A 26-year-old Sicilian student has been charged with defrauding the regional government of approximately €180,000 (about $200,000) by submitting over 2,600 fake airline boarding passes to exploit a travel subsidy program intended for residents.
The scheme targeted a government initiative designed to subsidize air travel for Sicilian residents, offering discounts ranging from 25% to 67% on flights between the island and mainland Italy. While some airlines like ITA Airways and Aeroitalia apply these discounts automatically, others, such as Ryanair, require passengers to submit boarding passes through a government portal to receive refunds.
Over a nine-month period, the student used photo editing tools to create counterfeit boarding passes, submitting them to the government portal. In October 2024 alone, he filed nearly 900 claims, at times asserting he had taken up to three flights in a single day. Authorities discovered that only three of the submitted boarding passes were genuine.
Before the fraud was detected, the government had already disbursed €86,000 in refunds. Upon uncovering the deception, Italy’s financial police intervened, charging the student with misappropriation of public funds and money laundering. Most of the funds have since been recovered.
The incident has prompted a review of the subsidy program’s verification processes to prevent future abuses. Authorities are considering implementing enhanced digital checks, such as cross-referencing with airline data, to strengthen the program without burdening legitimate users.
This case underscores the challenges governments face in balancing accessibility and security within public subsidy systems.
