Bogus Supplier of Jet-Engine Parts May Have Faked Employees Too (bloomberg.com) 25
Siddharth Vikram Philip, Sabah Meddings, and Supriya Singh, reporting for Bloomberg News: As chief commercial officer of aircraft-parts supplier AOG Technics, Ray Kwong can look back on a well-rounded career at A-list companies including All Nippon Airways, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Nissan Motor. That, at least, is Kwong's two-decade corporate journey on what appears to be his LinkedIn profile, from which the self-proclaimed executive beams with a broad smile and striped tie in blue hues. Trouble is that -- much like the company for which Kwong now claims to work -- not all is as it seems. Kwong, if he even exists, was never employed at Nissan, or at ANA for that matter. Neither company has records of him as a former worker, they said in response to queries by Bloomberg News. His employment history could also not be verified at Mitsubishi. What is used as his profile picture turns out to be a stock photo that's also washed up elsewhere on the Internet, from promotional material for a German textile startup to a clinic in Northbrook, Illinois.
After Bloomberg reported on the case of bogus jet-engine repair parts being investigated by regulators, a deeper dive into AOG revealed that the fabrication not only concerned components, but extended to major aspects of the company behind the scandal. The proliferation of undocumented parts has sent shock waves through an industry where every component requires verification to ensure aircraft safety, leaving manufacturers, operators and authorities scrambling to determine the fallout. The parts supplied by AOG went into engines that power many older-generation Airbus SE A320 and Boeing 737 planes, by far the most widely flown category of commercial aircraft. These single-aisle jets are used by millions of passengers each day and by most airlines, mainly on short-haul flights. Airbus said it's aware of media reports surrounding AOG, while Boeing said it will defer to regulators on the topic.
After Bloomberg reported on the case of bogus jet-engine repair parts being investigated by regulators, a deeper dive into AOG revealed that the fabrication not only concerned components, but extended to major aspects of the company behind the scandal. The proliferation of undocumented parts has sent shock waves through an industry where every component requires verification to ensure aircraft safety, leaving manufacturers, operators and authorities scrambling to determine the fallout. The parts supplied by AOG went into engines that power many older-generation Airbus SE A320 and Boeing 737 planes, by far the most widely flown category of commercial aircraft. These single-aisle jets are used by millions of passengers each day and by most airlines, mainly on short-haul flights. Airbus said it's aware of media reports surrounding AOG, while Boeing said it will defer to regulators on the topic.
Oops (Score:5, Insightful)
Aren’t these companies supposed to audit their suppliers? As in visit the facility and examine paperwork and procedures?
Re:Oops (Score:5, Funny)
That job was outsourced to another supplier.
Re: (Score:3)
Work from home means you just call them up and ask softball questions.
(I had a roommate once who was on parole, and once a month his parole officer would phone him and ask if he was still off of drugs...)
Re: (Score:2)
You clearly haven't taken part in many audits or dealt with auditors. They love physical paperwork. No way in hell would any of them settle for asking questions over the phone.
Re: Oops (Score:2)
I can attest that, sometimes, auditors literally phone it in. Some do not check, they ask you if you think you pass. One asked us to video, at our discretion, our workspace so they could see if it looked fine.
Yes, there are auditors that will demand to actually audit, and maybe even those slackers decide to audit for real enough to show actually finding violations, but there's a lot of room to slack for auditors.
Re: (Score:2)
Work from home means you just call them up and ask softball questions.
(I had a roommate once who was on parole, and once a month his parole officer would phone him and ask if he was still off of drugs...)
Even during the pandemic, this type of job was never done from home. I don't know if you were just being sarcastic. If so, please disregard.
What else is fake? Trees? Stuffed pets? (Score:3)
So the parts and employees were fake. What else was fake? Maybe their HQ doesn't even exist, all generated with AI or CAD. It may be a Harry Potter moment when inspectors go looking for 123 Brook Street, but only finding buildings at 122 and 124.
Dot-com scams with fake sock puppets or whatnot is one thing, but airline parts? That's scary: "This is your Captain speaking, we detected a fuel leak so I'd like you to exit the plane in a quick but orderly fashion. However, it appears the emergency exit doors are merely painted on."
Names (Score:2)
Initially thought those first three names were the names of the people that done it. A lot of people just read the first few words and jump to a conclusion.
Using stock photos is just lazy (Score:1)
I mean, come on, at least take the time to blend two stock photos together so you have a unique image. Geeze, the laziness of fraudsters these days....
Obligatory (Score:3)
It looks like I picked a good day to give up flying.
Consider it my part of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Note, I won't be cruising on the Icon of the Seas either.
Re: (Score:3)
Looks like I picked the wrong week give up flying.
Airplane [youtube.com] the movie.
Not surprising. (Score:1)
Paywall, can't read (Score:2)
It's unclear from the headline if the parts themselves were bad or simply missing their paperwork
Re:Paywall, can't read (Score:4, Informative)
It's unclear from the headline if the parts themselves were bad or simply missing their paperwork
It appears the documentation (Authorised Release Certificates) were falsified. Non-paywalled article here. [slashdot.org]
Re: (Score:2)
The company was fake and along with the parts. I mean possibly the parts could be authentic but without a paper trail it’s impossible to tell. Usually a part will have traceability from the raw material and through every manufacturing process.
one implies the other (Score:2, Informative)
Airline parts are worthless without paperwork. There's no such thing as a mystery part that's "simply missing [its] paperwork." If it was a good part it would have had its paperwork. These parts are only made for the aircraft. The part failed spec, was not made as part of a regular production process, was stolen or was reused without documentation.
Yes there are rare parts that are repurposed from other sources (e.g. Tampax tampons are used as filters in Piper aircraft) but that's not what's going on here. N
Re:Paywall, can't read (Score:4, Insightful)
Chinese man in a blue striped suit? (Score:1)
Cultural appropriation, I say. Flog him across every university campus in the rightful lands of every Native American!
So what you're telling us... (Score:2)
All Employees have Stock-Photos (Score:2)
Arrogant Man:
Michael Smith: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mi... [linkedin.com]
Cheerful Senior Businesswoman:
Martina Spencer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ma... [linkedin.com]
Caucasian Businessman:
Johnny Rico: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jo... [linkedin.com]
It is also interesting to see all the other places/profiles these photos have been used. Is there a company that creates these shadow people for other businesses to use?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Gee, it's a real shame that LinkedIn doesn't have the resources of a true software giant, who could dispatch a couple of interns to kluge together a few functions that would compare uploaded profile photos to images available on stock photo sites, and flag them if they find a match...
Yes... Truly a shame that is, evidently, far beyond their capabilities...
AOG: the irony (Score:2)
Funny the company is be called AOG Technics.
While everyone is familiar with ASAP, how many know that's the lowest priority for orders in aviation. Next up the ladder is I.O.R., "immediate operation required," meaning the aircraft needs the part immediately.
Extreme priority goes to the parts order that have the airplane sitting on the ground, waiting, while it is scheduled to fly already. This is the packages that other airliners wait for to carry, orders for wich private jets are chartered to deliver if nee
Surely You Can't Be Serious (Score:1)
This is a legitimate case for blockchain (Score:4, Interesting)