A note from the Aircraft IT Editor:

Among the many things of which people in the sector need to be aware, there is fraud. It might seem a small risk but a recent incident reported by IFS suggests that there is never room for complacency. We are publishing, on their behalf, IFS’s report of the incident that they encountered but Aircraft IT has not been involved in the incident in any way.

Views expressed in the report are not the views of Aircraft IT.

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FRAUD ALERT! Fraud incident involving Kalstar Aviation and related parties

Report by IFS.aero

We are issuing this statement to inform our partners, customers, and peers of a recent incident that raises broader concerns for the aviation technology sector.

In April this year, we were approached by individuals claiming to represent Kalstar Aviation. These individuals presented forged corporate documents and what appeared to be a credible business proposal involving new investors and the resumption of operations. They specifically requested that IFS develop a new module in order to allow them to operate in their region, as the data in their current system did not provide the details required for local civil aviation authorization.

Notably, just prior to their contact, we had been approached by a representative of a third-party provider offering a license for their navigation database. The specifications of the data offered by this provider were coincidentally identical to what the fraudulent parties later insisted would be required for their project. The scope of the fraud included among others: a fake website, fake contracts with fake individuals, falsified SWIFT bank transfers, etc.

As a result, we entered into a contractual relationship with the same third-party database provider under what turned out to be false pretenses. We now recognize that these events were connected.

Aviation Software Providers Beware

We have since learned that this is not an isolated case and have subsequently filed a formal police report, and an international investigation is now underway.

We are sharing this openly because trust and transparency are core values of our company and because others deserve to be warned. We view this as an opportunity for improvement, to rethink how leads are sourced, verified, and validated before business agreements are concluded.

This incident highlights a real and growing risk in our industry. As aviation becomes increasingly digital and data-driven, vulnerabilities like these pose serious threats to trust, integrity, and safe business practices. Fraud schemes of this type are becoming more sophisticated, and all companies are at risk of being targeted. Other companies in our field have reported nearly identical fraud attempts, with the same third-party provider repeatedly named as the sole commercial beneficiary in each scenario. We invite you to draw your own conclusions. (e.g. https://write.as/04cg4iopz9f3s.md).

We have engaged in discussions with the third-party data provider in order to prevent similar incidents and hope for an amicable solution. We remain open to dialogue with all parties committed to raising these standards and preventing similar fraud from harming the integrity of our industry in the future.

Sincerely,

International Flight Support, Management Team

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*** Views expressed in the report are not the views of Aircraft IT and solely of International Flight Support Management Team ***