Over 100 Arrested in Global Crackdown on Airline Fraud
by Michele McDonald /Law enforcement agencies throughout the world took part in a major crackdown on online fraud against airlines, resulting in the arrests of 118 suspects over the Thanksgiving holiday.
The operation—which included cooperation with the airline, travel and credit card industries—took place at more than 80 airports. It was coordinated through centers at Europol in The Hague, Interpol in Singapore and Ameripol in Bogota.
More than 60 airlines and 45 countries were involved.
Months of planning
The action was the result of months of detailed planning between law enforcement, prosecuting and border control agencies, airlines, and credit card companies, coordinated by Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3).
The coordinated action targeted criminals suspected of fraudulently purchasing plane tickets online using stolen or fake credit card data.
In many cases the investigation revealed how credit card fraud is linked to other forms of serious crime, such as drug trafficking and human trafficking, according to Europol.
Suspicious transactions
Representatives of airlines and major credit card companies – including American Express, MasterCard, Visa Inc., and Visa Europe – met on Nov. 26 and 27 at the coordination center run by EC3.
The airline representatives worked to identify suspicious airline ticket transactions and reported 281.
The credit card representatives then used their financial data systems to confirm the airlines’ suspicions. IATA also provided fraud intelligence from its database.
Once the transactions were identified as fraudulent, notifications were sent to the affected airports, where law enforcement officers intercepted and detained suspects when they attempted to use the tickets.
They were backed up by a team of dedicated Europol analysts who provided live access to centralized criminal intelligence databases.
Interpol assisted with the rapid identification of wanted persons and stolen travel documents.
Europol said some of the suspects were repeat offenders and had been arrested in previous police actions at airports.
Global alliance
Officers from EC3 were present in Singapore and Bogota and at some of the European airports, and an official from Eurojust, a 10-year-old cooperation unit formed to combat transborder crime, assisted at the coordination center in The Hague.
Europol director Rob Wainwright said the partnership between law enforcement authorities and the airline and credit card industries is essential to fight fraudsters and identity thieves, who are extremely mobile.
EC3 will continue to invest in similar operations, Wainwright added.
The operation created a global alliance of airlines and law enforcement agencies that will work together on an ongoing basis.