.

Common Fraud Types in the Travel Industry 

The travel booking industry is a prime target for fraud, with common tactics including:

• Fake Bookings: Fraudsters use stolen payment details or fake identities to make reservations without intent to travel.
• Chargeback Fraud: Customers dispute legitimate transactions, falsely claiming they never made the booking.
• Identity Theft: Stolen personal data (e.g., credit cards, passports) is used for unauthorized bookings, causing financial loss and reputational damage.
• Fake Cancellations: Fraudsters exploit refund policies by canceling last-minute for profit.

High-risk orders often follow suspicious patterns such as multiple bookings from the same IP, last-minute expensive reservations, or mismatched billing and travel details.

Fraudsters may also use VPNs, proxies, or stolen payment methods to bypass security.

To safeguard your business, implement fraud detection tools, verify customer details, and set smart booking limits. Prevention is key to protecting both your revenue and customers.

Key Features to Look for in a Fraud Prevention Tool for Travel Websites

Here are the top features you should look for when choosing a fraud prevention tool:

1. Customizable fraud detection rules: Set up specific rules to detect suspicious activity (e.g., flagging bookings from certain countries or blocking certain payment methods).
2. Real-time fraud scoring: Implement tools that provide real-time fraud scoring at checkout to identify high-risk transactions before processing.
3. Easy payment gateway integration: Ensure the fraud prevention tool integrates seamlessly with your payment gateways like PayPal or Stripe.
4. Automatic blocking and suspension: Automatically block or suspend fraudulent bookings to minimize the impact on your revenue.

How WP Travel Engine Helps your WordPress Travel Booking Website

WP Travel Engine is a powerful travel WordPress plugin for travel agencies. It simplifies the process of creating and selling your packages while providing tools to safeguard your site from fraud.

1. Secure payment integration: WP Travel Engine supports secure payment gateways like PayPal and Stripe. These provide built-in fraud protection and minimize fraudulent transactions.
2. Booking verification tools: WP Travel Engine includes user account verification features like email and identity checks. These will confirm that bookings are legitimate.
3. Customizable booking rules: WP Travel Engine lets you set custom booking rules, such as limiting high-ticket bookings or flagging unusual booking patterns.

WP Travel Engine helps build customer trust by incorporating essential features like customer reviews and ratings. This serves as social proof of your travel packages’ reliability.

Displaying customer feedback, booking numbers, and testimonials reassures potential guests about the quality of your services.

Plus, WP Travel Engine’s verified booking process adds another layer of trust.

How WP Travel Engine can Help you Mitigate Fraud

1. Booking Form

WP Travel Engine verifies user emails to ensure they are valid and not disposable. It also ensures that the customer’s information matches the booking details.

2. Payment stage

By integrating with secure payment gateways like PayPal and Stripe, WP Travel Engine helps process payments safely. This ensures fraudulent transactions are blocked during checkout.

3. Confirmation and follow-up

WP Travel Engine’s booking confirmation system ensures only legitimate transactions are confirmed. You can also set up email alerts for suspicious bookings so you can act quickly.

How Dotstore’s WooCommerce Fraud Prevention Plugin Enhances Fraud Prevention 

Dotstore’s WooCommerce Fraud Prevention Plugin adds an extra layer of security to prevent fraud through its advanced detection and blocking capabilities. 

Here’s how integrating Dotstore’s plugin can further enhance WP Travel Engine’s fraud protection:

• Automatically block high-risk orders: The plugin allows you to configure rules to automatically flag and block high-risk bookings based on factors like fraud scores (calculated from customer data), suspicious IP addresses, and payment behaviors.
  
  If a booking is identified as high-risk (e.g., using a mismatched IP location), the plugin can automatically cancel or suspend the order, allowing you to review it before payment.
• Fraud detection during checkout: The plugin performs real-time fraud checks. It flags suspicious payment details like stolen credit cards or mismatched billing information. This helps identify fraudulent transactions before the customer completes their payment.
• Advanced blocking features: Block fraudulent users based on parameters like IP addresses, email addresses, payment methods, and geographic locations. Once flagged, these users are prevented from making future bookings, stopping fraudsters in their tracks.
• Bulk upload for blacklisting: You can upload blacklists with known fraudulent email addresses, ZIP codes, or IP addresses to block them from accessing your site. This feature helps prevent fraud from repeat offenders.

How to Ensure a Seamless User Experience while Blocking Fraudulent orders

Here’s how to ensure your fraud prevention measures don’t hinder legitimate bookings:

• Tailor your fraud detection rules to focus on high-risk scenarios, ensuring legitimate customers aren’t flagged unnecessarily.
• If a booking is flagged or blocked, notify the customer with a clear message explaining the reason and offering a path for clarification or resolution.
• Allow trusted or frequent customers to bypass some checks, providing a quicker and smoother booking experience.

Step-by-step guide: How to configure Dotstore’s Fraud Prevention plugin 

Integrating Dotstore’s WooCommerce Fraud Prevention Plugin is simple if you’re already using WP Travel Engine. You can follow these steps to get started:

1. If you haven’t already, install and configure WP Travel Engine on your WordPress site.
2. Download and install Dotstore’s plugin through your WordPress dashboard.
3. Set up fraud detection rules in Dotstore’s plugin to flag high-risk bookings based on IP addresses, payment patterns, and other criteria.
4. Integrate fraud scoring with your payment gateway to review transactions in real time.
5. Enable the feature to automatically block high-risk orders, saving time on manual reviews.

Conclusion

With the increasing risks of fraud in the travel booking industry, integrating fraud prevention measures into your platform is essential.

WP Travel Engine provides a strong foundation for secure and streamlined travel bookings. Coupled with Dotstore’s WooCommerce Fraud Prevention Plugin’s advanced tools. You can easily block high-risk orders, protect customer data, and prevent fraud. 

By taking these steps, you can create a safe, secure, and trustworthy environment for your customers. Ultimately, you can build customer trust and improve your bottom line.