Airlines hit hard by online fraud

The airline industry experiences significant online fraud, according to findings released by CyberSource Corporation, a company that offers a hosted fraud management solution for online retailers.
According to the survey, airlines worldwide lost more than $1.4 billion to fraudsters in 2008. The figure amounts to about 1.3% of worldwide airline revenue.
Online fraud can occur in several ways, Bruce Frymire, a spokesperson for CyberSource told The Industry Standard. Generally, fraudsters use stolen credit card information to buy a ticket for themselves, or act as a travel agent, and buy a ticket for someone else. By the time the true card owner reports the theft, the flight has usually been taken and the airlines loses 100% of the revenue, Frymire said.
While U.S. airlines tend to use automated solutions to identify fraud, overseas airlines manually review many of their bookings. For Middle East-based airlines, 81% of bookings are manually reviewed, compared to just 3% of North American-based airlines, according to CyberSource.
Currently, about 20 airlines use the CyberSource fraud management solution, including British Airways, Jet Airways and LOT Polish Airlines.
18/03/09 Sindya Bhanoo/The Industry Standard

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Categories: Foreign Mar 2009, Jet Airways Mar 2009