An Upper Darby man has been charged in an indictment with seven counts of wire fraud in a flight booking scheme against a national airline, reports the United States Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Theodore Robinson, 29, of Upper Darby, Taylor Thompson, 27; and Tiana Fairfax, 29, of Philadelphia, have been charged.
According to the indictment, the wire fraud scheme involved recruiting customers to book inexpensive flights with a national airline, then using Thompson’s supervisor’s computer access codes to upgrade those to a more expensive flight.
The customers were charged a “commission,” which the employees pocketed, rather than charge the customer the full price of the upgraded flight, the indictment states.
Thompson had a special code to make changes in the reservation system without charging customers extra, an option for passengers with extenuating circumstances, like a death in the family, the indictment states.
Robinson and Fairfax worked as customer service agents.
The indictment reports that more than 1,700 flight reservations were modified without compensating the airline, a loss to the airline of more than $283,000.
“Supplementing your paycheck by scamming your employer is a criminally bad career move,” said Jacqueline Maguire, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division.
