When Identity Theft Can Kill

The Justice Department has just announced the arrest and conviction of an Iranian pilot who stole personal information about a U.S. pilot (his passport, credit cards and pilot certificates) then used them to order certifications he could pawn off as his own.  He paid for the new ones with a stolen credit card.  This requires a little more planning than just stealing a credit card or passport.  Credit Justice, the FAA and Danish police for their cooperation in this. [see whole story at  http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/iranian-pilot-sentenced-27-months-prison-stealing-us-pilot-s-identity-obtain-federal-aviation ]

It doesn't require too much thought to see the potential for something to go wrong when one person steals another person's certifications.  Yes, I can do that surgery you want.  Yes, I can fly you up to Chicago on that plane of yours.  Yes, I have a PhD in Nuclear Physics.  There are all kinds of things that can be stolen or manufactured, without doing the work or having a skill.  It is surprising how few times people who should know better, never check.  

Many years ago, we were accepting bids for a big contract and going through all the offers from the bidders.  I noticed that quite a few of their resumes from one of the bidders showed PhDs from a school I had not heard of.  It was just a casual check on the Internet that led us to conclude there was no University by that name, at least not one that had classes, professors, or accreditation.  When our contracting officer called them the next day, they withdrew their bid.  Nobody got killed.  Nobody even thought much about it.  They probably should have.

With planes disappearing now and again around the world, we have to wonder if there might be a reason we haven't thought of.  The airlines certainly haven't discussed fradulent credentials in any accident I ever heard of, though this pilot seems to have had one while he carried this stolen credential.  

" According to court records, on Sept. 15, 2012, Haghighi crashed an airplane in Bornholm, Denmark, while in possession of the victim’s ATP certificate.  After facing criminal charges in Denmark and Germany, Haghighi returned to Iran, only to later resurface in Indonesia.  He was finally arrested in Panama, where he waived extradition to the United States in August 2014."  He flew for at least 3 years with those phoney creds.  This is not a comfort to me, even though I rarely fly outside the U.S.  Why didn't someone at an airline notice this sooner?  I think I want to know more about some of the hospitals I have been to in the past.  They are hiring more people who have degrees from some really interesting places.  They don't seem to ask a lot of questions about where that certification or degree came from.  This is a good example that reminds us that checking up on certs and degrees may be worth the time.