Kingfisher scam accused reveals modus operandi
RAVI BHASIN
Kingfisher scam accused reveals modus operandi
As Reported by Hindustan
Times
Mumbai, January 25, 2007
Investigation into the multi-crore ticket booking scam in the Kingfisher Airlines so far has revealed the basic modus operandi of the fraudsters, though many more facets of the scam are yet come to light.
How did they do it
Step1:
The foot soldier/s of the racket would collect information about the credit
cards from shopping malls, petrol pumps, hotels/restaurants etc. What they need
about the card is just the CVV (customer Verification Value) number. The last
three digits of the 19 digits imprinted at the back of any credit card (on the
white paper strip just below the magnetic tape) are the CVV numbers.
Along
with the CVV number, they also collect the credit card number (mostly the 16
digit number embossed on the card). It is suspected that many employees at the
shopping mall, petrol pumps, hotels/ restaurants are on the payroll of the
racket for providing the vital data on the credit card/s.
Step2:
Here comes the role of another set of operators. They would befriend (through
money of course) travel agency delivery boys and collect information about
frequent travelers. The police also suspect the hand of some booking employees
of the private airlines as the frequent flyers list is a closely guarded secret
for every airlines.
Step3:
After collecting the information about the frequent flyers, a third set of
operators swing into action. They would contact those passengers and offer
tickets at a highly discounted price. However, the money has to be paid in
cash.
Step4:
The main brains of the racket enter the scene. Through the available data on
credit cards, they would start booking tickets through the on-line booking
facility offered by the airlines. The bookings would be done from a cyber café
(Galaxy cyber café at Antop Hill in the case of the present Kingfisher airlines
ticket scam).
This is done for anonymity. They would then enter the credit card/s number, followed by the CVV numbers, enough to book the ticket/s. After obtaining the confirmation e-mails from the airlines, they would take a print out and wait for the passenger at the airport (or even deliver it at their residences). The payment from the passenger is collected by cash. On the production of the e-ticket (print out of the ticket sent through e-mail), the passengers obtains the boarding pass at the airport.
The original article can be found on the official website of Hindustan Times:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1912049,0002.htm