AI Deepfakes Are Rewriting the Rules of Fraud in South Africa’s Travel Industry

When fraudsters can trick a professional into wiring millions with a fake board meeting, it’s clear that scams are entering a dangerous new era. At the recent Asata Conference, industry leaders warned that artificial intelligence is making payment fraud harder than ever to detect and the travel industry is right in the firing line.

A Chilling Case Study

Stefan van der Merwe, CEO of Sure Travel, shared a real-world example that sounds more like a Netflix thriller than an office mishap. A UK company’s credit controller joined what appeared to be an online meeting with his board of directors. Everyone was present, cameras on, and conversation flowing. The request was simple: transfer £300 000 to a supplier. He complied.

Three days later, he learned the meeting and every person in it, including his own Financial Director had been entirely AI-generated. A deepfake meeting, complete with cloned voices and synthetic faces, had duped a professional into moving millions.

“This is the world we’re heading into,” Van der Merwe told the conference.

The Old Threats Still Linger

While AI-powered scams grab headlines, Rian Bornman, founder of FlightSite, reminded delegates that old-school email fraud remains just as damaging. Business email compromise, where hackers hijack an email thread to reroute payments, is still the single biggest threat.

“These are big-ticket items, with urgency and back-and-forth communication. When an email gets compromised, the fraudsters intercept payments at the worst possible moment,” Bornman explained.

South African businesses know this all too well from hacked supplier invoices to bogus bank details, email scams cost companies millions every year.

Why Travel is Such an Easy Target

Unlike sectors that have tightened digital security, many travel companies still run on manual systems. Van der Merwe admitted that outdated practices are creating soft spots for criminals.

“If you’re arranging travel, chances are you’ve got copies of clients’ credit cards on WhatsApp,” he said. “I’ve been in this industry for 15 years, and aside from a few exceptions, our payment systems haven’t really evolved.”

The reliance on staff judgement is another weak point. When employees have to decide in real time whether an email or call is genuine, AI-powered scams that look and sound flawless become almost impossible to resist.

The Bigger Picture

South Africa has long been a hotspot for financial crime, with cyberattacks on banks and retailers making headlines in recent years. The rise of generative AI now threatens to accelerate this trend, creating scams so sophisticated that even seasoned professionals can fall victim.

On social media, South Africans are already expressing concern. Twitter users have warned that “if AI can fake your boss’s voice, imagine what it can do with your grandmother’s,” while others called for stricter banking partnerships to shield travellers and agents alike.

A Race Against Time

For the travel industry, the message is clear: fraudsters are moving faster than the systems designed to stop them. Unless businesses modernise payments and tighten security, the next deepfake disaster could hit closer to home.

As Van der Merwe warned, “In the travel space there is a massive opportunity to steal, and we’ve got to close that gap. As an industry, we don’t have time to wait.”

Source:Travel News 

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