Raúl Barragán

Early Life

Raúl Horacio Barragán, known by the nickname "Yuyo," was born around 1957 into a prominent family in Concordia, Entre Ríos, Argentina, though he was raised in the nearby city of Concepción del Uruguay. Few details about his early years are documented.

Career at Aerolíneas Argentinas

Barragán worked as a salesman at the Concordia branch of Aerolíneas Argentinas. His discovery of a critical vulnerability in the SITA system — the global organization responsible for issuing airline passages worldwide — came about through circumstance rather than technical expertise. While handling an order during a period of communication overload caused by the 1978 FIFA World Cup, he contacted SITA directly to obtain confirmation codes for a passage and received them within minutes, revealing a significant gap in the system's verification process. He subsequently tested the access by generating a fictitious flight booking, which was approved without issue.

By 1978, Barragán had been promoted to branch manager. Seeking additional free flights to visit a fiancée working for Aerolíneas Argentinas in Caracas, he was denied extra flight allowances by his superiors. He responded by manipulating the telex system to fabricate a message appearing to come from the airline's general manager in Buenos Aires, granting himself the flights he wanted. He was fired from the company in 1979.

Life as a Hacker

Following his dismissal, Barragán reopened a travel agency in his hometown, but the business failed. He subsequently built a livelihood around the exploitation of airline ticketing systems. His method involved creating permissions to emit passages — typically first-class seats — in the name of one airline on behalf of another, collecting the tickets at no cost and selling them at discounts of 30 to 40 percent. Because the fraudulent passages were settled during clearing operations conducted months later, and their individual value was low relative to overall airline expenses, the scheme went undetected for an extended period. Estimates suggest he generated between 5,000 and 10,000 passages and profited approximately five million dollars, though the precise figures are uncertain.

During the Falklands War in 1982, Barragán cooperated with the Argentine Air Force in some capacity. An official document dated 2 November 1982 records the Air Force's acknowledgment of his contributions, though the specific nature of his role remains unclear. Rumors suggest he generated disruption within the United Kingdom by forging passages on British airlines.

In 1982, a fraudulent ticket he created on KLM was detected, prompting him to flee to Brazil, where he continued operations by forging passages from the Brazilian carrier Varig. He was arrested in 1983 by the Federal Police of Brazil after a contact attempted to verify one of his forged tickets. Released after agreeing to demonstrate his methods, he instead bribed a police officer, hacked Varig again, and returned to Argentina — leaving behind a bounced check. He was subsequently banned from Brazil.

Also in February 1983, Barragán was arrested by the Argentine Federal Police in connection with a Rolex watch he had received as payment for a passage. After confessing his methods and demonstrating them using an Interpol telex on 3 March, he was released four days later when authorities could not hold him further. His confession prompted a global meeting of airline representatives in Paris, leading to comprehensive changes to SITA's security infrastructure, including new verification protocols and a reduction in clearing cycles to every 32 days.

Arrest and Imprisonment

In July 1993, an incident involving the Argentine band Los Pericos at Miami airport led to Barragán's identification by the band's manager, Pablo Hortal, who provided his name to the Argentine Federal Police. In May 1994, Judge Juan José Galeano ordered his preventive detention. Barragán was held at Unit 16, Caseros Prison. A separate fraud case stemming from a 1982 Aerolíneas Argentinas matter was judged on 28 December 1994, resulting in a six-month sentence handed down by Judge Martín Irurzun, which was considered served upon his release from the Los Pericos case. During his imprisonment, Barragán began attending law school.

Life After Jail and Death

Barragán was released in 1997 after approximately three years in custody and largely withdrew from public life. A YouTube channel associated with him posted photographs and videos in subsequent years. In a video published on 6 March 2009, he reportedly stated he had been betrayed by a close friend and anticipated his own death. He died on 1 August 2013, in Concepción del Uruguay, at approximately 56 years of age, having spent his final days at his mother's home.

Recognition

Barragán is recognized within Argentine hacker culture as the country's first hacker, a distinction notable for having been achieved without any knowledge of programming. He is acknowledged as such by other hackers, including Daniel Sentinelli. He appeared multiple times on the Argentine television program hosted by Susana Giménez, wearing a balaclava to conceal his identity. A chapter of the 1995 book Llaneros Solitarios - Hackers, la Guerrilla Informática, written by Raquel Roberti and Fernando Bonsembiante and published by Espasa-Calpe, documents his life and activities.