Almost 200 arrested in global airline fraud crackdown

A major international operation targeting people suspected of using stolen or fake credit cards to buy airline tickets has led to 193 arrests.

More than 40 countries, 75 airlines and eight online travel agencies were involved in the fifth ‘Global Airport Action Day’, that saw enforcement stepped up at 189 airports across the world.

Officers identified 350 suspicious transactions between October 10-15 alone, some of which were run through fake online travel agencies specialising in purchasing tickets for other criminals.

According to Europol, these tickets are often used to facilitate more serious crimes, such as illegal immigration, human trafficking, drug smuggling and terrorism.

They are also thought to cost the airline industry more than $1 billion every year.

Europol Director Rob Wainwright said: “We cannot allow anyone, in particular serious criminals and terrorists, to travel around the world anonymously and to endanger others.

“The digital underground is underpinned by a mature crime-as-a-service model which continues to provide tools and services to people with criminal motivation.

“Together with our private partners we need to further extend these successful initiatives targeting fraud in the airline industry, fighting them on a daily basis, to make life as hard as possible for criminals.”

INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock said: “Airline ticket fraud threatens security worldwide by potentially facilitating the international travel of criminals and terrorists.

“Global Airport Action Day is therefore an important collaborative initiative in disrupting the transnational organised criminal networks behind fraudulent airline ticket purchases and other criminal activities.

“It also highlights the role of cooperation between law enforcement and private industry partners.”