IGT Technologies, a two-decade-old business that operates Air India’s contact centres and related activities, filed a FIR at the Gurgaon cyber cell police station on May 7 against several travel brokers as well as unknown persons for fraudulently buying airline tickets. Despite the fact that the tickets purchased were legitimate, the cash from the sales never made it to Air India. After Air India reported the issue with IGT, the complaint was filed.
The case involves illegally buying tickets, which resulted in a financial loss for Air India. Air India addressed the issue with IGT since the tickets were bought using IGT employees’ login IDs. To be sure, the tickets purchased were legitimate, and individuals used them to travel.
While Air India has declined to divulge the damages it may have sustained as a result of the scam, one Chandigarh-based agency alleges he lost more than Rs 50 lakh when tickets were revoked owing to Covid-19’s second wave last year.
Last February, a travel agent from Chandigarh contacted an Air India customer service number in Gurgaon to inquire about the name pattern for seats he was booking for a Kathmandu-bound aircraft. IGT Solutions, which manages the Air India contact centre, informed him that he will receive a return from one of their support experts. He was quickly contacted by someone purporting to be an Air India agent, who was able to assist him with his problem. The agent received a second call from the same representative shortly after, this time with an offer to book the same ticket for Rs 10,000 less than the indicated amount. The agent agreed on the proviso that he would only pay when the passengers had completed their journey as specified on the ticket.
For 15 days, this approach, in which the Chandigarh agent paid for the tickets after the passengers had finished their journey, was used. Every day, the agent booked roughly 2 to 3 tickets. The agent was certain the man was an Air India employee selling him real tickets at a discount because there had been no difficulties for 15 days. In reality, the executive met with the agent in Chandigarh and presented him an Air India identity card, proving the person’s validity to the agent. As a result, the agent began making payments at the time of reservation.
Furthermore, the agent began booking all of his tickets from this specific executive, as well as introducing him to his other coworkers.
The cheap tickets were available until April, when India was hit by a catastrophic second wave of Covid-19, cancelling many of the tickets bought by the Chandigarh agency. During that time, roughly 60 tickets, mostly for flights to Canada, were cancelled, totaling about Rs 52 lakh. Refunds, on the other hand, never arrived, and passengers are still waiting for their money.
According to the agent, his case cannot be the isolated one, and many more individuals would have lost money. He claims that the only way he can get the money back is to launch a police probe.
The Gurgaon Police’s cyber department has filed a FIR accusing a few agents and unknown individuals of fraudulently buying tickets. The police inquiry is expected to uncover the persons engaged in the crime as well as look into the method of operation in depth. The police probe will also reveal how this could have gone on for so long without being noticed by anyone at Air India or IGT.
While Air India claims that none of its workers were involved in the fraud, IGT’s lawsuit points the finger at a number of others, as well as its standard operating procedure for identifying similar transactions.
According to the agent, the individual who contacted him and ordered tickets for him was previously captured by the authorities, and only that person can solve the enigma surrounding these illegal reservations. The person has not yet discussed anything with the police, according to the agency.
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