so they arent as 'whiter than white' as some are suggesting...
Of course they aren't; they are in the pig trough up to their elbows.
But if you try and share out the blame, you will simply ensure that nothing is done about it as the parties to the fraud blame each other.
The airline is the principal, and as such is 100% responsible for making sure its customers are not defrauded. Therefore they are 100% responsible if a fraud does occur as it does hundreds of times a day in the UK alone. I wish that one of the many groups purporting to represent consumers in general or airline customers in particular would have the balls to get to grips with the problem and launch a few test cases for fraud.