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Case Study
System for Detecting Attempted Fraud in Flight Bookings
Case Study
System for Detecting Attempted Fraud in Flight Bookings
Monitor and Secure Booking Systems to Prevent Manipulation
Electronic booking systems are now an indispensable part of today’s business world. However, as related processes become more complex, the risk of manipulation grows accordingly. For one airline, we developed a system that detects and blocks attempted fraud in flight bookings—providing all data to support legal prosecution and damage claims.
Challenge
Airline ticket pricing is influenced by a multitude of factors that change dynamically within the context of respective bookings.
It is essential for airlines to ensure that all related conditions are taken into account during the ticket purchase process in order to secure the desired ticket price.
At the same time, the complexity of both these parameters and the entire booking process can allow fraudulent travel agents to manipulate data and processes during the booking process—to the detriment of the airline.
The system then grants pricing options that are not designated, meaning that the airline in turn loses money on these bookings.
Our Contribution
For one airline client, we developed a system with a web interface that analyses bookings for violations of terms and conditions based on defined rules and cancels them in the event of fraudulent activity.
During the implementation phase, our team continuously honed requirements for necessary extensions and system adaptations. We also managed communication processes between the core project team, users, the team responsible for method development and the test team. The VIA Software team’s unique expertise was essential to project success, with members who are not only experienced system analysts but also boast an academic background in applied mathematics.
Benefits for the Client
- The system developed by us enables the airline to keep an eye on manipulations that are not detected by the booking system itself, thus preventing circumvention of its pricing system and booking conditions.
- The possibility to automatically reject minor cases and to automatically cancel the corresponding bookings reduces the administrative effort.
- The system's reporting enables the identification of fraudulent travel agents, where booking manipulations are frequently observed.
- The documentation of fraud attempts provided by the system facilitates prosecution in cases where it makes economic sense.
- The repeated rejection of manipulated bookings leads fraudulent agents to refrain from certain types of manipulation because they assume that these will be detected and sacntioned.
- The logic for detecting fraud attempts through booking manipulations is not hard-coded in the system, but is based on rules formulated in a formal language developed specifically for this purpose. These rules can be changed at any time - even at short notice - which allows our client to quickly adapt the logic to new types of manipulation when they are observed.
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