Blog homeHot on the heels of my post questioning whether there is a valid reason for a user generated review website to be receiving complimentary hotel stays here is another dodgy practice that ought to get some coverage.
Should travel agents create fake customer email addresses in order to check what suppliers are sending?
A comment left on TravelMole (no reg on this link) got me thinking about this one. A commenter suggested that agents create unique email addresses (using free email services such as Gmail) and use these agency managed addresses as the customer’s own email address. The suggested advantages are:
- Return communications can be monitored and censored by the agent
- Agents can catch any specials that are fed directly to clients (from suppliers trying to cut agents out of the transaction chain)
The commenter warns that you need to monitor all these email addresses regularly so that messages that are really meant for customers are not delayed too much.
There is a word for this on the web - spoofing. It is a form of fraud. (I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice etc!)
Do travel agents do this often? Is it acceptable? What distinguishes this from identity theft?
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