Stolen identities used in airline ticket scam

July 12, 2010 – 9:47 am

Two Missouri women have been arrested in connection with a national airline ticket scam. The women are among 38 who were indicted in federal court July 9 in the case.

Sabrina Bowers, 29, of Kansas City, and Deidre Turner, 27, of Peculiar, stole a laptop from a home in Overland Park, Missouri, intending to use it as part of a scheme to fraudulently purchase airline tickets, according to the Missouri U.S. Attorney’s Office. A spokesperson for the office said the investigation began with local law enforcement, and a nationwide black market for airline tickets was discovered. Officers began the investigation into the stolen laptop in 2005.

The arrestees are accused of setting up large networks of black market travel agents who used thousands of stolen identities to purchase airline tickets. Thirty-eight defendants used stolen credit and debit card information from thousands of identity theft victims to purchase tickets, which were then sold to customers at a discount.

In some cases, they stole identities from hotels, banks and customer call centers where many of the defendants were employed. Some of the stolen identities were purchased illegally from sources in Bangladesh and Vietnam.

The estimated loss for domestic airline companies, financial institutions and cardholders is more than $20 million.

Federal indictments refer to victims in Kansas City, Missouri, as well as Washington, D.C., Saskatchewan, Canada, Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, New Jersey, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Connecticut, Virginia, West Virginia, Nevada, Michigan, Washington, Ohio, Arizona, Florida, Utah, Nebraska, Colorado, North Carolina, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Alabama and Indiana.

Tickets purchased were for flights into or out of Kansas City International Airport, Springfield-Branson National Airport and other airports across the country.

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