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FIT

PITAS. FIT. Phantom Internet Travel Agent Scheme. Doug Nass Dnass@ARCcorp.com Bob Stockman Rstockman@ARCcorp.com 703 816-8137. Plus Other “Lie, Cheat & Steal” Stories . All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law. When does ARC become involved?.

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FIT

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  1. PITAS FIT Phantom Internet Travel Agent Scheme Doug Nass Dnass@ARCcorp.com Bob Stockman Rstockman@ARCcorp.com 703 816-8137

  2. Plus Other “Lie, Cheat & Steal” Stories All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  3. When does ARC become involved? “Systematic deception with the likelihood of significant losses” Usually: Multiple carriers involved Expert knowledge required False information involved A thru Z - approval codes - zones Carrier notification and assistance is crucial All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  4. Mission – Field Investigations & Fraud Prevention Minimize financial losses incurred by the Air Carrier Community caused by: fraudulent itinerary ticketing, theft & counterfeit of ARC ticket stock; Assist Travel Agencies in preventing losses caused by fraudulent schemes of others; Assist law enforcement and build partnerships for the investigation of travel industry related crimes. All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  5. Objectives Prevent travel agencies from failing Reduce losses to ARC and carriers Strengthen partnerships among agencies, carriers and ARC All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  6. Disclaimer Individual and corporate names about to be discussed in this presentation may or may not be true identities. The fact that an individual or entity is mentioned during this conference does not make them bad or guilty of any crimes. All individuals and entities are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  7. PITAS - Summary 11 Travel Agencies Approx. 600 Tickets Face Value of Tickets $2,256,424 SA Adam Keown FBI - Washington Field Office (703) 686-6756 All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  8. Phantom Internet Travel Agency Schemes Incentive Connections Phoenix, AZ 03510010 30 Tickets $147,384.18 CWT/Millstream Findlay, OH 3668289 120 Tickets $229,227.45 IT Travel Institute of Texas Houston, TX 45674263 30 Tickets $76,274.97 Travel Quest Monticello, MN 24632716 51 Tickets $202,811.03 1 Same CC 2 SameNames 3 Same CC 19 Same Names 1 Same Name 4 Same Names Etour Tamarac, FL 10777583 109 Tickets $361,320.66 Sonic Tvl & Trs Monterrey Park, CA 05542213 48 Tickets $224,259.15 Corporate Travel Planners San Antonio, TX 45533541 80 Tickets $155,957.00 1 Same Name 9 Same Names 1 Same CC 10 Same Names 3 Same Names 3 Same Names Back To The Caribbean Tamarac, FL 10649601 81 Tickets $412,291.95 A Small World Travel Wauwatosa, WI 52647836 33 Tickets $69,689.15 Uniglobe PreferredSouthlake, TX 45613433 22 Tickets $43,335.31 Uniglobe Preferred Arlington Hts, IL 14784081 6 Tickets $21,619.04 3 Same Names

  9. PITAS – overview An extensive fraud operation centered on travel to and from Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire. Five tactics: False application to a Global Distribution System (GDS) in the name of an agency [or GDS takeover] Identity theft used to pose as a legitimate outside-sales agent False application to an airline direct sales website in the name of an agency Phishing for associates pseudo city codes and passwords Compromised credit cards All linked by common travel plans, passenger names and credit card numbers. Pax provide minimal information Uncle purchased ticket from unknown source All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  10. PITAS – Carriers involved Northwest Lufthansa British Airways Delta Emirates Air France SN Brussels Royal Air Maroc All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  11. PITAS – E Tours Tickets issued July 29 for next day travel Transactions in IAR report but different GDS Cash and credit card sales ARC notified July 31 Affected carriers advised Most travel completed Start of major investigation All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  12. PITAS – Chronology April 2008 IT Travel Institute of Texas, Houston,TX Outside agent “Frank Bohall” May 2008 A Small World Travel, Wauwatosa, WI Outside agent “Lynn Degennaro” June 2008 Sonic Travel & Tours, Monterrey Park, CA Carrier Direct Sales settled thru IAR All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  13. PITAS – Chronology July 2008 Back to the Caribbean, Tamarac, FL Carrier Direct Sales settled thru IAR July 2008 Etour & Travel, Orlando, FL GDS compromise by “Ronald Gripon” August 2008 Incentive Connection Travel, Phoenix, AZ Outside agent “Jerry Hayes” All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  14. PITAS – Chronology August 2008 Uniglobe Preferred Travel, Arlington Hts., IL Compromised Credit Card August 2008 Travel Quest of Monticello, Monticello, MN Outside agent “Yvette Cox” September 2008 Corporate Travel Planners, San Antonio, TX Website phishing [.com to .net] Outside agent “Yvette Cox” All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  15. PITAS – Chronology September 2008 A Small World Travel, Wauwatosa, WI GDS Takeover, owners locked out September 2008 CWT/Millstream Travel, Findley, OH Outside agent November 2008 Nexion, Southlake, TX Outside agent All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  16. The Remarkable Tale of Harry Rxxm aka: H. Mark Rixxxxsky or Rixxxxski American Travel Marketing 05816182 American Express VIP Travel 10536035 Federal Air Marshal impersonation charge “Chief of Police, Fisher Island” Exchange / Refund / FOP changes Credit Card “Problems” Gift Card “Problems” All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  17. Timeline 2/24/09: Harry contacts ARC and his bank to receive refunds from his 2/15/09 sales report. 2/25/09: Harry arrested at MIA for FAM impersonation. ARC begins a review of the refunds 2/27/09: ARC contacts the Asst. US Attorney. 3/2/09: Harry’s bond hearing postponed until 3/6/09. 3/4/09: Conference call with AUSA, FBI, Miami-Dade PD, American Express, TD Bank, AA, and ARC. 3/6/09: Bond raised from $100k to $500k! 3/26/09: Harry makes bail. All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  18. Investigation Findings 432 tickets worth $1.9m issued in the name “Harry Rimm” between 6/1/08 and 2/24/09. $1.4m worth were voided. $490,000 available for use or refund. 27 refunds = $108,000 in PED 2/15/09. $60,000 TASF fees using customer’s credit cards. $18,000 in unpaid American Express travelers checks. SA Albert Fontana, FBI – Miami (305) 787-6760 All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  19. Travel Partner Solutions, Inc. “Tina M. Corry” (true identity unknown) 725 Cool Springs Blvd., Franklin, TN $15,000,000,000 Sales Volume Fast track to ARC accreditation Certification $250,000 Bond Fee $100,000 SA Nancy Volkel FBI (615) 232-7530 All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  20. “Tina” in Mumbai, India All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  21. Deluxe Holidays Multiple Locations $ Multi-Millions in Sales Economy gets bad Convert credit sales to cash 45% cash to over 90% cash Walk away ARC out $1 Million All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  22. Falak Travel Network - 14587510 On 3/19/09 Emirates advised the agency is busting-out. Majority of paper tickets were voided but flown. Agency was sold in 11/08 to Rashid Mixxxs, owner of City Travel & Tours (non-ARC). $560,000 worth of tickets issued and manually voided. Numerous pax’s stopped by Emirates and identify City Travel & Tours as the agency they purchased from. Case opened with FBI-Chicago. All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  23. Nishita Bhxxxt Sxxh Complaints: Customers paying for, but not receiving any tickets. ARC-accredited agencies receiving chargebacks for tickets issued to her “agencies”. Web-based “travel agencies”: Lowest-tickets.com lastminutefares.net Bestdiscountfares.com lastminutetickets.net Bestdiscountnetwork.com lastminuteticketairfares.com Itsfares.com lastminutetravel.com Itsourcesllc.com Last Minute Reservations Tripmakers Believed to operate from Beverly Hills Mail drops in Albuquerque and Las Vegas All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  24. Barclays Card – Nov. 2007 - present Social Engineering to gain access Common Email Addresses: blessengo@gmail.com, ldavid3952@yahoo.com, lee39@hotmail.fr Fax copy of Barclays credit cards with account numbers from other banks Fax copy of a US passport and changes name Common address in Washington DC: 1818 Columbia Rd, Tel: (985) 403 9090 Common phone number in Brooklyn: (718) 285 8946 Nineteen agencies issued 135 tickets worth $77,278.49 All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  25. Barclay Card – Names used by perpetrator “Robert Phillips” “David Palmer” “David Lee” “David Woors” “Lee Woors” “Lee Yamamoto” “Ted Janossy” “James Brawn” All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  26. All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  27. All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  28. All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  29. All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  30. All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  31. All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  32. All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  33. All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  34. All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  35. CC Flyer Credit card fraud too small for law enforcement interest. Usually 3 to 6 months before it is reported to ARC. Domestic / Coach Air Travel. Losses for individual cases typically ranges from $500-$2500 per travel agency. Over 400 travel agencies affected. Over 600 names discovered. All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  36. CC Flyer Over 120 credit cards with suspected fraudulent activity. Linking of the cases has put losses at $600,000 and growing. Time between purchase and flight is < 3days. Travel is generally between the LAX area and the Southeast – ATL & MSY area. Ticket is rarely purchased in same geographical area. Only the outbound portion of the itinerary is flown. All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  37. CC Flyer Examples Same name, three different spellings One of four players on the Los Angeles SW Cougar’s football roster linked with suspected fraud. Travel generally between South East and LAX All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  38. CC Flyer These passengers were stopped on March 27th Tickets were supposedly purchased at “The Alley” Purchaser is former New Orleans Police Officer On March 28th, all three flew out of Ontario, CA on a different credit card All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  39. CC Flyer Male caller – purchases tickets for others Common Last name (Smith, Johnson, etc) Social Engineering – convincing narrative – funeral, accident, last minute holiday travel SA Shane Cheek – US Secret Service (213) 533-4607 All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

  40. CC Flyer All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law. "Fudgy" Roderick Williams

  41. Thank You! All parties are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.

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