News

Qantas man 'stole' points

November 22, 2002

A QANTAS employee stole nearly 11 million frequent flyer points from the airline by setting up 28 bogus passenger accounts, then used the points to sell flights to friends and family, a court has been told.

Ferri Sutan Malik, 30, appeared in Sydney's Sutherland Local Court yesterday on 56 charges of obtaining money by deception in what is believed to be the first case of its kind in Australia.

In a fact sheet tendered to the court, police said Mr Malik, of Kingsgrove, southern Sydney, used his knowledge of the Qantas mainframe computer to steal the points, many of which he then redeemed to book 258 tickets valued at about $458,000.

He sold the tickets or gave them away as gifts to relatives and acquaintances, it is alleged. The fact sheet says Mr Malik set up the accounts using common Asian surnames such as Lee, Chan, Chen, Chu, Wu and Ng, between late 1999 and October 18, 2001.

He and a co-accused, Hassan Nasser, 30, of Oatley, regularly scrutinised the Qantas reservation system and identified 3372 passengers on flights, mainly from Hong Kong and Taipei, who had the same surnames as the bogus frequent flyer accounts

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