Court hearing - former Singapore Airlines employee stole 17 milliion Qantas miles
Oct 24, 2005, 8:05 am
#1
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Court hearing - former Singapore Airlines employee stole 17 milliion Qantas miles
October 24,2005
An airline employee who hacked into Qantas's mainframe computer was able to amass more than 17 million frequent flyer points without catching a plane, a court has heard.
Austin Perrott, who has more than 15 years' experience in the airline industry, yesterday admitted that he had created frequent flyer accounts under fictitious names after he discovered a loophole in the computer system.
Perrott found he could add false names to passenger lists once planes had landed in Melbourne.
The County Court heard that Perrott, 45, was a customer services supervisor with Singapore Airlines when the scam was hatched in February 1996. It ended in 2002.
Prosecutor Chris Beale told the court that the points were worth almost $790,000 — with more than $200,000 worth redeemed. Nine airlines were affected.
Mr Beale said Perrott used the points for accommodation on a trip to the US with his wife and children, as well as on domestic flights. Family and friends also paid him for air tickets.
Perrott's deceit was revealed when an Air New Zealand investigation discovered he was a Gold Elite member and that many points had been gained from planes landing in Melbourne.
Mr Beale said Perrott asked friends at Qantas for the password to the computer system, telling them it was so he could gain access to cheap or free seats for staff at other airlines. Once he had the password, he was able to access other airlines.
Yesterday Perrott, from the Melbourne suburb of Middle Park, pleaded guilty to nine counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception.
His lawyer, Greg Lyon, said that his client was desperately trying to maintain a lifestyle that he and his family had previously enjoyed.
Mr Lyon said Perrott was remorseful and had stopped the scam by his own volition.
His last offence was in October 2002, five months before he was interviewed by police.
The plea hearing, before Judge Roy Punshon, continues.
An airline employee who hacked into Qantas's mainframe computer was able to amass more than 17 million frequent flyer points without catching a plane, a court has heard.
Austin Perrott, who has more than 15 years' experience in the airline industry, yesterday admitted that he had created frequent flyer accounts under fictitious names after he discovered a loophole in the computer system.
Perrott found he could add false names to passenger lists once planes had landed in Melbourne.
The County Court heard that Perrott, 45, was a customer services supervisor with Singapore Airlines when the scam was hatched in February 1996. It ended in 2002.
Prosecutor Chris Beale told the court that the points were worth almost $790,000 — with more than $200,000 worth redeemed. Nine airlines were affected.
Mr Beale said Perrott used the points for accommodation on a trip to the US with his wife and children, as well as on domestic flights. Family and friends also paid him for air tickets.
Perrott's deceit was revealed when an Air New Zealand investigation discovered he was a Gold Elite member and that many points had been gained from planes landing in Melbourne.
Mr Beale said Perrott asked friends at Qantas for the password to the computer system, telling them it was so he could gain access to cheap or free seats for staff at other airlines. Once he had the password, he was able to access other airlines.
Yesterday Perrott, from the Melbourne suburb of Middle Park, pleaded guilty to nine counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception.
His lawyer, Greg Lyon, said that his client was desperately trying to maintain a lifestyle that he and his family had previously enjoyed.
Mr Lyon said Perrott was remorseful and had stopped the scam by his own volition.
His last offence was in October 2002, five months before he was interviewed by police.
The plea hearing, before Judge Roy Punshon, continues.
Oct 24, 2005, 6:00 pm
#4
Join Date: Jan 2005
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Originally Posted by under the clocks
17 million points worth $790,000.
Is this valuation of 4.647 cents per point in line with the value FT'ers put on the points?
Is this valuation of 4.647 cents per point in line with the value FT'ers put on the points?
Nov 22, 2005, 9:24 pm
#6
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: MEL
Posts: 398
Jail for frequent flyer fraudster
A Melbourne man who had 17.6 million frequent flyer points with some of the world's biggest airlines without getting onto a plane has been jailed.
Austin Perrott, 45, of Middle Park, pleaded guilty in the Victorian County Court to nine counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception, was today jailed for six months, with 26 months suspended for two years.
The court was told Perrott received the points between February 1996 and October 2002, while working as a Singapore Airlines customer services supervisor in Melbourne.
Using 29 different accounts, Perrott took advantage of a computer system irregularity to gather points from frequent flyer programs at nine airlines, including Qantas, Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways.
The married father of three acquired 17.6 million frequent flyer points and redeemed 4.3 million, which he mostly sold to family and friends for money, the court heard.
Judge Roy Punshon said the value of the total points stolen, about $400,000, was very substantial.
He said the motive behind Perrott's offending was probably his devotion to his family and his desire to make their life comfortable.
Judge Punshon took into account Perrott had cooperated with authorities when his deception was detected, showed remorse, had suffered considerable shame and had pleaded guilty.
Austin Perrott, 45, of Middle Park, pleaded guilty in the Victorian County Court to nine counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception, was today jailed for six months, with 26 months suspended for two years.
The court was told Perrott received the points between February 1996 and October 2002, while working as a Singapore Airlines customer services supervisor in Melbourne.
Using 29 different accounts, Perrott took advantage of a computer system irregularity to gather points from frequent flyer programs at nine airlines, including Qantas, Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways.
The married father of three acquired 17.6 million frequent flyer points and redeemed 4.3 million, which he mostly sold to family and friends for money, the court heard.
Judge Roy Punshon said the value of the total points stolen, about $400,000, was very substantial.
He said the motive behind Perrott's offending was probably his devotion to his family and his desire to make their life comfortable.
Judge Punshon took into account Perrott had cooperated with authorities when his deception was detected, showed remorse, had suffered considerable shame and had pleaded guilty.
Nov 23, 2005, 4:46 pm
#7
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just a suggestion - can you guys add links to the original stories please. I wanted to save these, and read any extra data in there.
Thanks.
Thanks.
Nov 23, 2005, 11:03 pm
#9
Join Date: Oct 2005
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Originally Posted by Wongo
I do wonder if the judge would have given a longer term if he sold them for money instead of giving it to family members?
Originally Posted by under the clocks
... which he mostly sold to family and friends for money, the court heard.
Nov 24, 2005, 1:13 am
#10
Join Date: Dec 2004
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Originally Posted by ozstamps
just a suggestion - can you guys add links to the original stories please. I wanted to save these, and read any extra data in there.
Thanks.
Thanks.
http://news.google.com.au
An excellent index of news articles from around the world.
Nov 24, 2005, 2:02 am
#11
Join Date: Mar 2005
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Ahhh...obtaining financial advantage by deception (OFAD). I had to learn all of that for my exam a few weeks ago.
And it's still fresh in my head - to charge someone for OFAD under Vic law, prosecution has to prove that the accused has dishonestly obtained for himself/herself financial advantage by making a false representation s/he knows to be untrue or has a substantial risk of being untrue. The interpretation of 'dishonest' by the Vic Supreme Court is extremely narrow and property offences charged here can produce very different outcomes to jusrisdictions like the UK or some other Australian states.
Hence the fact that he wanted a comfortable life for his family would not have an impact on the sentence at all, unless the judge chose to apply a bit of the UK approach which allows for a belief in one's moral right to FA or property.
The judge probably took into consideration the multiple counts of deception - deception of his family/friends, and more importantly the deception of the airlines (or more specifically, deceiving the computer system into making unauthorised transactions).
On the 'facts' (i added the quotation marks because journalists have a strong tendency to misrepresent things and i havent read the actual case - perform a search on http://www.austlii.edu.au/ if interested) it is not quite clear whether criminal charges were also issued by family and friends, or the financial advantage he obtained from having those miles in the first place and selling them off to friends (in the form of redeemed tickets) were taken into consideration in the sentence.
Ok that was totally OT, but was just fun reading something so close to what I learnt in the textbook. :P
And it's still fresh in my head - to charge someone for OFAD under Vic law, prosecution has to prove that the accused has dishonestly obtained for himself/herself financial advantage by making a false representation s/he knows to be untrue or has a substantial risk of being untrue. The interpretation of 'dishonest' by the Vic Supreme Court is extremely narrow and property offences charged here can produce very different outcomes to jusrisdictions like the UK or some other Australian states.
Hence the fact that he wanted a comfortable life for his family would not have an impact on the sentence at all, unless the judge chose to apply a bit of the UK approach which allows for a belief in one's moral right to FA or property.
The judge probably took into consideration the multiple counts of deception - deception of his family/friends, and more importantly the deception of the airlines (or more specifically, deceiving the computer system into making unauthorised transactions).
On the 'facts' (i added the quotation marks because journalists have a strong tendency to misrepresent things and i havent read the actual case - perform a search on http://www.austlii.edu.au/ if interested) it is not quite clear whether criminal charges were also issued by family and friends, or the financial advantage he obtained from having those miles in the first place and selling them off to friends (in the form of redeemed tickets) were taken into consideration in the sentence.
Ok that was totally OT, but was just fun reading something so close to what I learnt in the textbook. :P
Last edited by Keith009; Nov 24, 2005 at 2:10 am
Nov 24, 2005, 2:20 am
#12
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Originally Posted by QF009
On the 'facts' (i added the quotation marks because journalists have a strong tendency to misrepresent things and i havent read the actual case - perform a search on http://www.austlii.edu.au/ if interested) it is not quite clear whether criminal charges were also issued by family and friends, or the financial advantage he obtained from having those miles in the first place and selling them off to friends (in the form of redeemed tickets) were taken into consideration in the sentence.
Ok that was totally OT, but was just fun reading something so close to what I learnt in the textbook. :P
Ok that was totally OT, but was just fun reading something so close to what I learnt in the textbook. :P
I wonder will contract law also come into play...
I wasn't good at contract.
Nov 24, 2005, 2:33 am
#14
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Originally Posted by QF009
Urgh I sucked so much at contracts that I decided to defer it to next year when the new LLB curriculum at my uni kicks in - it basically turns into Contracts lite! 
Or maybe not...I'll see. *fingers crossed*
Or maybe not...I'll see. *fingers crossed* , I wish I was :-: Gold in my High School years till I got my first status with Qantas end of 2002.I skipped the management accounting papers in 3rd year because I suxed at it without text book.
