Dear passengers,
Turkish Airlines takes all kinds of legal and technical measures to protect your personal data and ensure that you can use our official website safely and securely.
However, as use of the Internet and technology have developed, the methods and tools used for fraud scams have increased. This document is intended to provide information on how to avoid internet scams.
First, Turkish Airlines will never request your personal information via e-mail, text message or other online means. If you receive a suspicious email or message, please report it to the Turkish Airlines Customer Services Center via our toll-free number: 0850 333 08 49.
Examples of suspicious activity can include fraudulent e-mails, as well as online messaging applications such as WhatsApp (phishing) or telephone calls (vishing). Sometimes these communications may direct you to a page that resembles our official website. The purpose of these fraudulent communications is to gain access to your bank account information or other personal information such as your credit card numbers and passwords.
For instance, a scammer may claim that you have been awarded a trip, a vacation or Miles from Turkish Airlines. You will then be asked to provide a credit card number and/or other personal information to collect this award.
As noted, Turkish Airlines will never ask for your financial or personal data in this way, nor does Turkish Airlines notify winners of awards via telephone promotions or online messaging applications such as WhatsApp.
Here are some of the most common scams and some basic steps that you can take to protect yourself and your financial and personal information.
Phishing is a method of obtaining sensitive personal or financial information from targeted individuals. Phishing sites impersonate legitimate sites in order to get you to provide your data. Phishing e-mails will appear to be from a trusted organization and will ask you to take immediate action by clicking a link or opening a file.
Phishing e-mails appear to be legitimate at first glance, but before clicking on any links or opening any files, check the domain extension of the sender’s e-mail address. Even if Turkish Airlines brands and terms are used correctly in the content of fake emails, the sender’s information may contain domain names with incorrect or unusual extensions. Some common examples include misspelled domain names such as "example@turkishairines.com", "example@thy.com.network.me" or "example@tyh.com". When receiving an e-mail, make sure the sender’s address is correct.
These scam emails often include:
According to the relevant legislation, Turkish Airlines does not send any marketing communications unless you have signed up and/or consented to receive such communications. If you have not consented to receive such materials and you are not expecting an e-mail from Turkish Airlines, such as transaction information for a ticket/reservation, the e-mail you receive is fake.
Scammers will often manipulate the top results that appear on Google and other search engines. A common search term such as "THY ticket" may bring up a link to a page other than turkishairlines.com. This link is an opportunity to obtain sensitive information from visitors and thus commit fraud.
Scammers can deploy various techniques to convince a potential victim that they are communicating with a Turkish Airlines customer representative or a reputable travel agent. If the deception is successful, the criminal could obtain a customer's personal data, which can then be used to book flights, obtain refunds, or even transfer Miles from your Miles&Smiles account, as well as other nefarious activities.
Internet browsers can save information such as username-password matches and credit card numbers; this information is used to ease the process of accessing websites that require a user name and password. Known as ‘autofill’ in most internet browsers, this feature saves passwords on the internet browser and ensures that relevant information (username-password, credit card information) is automatically entered into the form box when necessary.
If a scammer accesses your personal device, one of the first places they go to find sensitive data is the internet browser.
To minimize risk, you can pay attention to the following points:
If your consent has been obtained, Turkish Airlines will send marketing e-mails with notifications regarding new destinations and services, promotions and campaigns, and Miles&Smiles information, as well as special offers. You will never be asked to provide personal information in response to these emails. Such marketing e-mails are sent from the extensions specified in the channel via which you previously consented to receive relevant notifications.
These are messages sent to you regarding a service received through Turkish Airlines. These messages are sent by THY A.O. and are related to your flight information or feedback. They are sent to the e-mail address that you provided during your transactions and include information related to your ticket activities, your feedback, flight status and check-in reminders.
While our Incorporation takes legal action to identify and follow up on fraudulent incidents, Turkish Airlines is not responsible for damages that you may incur due to frauds or scams. The only way to protect yourself from these and similar fraudulent activity is to be careful as a user.
Turkish Airlines will never demand the following from customers/members:
If you receive a suspicious email that thanks you for a purchase you didn't make, invites you to click links for fake pages, or asks you to update your personal information for any reason:
To protect your email account from being hacked, you can use the following password protocols:
Miles&Smiles Account Security
If you believe that your Miles&Smiles account has been accessed without your permission, or if you receive suspicious messages that appear to be from Turkish Airlines, you can:
Call the Turkish Airlines Customer Services Center toll-free on 0850 333 08 49 or visit the link to contact the smart travel assistant via WhatsApp to obtain assistance.