Brilliant airhead! Conman scored 120 free flights in clever ‘Catch Me If You Can'-style scam
A Florida conman scored more than 120 free flights by posing as a crew member with at least seven different airlines in a wild, 'Catch Me If You Can'-style scam, according to federal prosecutors.
Tiron Alexander, 35 — whose scheme echoes that of the real-life imposter pilot who inspired the Leonardo DiCaprio movie — was convicted of fraud June 5, according to the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida.
Advertisement
Alexander took swindling to new heights by submitting scores of fake flight attendant credentials, including phony badge numbers, to book free flights between 2018 and 2024, federal prosecutors said.
The scam echoes the one featured in the 2002 movie 'Catch Me If You Can.'
Svitlana – stock.adobe.com
The clever airhead turned in the bogus paperwork, complete with roughly 30 fabricated hire dates and ID numbers, to get aboard flights without paying — a perk only offered to pilots and crew members, prosecutors said.
Advertisement
All told, Alexander went on at least 34 free flights and booked a total of at least 120 without ever working for any of the airlines involved, authorities said.
The fraudster previously worked for an unidentified airline in Dallas but was never a pilot or flight attendant for the firm, according to the prosecutors.
Crew members and pilots are given free flights by airlines.
Svitlana – stock.adobe.com
He was found guilty of wire fraud and entering secure airport areas under false pretenses and faces up to 20 years behind bars. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 25.
Advertisement
By contrast, 'Catch Me if You Can' tells the true story of conman Frank Abagnale, Jr. who impersonated a Pan Am pilot, a doctor and a lawyer — all before turning 19 years old.
He was eventually caught in 1970 and later used his expertise in fraud to work with the FBI.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Julian McMahon, Nip/Tuck, Charmed and FBI: Most Wanted Star, Dead at 56
Julian McMahon, best known to TV audiences for his starring roles on FX's Nip/Tuck and CBS' FBI: Most Wanted, died July 2 following a private battle with cancer. He was 56 years old. McMahon's wife, Kelly McMahon, confirmed his passing in a statement to our sister site Deadline: More from TVLine Michael Madsen, Star of Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill, Dead at 67 Jimmy Swaggart, Televangelist Brought Down by Sex Scandals, Dead at 90 Rick Hurst, Who Played Cletus on The Dukes of Hazzard, Dead at 79 With an open heart, I wish to share with the world that my beloved husband, Julian McMahon, died peacefully this week after a valiant effort to overcome cancer. Julian loved life. He loved his family. He loved his friends. He loved his work, and he loved his fans. His deepest wish was to bring joy into as many lives as possible. We ask for support during this time to allow our family to grieve in privacy. And we wish for all of those to whom Julian brought joy, to continue to find joy in life. We are grateful for the memories. McMahon's acting career began in 1989, with a role on the short-lived Australian soap opera The Power, the Passion. That was followed by a stint on Home and Away. He made his Stateside debut on another soap, NBC's Another World, in 1993. That was followed by series-regular stints on NBC's Profiler (as John Grant) and The WB's Charmed (as Cole Turner). His first leading role came in 2003, when he was cast opposite Dylan Walsh in Ryan Murphy's plastic surgery drama Nip/Tuck, which ran for six seasons on FX and ended in 2010. He earned a Golden Globe nomination for his turn as Dr. Christian Troy. Ten years later, he was cast as team leader Jess LaCroix on CBS' FBI: Most Wanted. He led the procedural for three seasons before his exit in March 2022. His final role came earlier this year, in Netflix's White House caper The Residence. He recurred as Stephen Roos, the Prime Minister of Australia — a role his father, Billy McMahon, held in real life, from 1971-1972. Additional credits include Marvel's Runaways, as well as 2005's Fantastic Four and its 2007 sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. TV Stars We Lost in 2025 View Gallery43 Images Best of TVLine 'Missing' Shows, Found! Get the Latest on Ahsoka, Monarch, P-Valley, Sugar, Anansi Boys and 25+ Others Yellowjackets Mysteries: An Up-to-Date List of the Series' Biggest Questions (and Answers?) The Emmys' Most Memorable Moments: Laughter, Tears, Historical Wins, 'The Big One' and More
CNN
2 hours ago
- CNN
NYPD steps up security for NYC 4th of July festivities amid heightened threat level
Thousands of spectators are expected to flock to Manhattan and Brooklyn to watch fireworks burst through the air from the East River at the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks show, one of the country's largest fireworks displays. Law enforcement in New York is staying vigilant and the New York Police Department's security response will also be bigger than in previous years, the NYPD's counterterrorism chief told CNN, because the mix of large crowds at the high-profile event could make the evening a target for an attack. But conflicts overseas and incidents sparked by domestic extremists, along with a threat assessment from the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies warning about lone wolf attacks, have raised the threat level. Despite this, there are no known or credible threats to New York City, even though there are more potential threats to monitor than in years prior, Rebecca Weiner, deputy commissioner of the NYPD's intelligence and counterterrorism unit, told CNN in an interview on one of the counterterrorism boats the police department has deployed to the East River. 'We describe this as the 'everything everywhere all at once' threat environment,' Weiner said. Recent high-profile attacks – like the truck driver who rammed his vehicle into a crowd of revelers in New Orleans on New Year's, as well as several violent, antisemitic attacks linked to tensions over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza – could spur lone wolf, small group or copycat attacks, authorities warn. The NYPD has been on high alert with extra enforcement at religious institutions since the Israel-Hamas war's start nearly two years ago. Now, emerging issues abroad such as the Israel-Iran conflict and at home, like the attacks on politicians and ongoing civil unrest over immigration enforcement actions, have all caused ripple effects in New York City. 'These are all individually threats that we've contended with for years but what's new is having them at the same time, requiring us to pivot from one to the other with our resources,' Weiner said. CNN goes aboard an NYPD patrol boat tasked with keeping New Yorkers safe during July 4th celebrations. In late June, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and other law enforcement agencies issued a joint bulletin saying the 'the most significant terrorism threat facing the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks stems from lone offenders and small groups of individuals seeking to commit acts of violence.' As 80,000 firework shells dazzle in the sky, thousands of NYPD officers, including plainclothes officers mixed in with crowds, will patrol the streets and drone and aviation units will surveil the skies. NYPD's marine units will be monitoring from the East River, each counterterrorism boat a high-tech vessel equipped with radiation detection and underwater surveillance capabilities designed to relay information and respond to incidents in real time. The massive police presence is bolstered with advanced technology, intelligence strategies and specialized units that are all designed to snuff out problems before they arise. The NYPD's Joint Operations Center, a massive intelligence hub where police can access over 50,000 cameras in the city and keep a watchful eye on possible threats emanating from crowds, will be active with other state and federal law enforcement agencies also sharing information. Strategic street closures around the viewing areas are all designed to insulate the festivities from incidents like the truck-ramming attack in New Orleans that killed 14 people and injured nearly 60 others, while officers on the ground check bags for weapons. This response is all part of what makes the massive July 4 deployment second only to New Year's Eve, according to Weiner. 'Our job is to have a combination of resources that you see, our heavy weapons teams, our explosive trace detection, our canines, our physical deployments, bomb squad, to protect an event like July 4th as well as many resources that you don't see,' Weiner said. 'The intelligence capabilities, monitoring those online and, of course, off-line threats, tips and leads. That isn't new. There's just a lot more of it.' The intelligence component is a significant part of the counterterrorism response, according to Weiner. The intelligence and partnerships with other state and federal agencies is what helps them identify, detect and disrupt bad actors and plots before they hatch, Weiner said. 'This is an incredibly challenging threat environment, and it has been since October 7th and, of course, that didn't start the terrorism threat environment at all for New York City, or across the country, but that did provide a real inflection point,' Weiner said. 'All of us have to be on top of our game because again, we're not just dealing with Iran. We're not just dealing with a lone actor inspired by ISIS. We're not dealing with just civil disobedience and unrest. (It's) all of them at the same time.' CNN's John Miller and Holly Yan contributed to this report.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Patel and Ratcliffe try to bolster claims that FBI and CIA conspired against Trump
The release of formerly classified FBI and CIA documents this week illustrates how President Donald Trump's appointees at both agencies are trying to use the levers of government to prop up his long-standing assertions that intelligence agencies conspired against him. The FBI released emails on Tuesday that purport to show an effort by the bureau's leaders in 2020 to cover up a source's claim that there was a Chinese plot to throw the presidential election to Joe Biden. In a statement to the Daily Mail, Trump's FBI director, Kash Patel, said the emails reveal that bureau leaders 'chose to play politics and withhold key information from the American people.' And CIA Director John Ratcliffe released an internal agency analysis related to the 2020 election that he argued showed that Democratic appointees 'manipulated intelligence and silenced career professionals — all to get Trump.' Patel's and Ratcliffe's claims went beyond the information contained in the released documents. The documents do not describe definitive evidence that any official acted out of political motive or engaged in anything beyond the good-faith debate that is typical of the intelligence verification and analysis process. The emails do show that at least one FBI official raised the concern that the report conflicted with congressional testimony at the time by Director Christopher Wray, who said the FBI was not aware of any Chinese attempt to interfere in the presidential election. A former FBI official told NBC News that Wray does not recall being made aware of the report. A former senior FBI official said he was not aware of the report either. The former official, who requested anonymity, noted that the bureau produces hundreds of reports every day based on such tips, which do not always pan out. Patel also promoted an article by the right-wing journalist John Solomon than mentioned that U.S. Customs and Border Protection had seized fake licenses that were arriving mostly from China and Hong Kong around the time the FBI received the tip. According to a 2020 news release from CBP, 20,000 fake licenses were seized in Chicago between that January and June. It said 'most were for college-age students,' a population that has historically sought licenses with fake birthdays so underage students can purchase alcohol. The FBI did not respond to a request for comment from Patel regarding the fake licenses. Dozens of judges, including Trump appointees, have found no evidence of widespread or systemic voter fraud affecting the 2020 election, despite allegations promoted by Trump and his allies since he lost that year's presidential race. The day after Patel released the emails, though, Trump appeared to mention them during a press conference where he talked about 'China and the license plates' and claimed that 'tens of thousands of cards' were used to vote in the 2020 election. The emails released by Patel offer a window into the deep concern among senior career FBI analysts about an intelligence report from an agent in the Albany field office based on a single, unvetted source making a historic allegation: that the Chinese government sent thousands of fake IDs to help people fraudulently vote for Biden. The report was ultimately withdrawn over concerns about its veracity. Two FBI officials familiar with the matter told NBC News that the tip was not credible intelligence and never should have been sent out in an intelligence report. The CIA analysis cited by Ratcliffe found procedural faults with how the agency crafted its assessment that Russia tried to denigrate Hillary Clinton and help Trump get elected in 2016. But it didn't question that broad conclusion — one echoed by two exhaustive congressional investigations. Yet Trump appointees and allies quickly argued the documents vindicated Trump's long-running claims that he had been wronged by intelligence agencies investigating foreign election interference. The CIA review found that 'Obama's Trump-Russia collusion report was corrupt from start,' read the headline of a New York Post piece by conservative columnist Miranda Devine. A press release from the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, said the 'bombshell' FBI emails showed 'FBI headquarters interfered with [an] alleged Chinese election interference probe' to shield then-Director Christopher Wray 'from political blowback.' The FBI emails show that senior career public servants at the bureau had concerns about the reliability of information from a confidential human source who claimed that the Chinese Communist Party planned to use fake IDs to cast ballots for Biden in the 2020 election. The information came from a source that an FBI agent based in Albany, New York, had just met, who in turn got it from a separate unnamed source. The emails say the source in Albany also repeated a claim made on social media that the Chinese government was intentionally spreading Covid in the U.S. — an allegation that has never been corroborated. One email released by the FBI said the information had not been verified through other intelligence-gathering methods. The emails say top bureau intelligence analysts Nikki Floris and Tonya Ugoretz ordered the intelligence report recalled because it lacked corroboration. Floris was forced out of the FBI earlier this year, and Ugoretz — who was promoted to become the FBI's top intelligence official — was recently placed on leave. The FBI has not said why. Floris and Ugoretz did not respond to requests for comment. The emails lay out an internal debate over the reliability of the intelligence, which former FBI agents say is typical. The Albany office, backing its agent, sought to prevent the report from being recalled. Senior FBI officials, meanwhile, pushed for corroboration of the source's allegations. In a Sept. 25, 2020, email, an assistant section chief in the Criminal Intelligence Branch said the claim about Chinese election interference was 'getting a lot of attention from all HQ divisions.' The assistant section chief added, 'We know that the source is first contact and hasn't been re-interviewed. Are you considering recalling the [intelligence report] until you can track the source down and re-interview? Everything election is getting scrutiny, and we just want to be sure we have reliable sourcing.' In a Sept. 28 email, another official noted that the allegation that China was trying to influence the election in favor of Biden, as well as previous seizures of fake driver's licenses imported from China, 'were all documented in some fashion on open sources.' The official added that 'Given the lack of specifics we received in the initial reporting, my first opinion was that the [confidential human source] wants to help and is probably supplementing his reporting via open sources.' Ultimately, the emails show, an FBI official who specializes in Chinese foreign interference instructed the Albany office that 'we have not approved a re-issue' of the report 'specifically because of our concerns that the reporting is not authoritative.' The new head of the FBI's Office of Congressional Affairs is Marshall Yates. A former Republican aide on Capitol Hill, Yates has ties to figures that have long backed Trump's false claim that the 2020 election was stolen. Yates was chief of staff to former Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., on Jan. 6, 2021, when Brooks spoke at Trump's rally in support of efforts to overturn his election loss. Yates then went on to work for the Election Integrity Network, a project headed by Republican lawyer Cleta Mitchell, a key figure in the efforts to overturn the 2020 election. In a 2022 speech in New Mexico, Yates said the 'election objection did not go as we wanted in 2020, on Jan. 6,' but that 'luckily' it had 'sparked a grassroots movement across the country for election integrity.' The FBI did not reply to a request for comment about Yates' involvement. The internal review released by Ratcliffe last week examined how the CIA put together a 2017 intelligence assessment that concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton. The review found some deviance from standard procedures, but it defended the assessment's overall findings. The report disclosed that two senior leaders of a CIA mission center focusing on Russia objected to the conclusion that Russia's goal was to help secure Trump's victory but agreed that Putin hoped to denigrate Clinton and undermine the U.S. democratic process. The review also cited complaints by some CIA officers that they felt rushed by a tight deadline to produce the assessment. The CIA director at the time, John Brennan, was a Democratic political appointee who has since become an ardent Trump critic. In a second post on X, Ratcliffe argued that the complaints about the process were evidence the 'assessment was conducted through an atypical & corrupt process under the politically charged environments' of Brennan and then-FBI Director James Comey. The CIA declined to comment when asked to explain the basis for Ratcliffe's accusation. A special counsel appointed during the first Trump administration looked extensively into how the CIA crafted its assessment but filed no criminal charges and reported no clear evidence that political bias tainted the process. A bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee investigation in 2020 concurred with the 2017 intelligence assessment and found no reason to dispute its conclusions. This article was originally published on
