Loveland, CO man sentenced for airline tickets fraud scheme

March 10th, 2010 - 6:56 am ICT by BNO News  

DENVER, COLORADO (BNO NEWS) – On Tuesday, a man of Loveland, Colorado, was sentenced to 51 months (over 4 years) in federal prison for wire fraud related to a scheme to sell discount airline tickets which didn’t exist, prosecutors announced.

From April 2005 to October 2007, Christopher B. Watts, 59, planned and executed a scheme to defraud various people by fraudulently purporting to sell them “books” of airline tickets. Watts claimed that he had exclusive access to free or discounted tickets based on a retirement package he received. He sold the tickets in “books” which apparently contained multiples of 5 tickets.

Watts used many tactics to avoid detection and fulfill his fraudulent activities. He bought some tickets at regular price and falsely represented them as discount tickets. He also offered extra discounts if credit card was used as payment method. What the customers didn’t know is that he used such credit card numbers to buy tickets for other customers.

The defendant will have to pay $495,397 in restitution to nearly 90 victims. He will also serve a three-year term of supervised release.

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