senior personnel finance sharon epperson is where. do you protect yourself and your vacation time from travel fraud. how big of anit issue is >> reporter: a recent study showed that 55 million bookings per year are done on a fraudulentwebsite, travel website or through a fike website. it's had 16% on consumers and the industry. this is between 300 and $500 and we're looking a airlines losing between 2 to nearly $5 billion a yearfro credit card d. if you're booking your hotel on the same day thinking you're going to get a great deal, you're four times more likely to be a victim of fraud. >> so i mentioned if'r y looking for that deal that makes you more vulnerae to it? what are youfo looking >> you get an e-mail that says you can get a great diskoublt on this airline, this resorter but are not a lot of details attached to it. the biggest one, it's going to free. it doesn't give you a date or the name of the location of where this p tperty is going be. that's another warning sign to look out for. the other thing to look for is if you're

a little bit latere hogram, we'll talk to sharon epperson aboutow those rising rate will impact your budget. >>> meanwhile, late today, a big story. comcast made ail65on all cash offer for some of the sets of 21st century fox. lhat bid nearly 20% higher than all stock propo for the same fox assets that disney me last december. question now is, will to top comcast's offer in this brewing battle that occurs astr itional media companies are trying to better compete with the likes of a netflix. comcast proposal to take over time waer. imagine media and telecom stocks rose for more merger activity in the sector and wasn't enough to lift the broader market under pressurefter the feder reserve rates interest rates. so when all said and done, the dow jones fell 119 points. 25,201. the nasdaq which set a newigh was down 8 and the s&p 500 dropd 11. >> oil prices turned higher today as supplies fell more than expected. a government report pointed to a bigger than expectedecline in domestic crude supplies. it was, in fact, the largest one week decline since march but oil praie were capped after

senior personal finance correspondent sharon epperson is here with tips on how to protect yourself and your valuable vacation time. sharon, it's great to see you. >> good to be here >> how big of an issue is it, travel fraud >> it's a very big issue, and particularly now as many people are looking for that great deal. you need to be aware that over the last year, in 2017, travel fraud rose by 16%. and we're talking about a significant loss to consumers. the average fraudulent transaction cost consumers from nearly $300 to almost $600 per transaction. >> what are we talking about >> that's significant. we're talking about hotels and airlines -- >> i think i'm booking a ticket and i'm just getting scammed -- >> largely doing it online, and you think you're getting something, and then that person who is fraudulently taking your money, either your credit card information or some such, is then re-selling that ticket or re-booking it or trying to use it for themselves. >> what are some of the things we should be on the look out for. red flags that tell you, hey, this is too good to be true.

senior personal finance correspondent sharon epperson joins us with more on how to do -- first of all 17% are you kidding me >> and rates continue to rise as the fed raises interest rates, your credit card rates will go up too so it is important to take a look at what you can negotiate and how to lower that rate and potentially lower the fees associated with the card as well. >> and it seems like a crazy idea you call up and say can i get a lower rate and does it work. >> a lot of people don't do. it you could potentially lower your interest rate or lower fees or fees waived and you could also maybe even get a higher credit limit and that is great because your -- your utilization ratio that they look at to figure out your credit score, you want to have the highest limit and use as little as possible to make sure your credit score goes up. >> and have you done this? >> i have done this and for the higher credit limit. that is the one that works the best when credit cards.com did a survey and they looked at what people could ask for and how successful when they ask and more than half of

our senior personal finance horrespondent sharon epperson joins us now w a new report on the best andst cities to retire to. it's great to see you! >> b good here. >> great to have you here. if you're trying to to decide where to age in place what are the factors we should all take into consideration? >> we should all take noorgs because the majority of americans want to stay in their home and stayn their own community. and some of the things to onsider a new survey out b magazinive money looked at these factors such as lifestyle, you're voluming and how much you're gauging e ingi inengagin commndity and cost of living renting or owning on a fixed income so very important. also medal quality and cost. medicare does not pay for everything when you're adenior many seniors don't realize that and need to know how much is coming out of pocket so t was a consideration. and also access to assisted living and that includes home health care providers as well as community centers that allow you to kind of age in place there and get assisted living as you need it. >> bearinghat in mind what did