Q1 2026 analysis shows significant variation in prevented fraud rates by origin city, with higher concentrations across parts of Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and South & Southeast Asia
Business Wire
Wednesday 22 April 2026 4:08 pm | Updated: Wednesday 22 April 2026 4:09 pm
Accertify, a leading unified risk decisioning platform provider, today announced the release of its Global Air Travel Fraud Report: Q1 2026, a quarterly analysis examining how fraud risk in airline bookings varies by route origin across global markets.
Based on more than 180 million airline booking transactions processed between January and March 2026, the report analyzes fraud rates by departure city as a proxy for route origin, offering airlines a practical view of where fraud prevention systems are intervening most frequently at the point of booking.
The Q1 2026 findings show that fraud risk in airline bookings is unevenly distributed across markets, with meaningful differences emerging by region and by origin city. Routes originating in North America and Australia continue to exhibit consistently low fraud rates, generally remaining below one percent even among high‑volume departure cities. By contrast, several regions – including Latin America, parts of Africa, the Middle East, and South and Southeast Asia – show materially higher concentrations of prevented fraud, with certain origin cities recording fraud rates multiple times higher.
Importantly, the fraud rates presented in the report represent prevented fraud, or transactions that were denied for a fraud reason before travel occurred. As a result, the rankings highlight where fraud prevention systems are most actively intervening, rather than where fraud losses ultimately materialized.
Key findings from the Accertify Q1 2026 Global Air Travel Fraud Report include:
Routes originating in North America and Australia remain among the lowest‑risk globally, reflecting stable booking behavior and more mature fraud prevention environments. Latin America and the Caribbean show some of the highest concentrations of prevented fraud, particularly across several Brazilian and Colombian origin cities. Fraud exposure across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa varies significantly by origin city, underscoring that regional averages can mask localized risk concentration. Fraud trends across Asia are mixed, with East Asia maintaining relatively low and improving fraud rates, while parts of South and Southeast Asia exhibit higher and more uneven fraud pressure.
“Understanding where fraud is being actively prevented gives airlines a clearer picture of today’s booking‑stage risk landscape,” said Theodore Esser, Director, Strategic Risk Services at Accertify. “By looking at fraud rates by route origin, airlines can better see where controls are intervening most often, and how fraud prevention maturity differs across markets.”
The report underscores that lower fraud rates are not accidental, but tend to emerge in markets where airlines have invested in layered, consistently applied fraud controls over time. Conversely, higher observed fraud rates reflect environments where booking‑stage fraud pressure remains more concentrated and requires more frequent system intervention.
The Q1 2026 Global Air Travel Fraud Report is accessible here.
About Accertify
Accertify, Inc., is a leading unified risk decisioning platform provider, spanning fraud prevention, chargeback management, account protection, abuse prevention, and payment optimization solutions to clients spanning diverse industries worldwide. Accertify’s platform protects digital commerce, helping clients grow their business by driving down fraud-related losses, simplifying business processes, all while upholding the consumer experience. To learn more about Accertify, visit www.accertify.com.
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Abstract
Accertify launches its first Global Air Travel Fraud Report detailing where booking-stage pressure is most concentrated
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