Flaws in Air India's ticket booking system, says Gurgaon police

The Gurgaon police on Wednesday said there were loopholes in Air India's ticket service system at Delhi Airport, leading to people booking tickets using debit cards getting cheated.

Police Commissioner Navdeep Singh Virk said the flaw came to light following the arrest of an IGI Airport ticket booking attendant for fraud.

Virk said there were vulnerabilities in Air India's ticket booking system at IGI Airport and passengers paying for tickets through debit cards were being cheated.

"We are officially writing to Air India officials to rectify the flaws," Virk said.

Acting on a complaint by Sanjay Kumar of Nathupur village on the Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road, Gurgaon police's cyber crime cell on Tuesday arrested 22-year-old Mandeep Kumar Mishra from IGI Airport's terminal-3 on charges of fraud.

In his complaint to cyber crime cell, Sanjay Kumar said that on April 28-29, an amount of Rs 25,000 was deducted from his account through his debit card by fraud.

"After investigation, Mishra was arrested on the ground of technical evidences by cyber crime cell chief Sudhir Kumar and his team," a senior police officer said.

Accused Mishra told investigators that he used to note down the debit card number, card verification value (CVV) number, PIN number and other details of customers coming for ticket booking through their debit cards.

"Mishra did online shopping fraudulently via debit cards and cheated many Air India customers through this technique. We are grilling him on police remand," an investigator told IANS.

Mishra hails from Jamtara district in Jharkhand and was living on rent in Delhi's Mahipalpur area.

A school pass-out from Kolkata, Mishra was working with the ticketing department of Air India at IGI's terminal-3 for the last one year through an outsourcing firm.

"We have one of the best cyber crime investigation teams in Gurgaon and were able to solve various types of cyber crimes," commissioner Virk said.