Teenager hacks and goes around the world

Reece Scobie, a 19-year-old former employee at Thomson-affiliated travel agency Cambridge Business Travel, logged on to the company’s system remotely for six months even after he had quit the company. A password security lapse made it simple for him to book flights around the world and live a jet-set lifestyle free of charge. Scobie booked business class fights to a number of locations including Dubai, Singapore, Auckland, Los Angeles, Vancouver and New York, with top-end hotels added to the bill as well.

He booked the packages under his own name using his own corporate passwords that hadn’t been revoked even though he’d left the company. Scobie was also able to use the account of another person who worked for Cambridge Business Travel to book flights and this was in addition to various aliases he utilised.

The fraudulent activity was only uncovered at the end of the frenetic six month period when Scobie was on one of his freebie jaunts, this time to Los Angeles. He was eventually arrested earlier this year.