Illegal intrusion into airline accounts, causing damage of more than 16 billion

The Hanoi People's Procuracy has just completed the indictment to prosecute Dang Thi Le Hang (born in 1990), Dang Thi Tieu Kieu (born in 1989, Hang's sister), both in Ho Chi Minh City, and Trinh Ngoc Tuan (born in 1992, in Ha Dong, Hanoi) for the crime of illegally accessing other people's computer networks, telecommunications networks or electronic devices.

Previously, in December 2019, Vietnam Airlines sent an official dispatch to the Department of Cyber ​​Security and Prevention.high tech crime, Ministry of Public Security and Hanoi Police denounced the criminal acts of sisters Hang and Tuan.

Vietnam Airlines said that the defendants created virtual Golden Lotus accounts, added miles from customers' flight data and obtained reward tickets, VIN-ID reward points, purchased tickets with money and miles; accessed real Golden Lotus member accounts to change information about phone numbers, emails and illegally obtained rewards.

Along with that, Vietnam Airlines sent documents proving the defendants' criminal acts, claiming that they caused economic damage, reputation, image, brand, member data security, and customer database system of Vietnam Airlines.

Investigation results show that from June 2016 to December 2019, Hang, Kieu and Tuan illegally accessed Vietnam Airlines' Golden Lotus account.

The defendants created virtual membership accounts on the website “VietnamAirlines.com”, obtaining information from customers who were not members of Vietnam Airlines but had flown on the airline’s flights.

Then, they created fake accounts on the website “VietnamAirlines.com” and accumulated “flight miles” from the customers they had taken and then exchanged them for airline tickets to sell for illegal profits.

In addition, the defendants also took bonus points from real members from accounts on the website “VietnamAirlines.com” by accessing accounts with many bonus “miles” accumulated through many flights of Vietnam Airlines, changing the phone number and email to receive OTP codes and exchanging them for airline tickets, then selling them for money.

The indictment said that the defendants' actions caused damage to Vietnam Airlines of more than 16.6 billion VND.

Of which, Hang caused more than 15.4 billion VND in damage, Kieu caused 418 million VND in damage, and Tuan caused 750 million VND in damage. Hang compensated 150 million VND, Tuan compensated 400 million VND.

Vietnam Airlines requested that the defendants be prosecuted according to the law and forced to compensate for damages.