IndiGo passenger becomes victim of online fraud: carrier warns other customers

An unpleasant incident occurred with a passenger of the Indian airline IndiGo, who became a victim of online fraud. Nishith Chaturvedi, who lives in Noida, North India, and was about to go on vacation with seven family members, booked an IndiGo flight from Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi.

At first, everything seemed normal as Chaturvedi proceeded with the web check-in for the flight. However, when faced with an additional seat selection fee, he reached out to IndiGo via X (formerly known as Twitter), Travelbizmonitor.com reports.

Soon after, he received a response from someone claiming to be an IndiGo customer service executive requesting his PNR (Passenger Name Record) number. While such requests are standard for airline problem solving, Chaturvedi soon discovered that this was not a legitimate interaction.

Tickets were canceled without authorization

Chaturvedi initially booked his tickets through Cleartrip, a travel portal, and then received an email saying that the tickets for the entire group had been canceled. Concerned by this unexpected development, he immediately contacted the airline to resolve the issue. IndiGo suggested that Cleartrip may have initiated the cancellation, but Cleartrip denies this claim. Given that the flight was scheduled to depart in a few hours, Chaturvedi faced a dilemma: wait for a decision or rebook his tickets.

Despite the lack of time, he eventually purchased new tickets, but insisted on a refund."

Fortunately, IndiGo immediately issued a refund when it discovered that an online fraudster had obtained his PNR, manipulated the contact details in the airline's system, and canceled the reservation.

IndiGo now warns customers against providing access to their PNR or contact information to unauthorized individuals or websites and discourages them from publishing such data on public platforms such as X.