
How to spot a fraudster on a plane
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The US Federal Aviation Administration has launched a new “Air Safety Report Card” program to warn passengers about people who appear to be scamming them on air travel.
The program is aimed at helping people spot potential fraudsters on flights, and it’s part of an effort to tackle the issue of fake passenger claims.
The Federal Aviation Agency said in a statement that it is expanding the program to cover the use of electronic ticketing systems and to include the reporting of any suspicious behaviour.
The US Air Transportation Safety Board (ATSB) has been investigating fraud and deceptive behaviour on air routes for more than two decades, but fraud and misrepresentation are relatively new issues.
In the early 2000s, ATSB said that around 3.6 million people were being fraudulently ticketed on airways.
That figure has steadily increased since then, with fraud targeting the US government, the oil industry, and airlines themselves.
The TSA says it has been aware of fraud since at least 2010, but the agency’s own fraud database, which is publicly available, has only recently become publicly available.
The FAA says the program aims to make the system easier to use and faster to understand.
It also aims to increase awareness and provide a better way to report suspected fraud.
ATSB director Christopher Hartman said that fraudsters will try to appear legitimate and that they will lie about their age, location, and passport number to appear younger and more trustworthy than they really are.
However, Hartman warned that frauds could also come from people who may have already paid the ticket.
“These are not people who are being honest with you about who they are,” he said.
Hartman explained that the FAA is currently working on a tool to help passengers identify suspicious behaviour on aircraft.
The tool, which will be available later this year, will help passengers quickly report suspected suspicious behaviour by providing detailed information on a person’s travel history.
In a statement, Hartmans said the tool was part of a larger effort to help the public to understand fraud and deception.
“It will be easier for us to detect fraud when it’s happening in the air,” he added.
“We’re using this tool to improve our overall safety, and the more we know about this, the better.”