Instagram ad for airport job leads to fake airline company and course-fee fraud
Fraudsters create near-miss fake airline companies (e.g. 'Bretish Airways', 'Future Wings') with professional websites and Instagram ads, then charge job aspirants ₹7,000–10,000 for fake aviation courses, admission slips, and NOC letters. Delhi Cyber Police arrested six in August 2026.
Also known as: fake airport job scam, Bretish Airways fraud, fake aviation course fee scam, Instagram airline job fraud India
Already happened to you? Do this in the next few minutes
Call 1930 now- 1 Call 1930 — the national cyber-crime helpline — right now. The sooner you report, the better the chance of freezing the money before it moves.
- 2 Call your bank to freeze the account and block the card immediately. Use the number printed on your card, never a number from the message or caller.
- 3 File a report at cybercrime.gov.in and keep every message, screenshot, and transaction ID.
What to do right now
- 1 Never pay any fee — registration, training, admission, NOC, uniform, ID card — to a job recruiter; all are scam signals
- 2 Verify the airline's existence on the DGCA operator list at https://www.dgca.gov.in before engaging with any recruiter; a company not on this list is not a licensed airline
- 3 Call IndiGo, Air India, SpiceJet, or any other real airline's public HR number to verify whether they are hiring via the recruiter who contacted you
- 4 Cross-check the company website registration date at https://www.whois.com — a freshly registered site (under 6 months) claiming to be an established airline is a red flag
- 5 If you already paid, file a complaint immediately on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal and contact your bank to block the UPI beneficiary
- 6 Report at https://cybercrime.gov.in or call 1930 (national cyber helpline).
Red flags
- ⚠ Job ad found on Instagram, Facebook, or Telegram — DGCA-licensed Indian carriers recruit only via official websites and verified job portals (naukri.com, linkedin.com), never unsolicited social media DMs
- ⚠ Company name is a near-miss of a real airline — 'Bretish' instead of 'British', 'Indigo Air' instead of 'IndiGo' — check the DGCA operator list at dgca.gov.in
- ⚠ Any upfront fee demanded — registration, course, admission, NOC, ID card, or gate pass — real airline employers never charge candidates
- ⚠ Offer letter, admission slip, or NOC slip arrives too quickly (within hours of first contact) and contains spelling errors or low-resolution logos
- ⚠ Recruiter says they cannot meet in person and asks you to pay via UPI to a personal number, not a company account
Sources
- ANI / Delhi Police — Fake Airline Job Racket Busted: Six Arrested Including Website Developer and Tele-callers (August 24, 2026)
- Gulf News — Fake 'Bretish Airways' Airline Scam: How Delhi Jobseekers Were Duped with Bogus Airport Jobs (2026)
- Daijiworld — Delhi Police Bust Fake Airline Job Racket, Six Arrested (August 2026)
- The CSR Journal — Delhi Police Disrupt Fake Airline Job Scam, Six Arrested Including Developer and Tele-callers (2026)