OutsideAgents.com unveiled what it said is the travel industry "first and only" fraud protection program.
The program is the brainchild of Chad Burt, the host agency's co-owner, whose background includes cyber security and psychology.
Burt said he created the program when found out a travel advisor was defrauded for more than $13,000.
"I snapped when I realized that someone set the agent up and did this on purpose," he said. "I was on fire. That wasn't going to happen again, period."
First, Burt created A Travel Agents Guide to Fraud.
After a discussion with the advisors who had been defrauded, Bert said he "realized that an agent could avoid 98 percent-plus of these situations."
Through the program, OutsideAgents.com will "pay up to $500 of the cost of any fraud for which the agent is held accountable when following the program," the company said.
It also provides ongoing, on-demand and live fraud prevention training; legal support, including recovering losses; tax and accounting and advise to help minimize losses; and much more.
"Our goal at OutsideAgents.com is to provide as much support as possible for our agents and the [Fraud Protection Program] is a resource that every member will benefit from by addressing fraud head-on," said OutsideAgents.com Co-Owner Steve Muraca.
"We encourage all of our members to take advantage and prioritize this program as it's deployed."
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