Booking travel today means navigating a minefield of lookalike websites, too-good-to-be-true fares, "free vacation" offers that aren't free, and rental listings for properties that don't exist. The scams are sophisticated, but they're also repetitive — the same tricks, the same pressure tactics, the same payment demands.

Travel Scams walks you through each con the way it actually unfolds: the rental scam's friendly "owner" who wants payment by wire transfer, the free-vacation seminar with its upfront fees and high-pressure upsell, the fake airline site that's one letter off from the real one, and the hotel Wi-Fi traps waiting at your destination. For each one you get the tells, the one safe response, and the booking habits that make you a hard target.

The book closes with what to do if it already happened — in what order, who to call — plus a printable one-page travel safety checklist to review before every trip. The trip of a lifetime shouldn't cost you twice.