Verify crew credentials before deployment, and customer baggage claims and receipts before you pay out.
In aviation, a forged document is a safety incident, not a paperwork error.
Fake pilot licences, altered medical certificates, forged security clearances and fabricated airworthiness paperwork all pass a visual check. So do the fake baggage claims and doctored receipts that reach your customer-relations desk. Register lookups confirm a number is active, not that the document in front of you is genuine. TamperCheck adds the forensic layer: it reads the document itself and names the field that was edited.
Try now- No document storage
- Digital, scanned or photographed
- ~1 minute per verdict
- 900+
- commercial flights flown on a fraudulent captain's licence before detection (Air Canada, 2026)
- £39.3m
- losses from 60,000+ aircraft parts sold with forged airworthiness certificates (AOG Technics, 2023)
- 10,000+
- pilot licences placed under review in India after a fake-licence and forged flight-hours scam
The problem
What fraud looks like in aviation
How it typically shows up, and the forensic signal that exposes each one.
Altered or fabricated pilot licences and type ratings
A real CPL edited to show ATPL privileges, or a type rating added for an aircraft the holder was never trained on. The base licence passes a register check, so only analysis of the document itself catches the edit: font substitution, compression mismatch in the changed zone, and template deviations.
Forged medical certificates and security clearances
Expiry dates extended, restrictions removed, or a criminal record check edited to hide a disqualifying entry. These fields are the usual targets, and error level analysis and field-level sharpness checks show where they were touched.
Fake airworthiness and maintenance paperwork
Certificates of conformance, release documents and Part-66 or A&P licences fabricated to make untraceable parts or unqualified sign-offs look legitimate. Letterhead, reference formats, metadata and layout are checked for signs of fabrication.
Fake baggage claims
Claims for lost, delayed or damaged bags backed by an edited property irregularity report, a fabricated baggage tag or an altered boarding pass, for a bag that was never checked in or a loss that never happened. Field-level edits, template deviations and metadata traces in the supporting paperwork show up under analysis.
Fabricated and inflated customer receipts
Delayed-baggage and disruption expense claims supported by AI-generated or edited receipts: inflated totals, invented purchases, or one genuine receipt reused with new amounts. Arithmetic that doesn't reconcile, mismatched print texture and edited amount fields expose them.
Altered proof of value and travel documents
Purchase invoices for the contents of a lost bag with values raised, and boarding passes or booking confirmations edited to fit a compensation claim. Font metrics, compression differences around the changed figures and metadata inconsistencies flag the edit.
How TamperCheck helps
A forensic verdict in about a minute
On the workforce side, run every credential through TamperCheck at the conditional-offer stage, and again on each renewal, alongside your existing CAA, EASA or FAA register check. The register answers whether the number is active; TamperCheck answers whether the document presenting it is genuine. On the customer side, run each baggage claim and its supporting receipts, invoices and travel documents through the same check at lodgement, before a payout is authorised. Results come back in about a minute with the suspicious field named, and nothing is stored after verification.
What we check
- Font consistency across name, rating and date fields
- Compression and noise mismatch in edited zones
- Portrait zone substitution on licences and clearances
- Issuing-authority template and layout integrity
- PDF metadata and editing-software traces
- AI-generation signatures on fabricated certificates and receipts
- Receipt and invoice arithmetic: line items, tax and totals reconcile
- Amount, date and passenger-name fields edited on claim paperwork
Worked example
How a carrier like British Airways would use it
A large flag carrier hires pilots, engineers and cabin crew at volume, often through agencies, wet-lease arrangements and international recruitment, and it also processes a constant stream of customer baggage claims. Here is where a forensic check would sit in those flows.
Agency and wet-lease crew
The operator stays responsible for credentials it accepts, even when an agency checked them upstream. Run each licence and medical through TamperCheck when the crew member enters your operation, not only at agency onboarding.
International pilot and engineer hires
Credentials arrive from many issuing authorities, and hiring teams cannot know every genuine template. Forensic analysis reads the document's own properties, so it works on authorities it has never seen.
Contractor airside staff
Ground handling, catering and cleaning contractors need valid security clearances. Check the clearance document itself for removed entries and extended dates before airside passes are issued.
Maintenance supply chain
Certificates of conformance and release documents entering maintenance are a forgery route in their own right. Verify them on receipt, before the part is fitted.
Baggage claims and customer receipts
A carrier handling thousands of delayed and damaged bag claims can check the report, boarding pass, receipts and proof-of-value invoices at lodgement. Totals that don't reconcile or edited amount fields get the claim routed to manual review before any payment.
Verdict and escalation
Genuine documents proceed. A suspicious verdict triggers a request for originals (and, for credentials, a call to the issuing authority), never an accusation on an automated result alone. Confirmed fraud is reported to the regulator and the evidence retained.
Illustrative scenario only. British Airways is not a TamperCheck customer and has not been the subject of any incident described here; it is used as an example of a large international carrier's hiring profile.
Documents we verify
Common document types in aviation
FAQ
Common questions about aviation
Does document forensics replace CAA, EASA or FAA register checks?
No, they answer different questions. A register check confirms a licence number is valid and active. TamperCheck confirms the document presenting that number is genuine and unaltered. A pilot holding a real CPL with an edited ATPL endorsement passes the first and fails the second.
Does it work on licences from any issuing authority?
Yes. TamperCheck analyses the document's own forensic properties (pixel-level signals, fonts, metadata, structure) rather than matching a specific authority's template, so it works on documents from any country, including ones it has not seen before.
What should we do with a suspicious verdict on a pilot licence?
Use it to trigger enhanced review, not to confront the candidate. Request the original, contact the issuing authority directly to confirm issuance for that individual, and if fraud is confirmed, report to the relevant regulator and keep the evidence.
Can it check scans and phone photos, or only digital originals?
Both. PDFs, scans and photographs are accepted. A high-resolution scan gives more forensic signal than a low-quality photo, so request one for high-stakes documents like licences.
Can it verify maintenance and airworthiness documents too?
Yes. Certificates of conformance, release documents and engineer licences can be checked the same way as personnel credentials, which matters because forged parts paperwork has caused losses in the tens of millions.
Can it check baggage claims and customer receipts?
Yes. Submit the claim paperwork (property irregularity report, boarding pass, receipts, proof-of-value invoices) as PDFs, scans or phone photos. TamperCheck flags edited amounts and dates, receipts whose line items and totals don't reconcile, and AI-generated or reused receipts, and names the field it doubts. It tells you the document looks altered, not whether the bag was really lost, so keep your own baggage-handling records in the loop.
Does a flagged receipt mean the passenger is committing fraud?
No. A flag means the document shows signs of alteration or fabrication. Genuine claimants sometimes submit re-scanned, re-saved or reformatted receipts, so use the finding to request the original or ask for a card statement before rejecting a claim.
Are documents stored after verification?
No. TamperCheck returns a verdict and findings, then discards the file, which supports GDPR data-minimisation requirements for staff records.
See it working on your aviation documents
Add your first top-up and we'll match it in free credits, no contract. Upload your first document and get a verdict in about a minute.
$0.50 / document · compare with alternatives