Fake Internet Agents

Leslie Young

Air New Zealand

Fake Internet Agents

This problem has been going on for several years, with the same people responsible for several different sites

Close one down, and another one pops up Smarter and more sophisticated Using IATA name to legitimize their sites

Fake internet agents cont……

Very professional websites, look genuine Websites often have links to the carriers

websites so the customer can compare prices. Customers contact the “agent” for a quote which

ends up cheaper Told they don’t have to pay until proof of

purchase

Fake internet agents cont……

“Agent” books directly on the carrier website using compromised credit cards

“Agent” send the ETs to the customer, telling them to ignore the $ amount on the ticket, that they have a special deal

Customer told to ring Airline directly to check reservation & tickets before sending money

Carrier confirms booking and tickets are fine (as no chargeback has been received at this stage)

Customer wires the money to the “Agent” or direct credit into their account

Problems the carriers face: Nothing to identify that it is a fraudulent booking eg long

APs Email addresses that change constantly Public IP addresses that we can’t cut off Travel starting from anywhere, not from one particular

country Changing the agency name, but they still have the main

one operating. Fake phone numbers in bookings, no way to contact the

pax Angry pax who say “we rang you and you said

everything was OK”

Tickets2cheapOne of the original agents now closed but FlyAffordable.com & Socheapflights.com were linked to it by email address evelykosi@yahoo.com

NT AirFaresNTTAIRFARES.COM – Closed but then metamorphoses into....................

The New NTTAirFares – looks like it was still around 3 weeks ago…..

Travellow……also closed

Top Wave Travel & ToursStill up and running, unable to close it down. Note the IATA Logo

New Twist on Old Problem-Phising for credit card Info Internet Agent based in UK but with links in India Name of genuine agent slightly changed (added an s on

the name) Faraway Travel became Farawaytravels Used the ATOL and address of this genuine agent Also used the domain Momondotravel.co.uk with the

ATOL and address of another agent ATC (Air Travel Consultants). There is also a genuine Internet Agent WWW.Momondo.com

Anyone making a booking through Momondotravel.co.uk get directed to the Farawaytravels website.

Phising for credit card Info Customer books over farawaytravels/momondotravel Website Customer pays with credit card, putting in all their credit card details

including name, expiry date, address & the 3 digit security code Customer receives notification from the “agent” that there was a

problem processing the card and requires a wire transfer to a Mr Harpreet Singh in India to get the fare at the same cheap price

A 3rd party credit card is used to pay for the tickets, which are compromised credit card numbers from previous bookings.

Customer rings up carrier to ascertain that the booking is OK , and on the surface it does look OK.

Both sites have been closed and under investigation in the UK.

Farawaytravels Website

HOT OFF THE PRESS- Brand new website. Note the IATA Logo

TravelFast - Same phone number as TravelAssistants

….and then the complaints start rolling in

• Travelfastnow stole my money and I have no airline tickets! • Travelfastnow Complaint by Cindi1

• TravelFastNow is a SCAM!!! They stole my money. They made airline reservations that they then cancelled after a month. Now they won't answer my calls. They have figured out a way to request a refund from the airlines without us knowing about it after we have our flight confirmations in hand. Absolute nightmare experience. My $2400.00 is gone and American Airlines says once you go through an agent you are at their mercy?. Never ever use this website if you come across it!. They promise great prices but it is one giant SCAM?. Believe me/. I have never been scammed before and I fell for it|. Tell everyone you know,. I had a gut instinct in the beginning and ignored it, never again'. I feel so sick. 456cbc

Same agent, different name, same scam…..

Another new agent “Yourtripadvisors” – Emails from the “Agent” to customer

• Hello!

Our system shows that you've selected WESTERN UNION (WU) as a payment method for your purchase. Attached to this email you will find a detailed FAQ on how to initiate WU transfers. For more information please contact your local WU office.

Please find the transfer instructions below. Please email us once the transfer is complete, or confirm it in the MY ITINERARIES at www.yourtripadvisors.com, so that we can activate your tickets.

Our company can also provide tickets to you BEFORE we receive your payment. These tickets will be activated after your payment is confirmed. Please let us know if you'd like to receive tickets copy before you submit your payment.

Recepient First Name: EndijsRecepient Last name : SpundeRecepient City: DublinRecepient Country: IrelandTransfer Amount: 2532.6(EUR)

The transfer is sent to our EUROPE processing center.

WU does not require any additional information for transfer processing, besides given above.

Please note that all WU fees should be deducted from the amount of the transfer, so the total amount will be less than the ticket price. Just let the WU agent know that you want the fees to be deducted from the transfer amount. For example, if you send $100.00 and the fees are $7.00 the amount you should send us will be $93.00.

IMPORTANT: Please email us the exact transfer amount, MTCN number and sender's first and last name, city and country the transfer was made from after you complete the transfer, so that we can collect it. You can also provide the transfer information online in the MY ITINERARIES section of our website at www.yourtripadvisors.com

Please check your order status, edit passenger info, select payment metods, confirm your payments and more in the MY ITINERARIES section at www.yourtripadvisors.com

Thank you!

TripPlanners which is associated with YourTripadvisors

All of these Agencies are linked

• TravelAssistants• TravelFast• TravelFastNow• TravelCheapNow• YourTripAdvisors• TripPlanners• YourTravelAssistants (Also phishing for credit card

details)

What we are doing about it Unfortunately there has been very little we can do

except: Educate our Call Centre staff by telling them to

question anyone enquiring about their bookings eg did you purchase this ticket yourself and how did you pay for your ticket.

Alert sent to Consumer Affairs Scam warning on our Internet Site (if the customer clicks

on the link from the fraud site it should come to the same page as the scam warning).

Communication

is the greatest tool of all

Internal Fraud

Leslie Young

Air New Zealand

Internal Fraud– A Growing Problem

• Or has it always been there? Eticketing has made it easier to commit fraud But it has also made it easier to track it With some other types of fraud diminishing, it is

time to focus on what is going on in your own organisation

Internal Fraud – Ticketing

A snapshot of internal ticketing fraud Revalidation or reissue into higher classes, no ADCOL Revalidation in same cabin class (booked in lowest class to get

cheaper fare on a date not wanted, revalidated to the flight/date actually required

Reissues of cheap fares from short haul to long haul, one-ways to returns, and totally different routing

Reissue into different names. No reccing pax onto flights they are not booked on (no trail, to

make it harder to detect than a reissue/reval)• We run reports on all of these

Internal Fraud – Ticketing cont…. Revalidation or reissue into higher classes, no ADCOL Eg - an early bird special to the UK reissued from the cheapest economy

class to full business class, difference in the fares per pax was over NZD10K

Duty Managers sine-in used, hard to detect who had done the changes Generic sine-ins are often used at airports,

Note: Try and clean up this practice Staff using unattended computers when the signed in staff member is

temporally away from the setNote: Educate your staff to the importance of protecting their sine-

ins and passwords, and locking their computer when not at their desk/counter

Internal Fraud – Ticketing cont…. Revalidation/reissue in same cabin class (booked in

lowest class to get cheaper fare on a date not wanted, revalidated to the flight/date actually required)Past problem with paper tickets and physical

revalidation stickers, still ongoing with ET’s.Smaller stations appear to be the biggest problem

area (peer pressure)An audit of one of our GSA’s revealed over

NZD100K of ticketing fraudAn audit of one of the Airports resulted in 8 staff

being dismissed for doing reissues/revals for friends and family

Internal Fraud – Ticketing cont…. Reissues of cheap fares from short haul to long haul, one-

ways to returns, and totally different routing.Ex staff member bought numerous cheap one way tickets

over the internet, then reissued them to whatever she or her friends wanted.

Suspect she may have on-sold some for cashShort haul single sector domestic became long haul return

journeysChanged namesUpgrade certificates used for business class travelDifference in NZD25K in 3 months before she left

company

Internal Fraud – Ticketing cont….• No Reccing onto flights to get around reissues or

revals being identified (if you no-rec a pax it does not form an ET trail) eg

A pax buys a ticket for the 26th May, but actually wants to fly 20th May

“Friend” at airport no-reccs pax onto flight on the 20th, ET will still show date of 26th and will show flown date as 26th.

More likely to happen at smaller airports with less controls

Internal Fraud - RefundsRefunding unused tickets to a different FOP,

sometimes getting an expired ticket reopened so that they can do this.

Refunding non-refundable ticketsRefunding for a higher $ amountAdjustment refunds on used tickets

Internal Fraud – Company Credit Cards

Personal spend coded as something different Personal spend amongst company spend Multiple cash advances with no corresponding

receipts and coded to last cent (no rebanking) History of missing receipts Personal spend not paid back (after saying it

was going to be) We random audit as well as run personal spend reports

Internal Fraud – Airport Operations

Excess baggage not collected Excess baggage fees collected but not put

through for banking (cash) Asking non-related people to take baggage as

part of their allowance Upgrading friends/family No-reccing pax on to get around reissuing a

ticket and break fare rules Using generic sines to alter ticketing for family

and friends

Internal Fraud – Fraud Reports

All of the ticketing reports are run from EDW (Electronic Data Warehouse) including Direct Sales refunds

Head Office refunds are run from PRA (Passenger Revenue Accounting System)

The Airport related ones eg No-rec and Upgrades are run from DCS (Departure Control System)

ANY

QUESTIONS?