‘Hot’ Airline Tickets: $75

Thirty-eight people were charged late last week in connection with an almost nine-year-long nationwide scheme that used thousands of stolen credit card and debit card numbers to buy airline tickets that were later sold at deep discounts.

The scheme victimized thousands, and netted more than $20 million from December 2001 until March 2010, federal prosecutors in Missouri said. Prosecutors announced the indictments on July 9.

“What began as a local law enforcement investigation ultimately exposed an extensive nationwide black market for airline tickets,” U.S. Attorney Beth Phillips said.

Federal prosecutors said conspirators used several strategies to obtain the credit and debit card information of identity theft victims. In some cases, prosecutors charge, conspirators purchased stolen information from co-conspirators in Bangladesh, Vietnam and elsewhere. Some defendants stole customer information at hotels, a bank and a customer call center where the defendants were employed, prosecutors charge.

The stolen identity information was then allegedly used by other conspirators — black market travel agents — to purchase airline tickets online at no cost to themselves. They often purchased reservations close to the time of departure, in order to increase the likelihood that their fraudulent purchases would not be detected, prosecutors said. As a result, a passenger using the ticket could often complete his or her trip before the credit or debit card was detected as being compromised.

According to the indictments, the black market travel agents sold the tickets for $75 to $250, often to people who knew the tickets were not legitimately purchased. Some of the customers have been charged in the indictments.

Charges in the indictment included conspiracy, credit card fraud and identity theft.