For Global Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) and airlines, finding reliable LATAM Travel Payment Solutions represents one of the world’s most significant growth opportunities. However, a silent bottleneck is draining revenue: the catastrophic failure of international card payments. While the global market often presents protocols like 3DS as a “silver bullet” against fraud, the operational reality in the region shows that this tool was never, and remains not, the ultimate solution.

The 3DS Myth and the Sophistication of Travel Fraud

The travel sector is a primary target for fraudsters due to high transaction values and the emotional, urgent nature of purchases. Modern fraudsters don’t need to break encryption; they utilize social engineering and synthetic personas to manipulate the weakest link: the user.

By replicating behavioral patterns, such as typing speed and mouse movement, attackers convince systems that they are the legitimate user. When the system requests 3DS, the fraudster uses “pure silver tongue” (social engineering) to convince the client to complete the authentication, making the attack invisible to most prevention tools.

• Expert Insight: Our leadership has long warned about this evolution. In his talk, “The Future of Fraud: Synthetic Personas“, Paulo Moura (who brings years of experience to the epag team) detailed how these profiles allow fraudsters to mimic human interaction with precision by collecting computer “Beacons” to replicate typing speed, browser behavior, and interaction timing.

Why Cards Fail and the Need for Better LATAM Travel Payment Solutions

Exclusive reliance on international credit cards limits the reach of OTAs to a small fraction of the public in the region. In fact, international card reach can be as low as 5%. Beyond low reach, the friction generated by false positives and security blocks results in massive revenue loss. The solution is not to add more friction to the card flow, but to “Change the Rail” by implementing local LATAM Travel Payment Solutions.

The Strategic Advantage of PixTurismo and APMs

Switching to Alternative Payment Methods (APMs), such as PIX, removes entire attack surfaces by design. By adopting the PixTurismo solution, powered by the epag global infrastructure, OTAs gain immediate benefits from advanced LATAM Travel Payment Solutions:

• Zero Chargeback: APMs remove classic card scheme disputes and “friendly fraud” vectors.

• Total Reach: Companies can accept local payments across 140+ methods in Latin America without needing a local entity.

• No Replayable Authentication: APMs eliminate the risk of stored card credentials being reused by fraudsters.

• Commercial Conversion: By offering PIX, the OTA serves the Brazilian customer with the money they have in hand, avoiding unstable international bank approvals.

From “Fighting Fraud” to “Making Money”

The role of PixTurismo is to transform risk into real growth. In the travel industry, providing secure, instantaneous, and local LATAM Travel Payment Solutions is the difference between a confirmed booking and an abandoned cart. Our global infrastructure connects your platform directly to the pocket of the Latin American consumer, ensuring your business isn’t just another “payment declined” statistic.

Learn more about our approach:

• Expert Profile: Paulo Moura – Turning complexity into growth at epag.

• Our Solutions: Explore how epag and PixTurismo are internationalizing the PIX for the travel industry.