Fraud on Velocity Frequent Flyer accounts

[VPS]

I have the same issue. I noticed that all my points had been stolen from my account within the app. I could also see that my email, phone number had been changed and I couldn't log in on desktop. I called them, they suspended my account and its now been more than 30 days. The part that frustrates me is that I alerted them, and now I am further punished by losing all ability to earn points, pay with points, upgrade to business for free etc. I have lodged a complaint with Fair Trading so hopefully they will help. In the meantime, if you are a platinum customer, contact Qantas and they will accept you as a Gold member. I am voting with my feet but I also want what is rightfully mine.

Welcome to AFF - good luck

 

[luckypierre]

I have the same issue. I noticed that all my points had been stolen from my account within the app. I could also see that my email, phone number had been changed and I couldn't log in on desktop. I called them, they suspended my account and its now been more than 30 days. The part that frustrates me is that I alerted them, and now I am further punished by losing all ability to earn points, pay with points, upgrade to business for free etc. I have lodged a complaint with Fair Trading so hopefully they will help. In the meantime, if you are a platinum customer, contact Qantas and they will accept you as a Gold member. I am voting with my feet but I also want what is rightfully mine.

Good luck with your mission to get your points and entitlements back. I’m curious about the QF Gold status match, are you abke to elaborate on the process and advise the conditions to retain?

 

[TLB2908]

Good luck with your mission to get your points and entitlements back. I’m curious about the QF Gold status match, are you abke to elaborate on the process and advise the conditions to retain?

I emailed them and outlined that I was platinum with Velocity and would they consider accepting me across to their platform. I had to send my flight history and they came back and said they have accepted me in Gold Accelerator challenge. I needed to nominate the date I wanted this to commence and then needed to earn 200 status credits within 90 days (can also include bonus status credits). They also gave me access to the Qantas Club Lounge.

Post automatically merged: Jul 30, 2024

I emailed them and outlined that I was platinum with Velocity and would they consider accepting me across to their platform. I had to send my flight history and they came back and said they have accepted me in Gold Accelerator challenge. I needed to nominate the date I wanted this to commence and then needed to earn 200 status credits within 90 days (can also include bonus status credits). They also gave me access to the Qantas Club Lounge.

[email protected]

 

[Happy Dude]

In the meantime, if you are a platinum customer, contact Qantas and they will accept you as a Gold member.

Really? Can you elaborate how you managed that pls?

Edit: I see this is now addressed above. That email gonna get smashed!

 

[danmh]

Given the value, absolutely. My passwords are 20+ characters and now have 300+ passwords, don't ask. Plus I use an encrypted password manager with 2FA. It's the only sensible pathway.

I had the same experience.
6 weeks ago someone hacked the account - changed contact details, email address and phone. number and stole 250,000 points. I reported it and account was suspended. Have called d4 times and all I get it that it is under investigation. Have not received any acknowledgement whatso ever. I am going to social media to vent my frustration soon.

 

[VPS]

I had the same experience.
6 weeks ago someone hacked the account - changed contact details, email address and phone. number and stole 250,000 points. I reported it and account was suspended. Have called d4 times and all I get it that it is under investigation. Have not received any acknowledgement whatso ever. I am going to social media to vent my frustration soon.

Welcome to AFF - not a good topic for a first post. Hope it's resolved for you

 

[Happy Dude]

I emailed them suggesting that they should get 2FA to further secure accounts. The response acknowledged that my suggestion has been "heard" and they're sorry that I'm dissatisfied and have been inconvenienced. It did not inspire confidence that anything is going to happen but they'd be happy to tell me if it did.

 

[sharkiesrule]

I just had my account hacked. Password and contact and credential details changed.

By some weird twist of fate I still have view access to my account via the app.

264400 points used for a flight redemption.

There’s no way to get my account frozen until the morning is there?

 

[AIRwin]

264400 points used for a flight redemption.

Can you see what name it was booked under?

 

[luckypierre]

Can you see what name it was booked under?

Can you cancel the award flight?

 

[Brissy1]

This spate of hacks seems very sus to me, has Velocity been compromised or an inside job I wonder.

 

[Happy Dude]

There’s no way to get my account frozen until the morning is there?

I had another attempt on my account very early on Saturday morning and when I contacted the number in the "if this wasn't you call us immediately" email, I got a machine saying to call back during Monday-Friday business hours.

I've now sent off an email asking for a new member number and insisting, again, that 2FA must be introduced as a matter of priority. They really don't seem to care about account security at all. Velocity accounts hold a decent amount of personal information so any losses following a hack must be their responsibility.

 

[sharkiesrule]

So no way for me to see, although I eventually got authenticated to enough of a level where they asked did I know a Mr XX Tze and someone else who had booked a JFK to Haneda flight on Nippon.

So after some wrangling and a very long phone call, I managed to get the account on hold so no further damage. Looks like they're blocking the reward flight and the investigation is underway.

What I also managed to secure was a confirmation email from them that the account was frozen and a reference number (that outcome was a hard graft). 30 business days was the consistent messaging both call centre reps gave me.

Oddly enough, especially as the account is frozen, I can still log on to my Velocity app, despite the fraudsters changing all my credentials (email, password). Not sure that's cool!

I'll let you know the outcome.

 

[StayGoldPonyboy]

How stressful. When was the flight? Wonder if they'll try to nab them at the airport.

 

[Happy Dude]

I was able to have the email address changed back to one that I controlled whilst on the phone, and from there I reset the password myself online immediately. they should be able to unfreeze your account on the spot.

 

[sharkiesrule]

How stressful. When was the flight? Wonder if they'll try to nab them at the airport.

Yeah, had a freak-out for sure when I just checked the app. Just dumb luck the device security is so bad that I could see the transactions. And that I was randomly checking as I don't have a flight booked or was likely to use redemptions until late this year. If I hadn't checked to see if my weekend flight SCs landed, I'd have had no idea.

They didn't give me any more information about it, although I did ask. Perhaps if it had been earlier than 9-10pm AEST I may have got more experienced operators.

I was able to have the email address changed back to one that I controlled whilst on the phone, and from there I reset the password myself online immediately. they should be able to unfreeze your account on the spot.

I did try to push for that. As I can see the updated credentials via the app, I know what they changed the email address to. I could answer all the detailed verification questions previously on file, but no dice.

 

[moa999]

spate of hacks seems very sus to me,

Of a few million accounts it's pretty tiny. VA certainly doesn't help themselves with lax security but I suspect the victims aren't totally innocent.

 

[StayGoldPonyboy]

Ticketek hack in May of 17 million accounts included hashed passwords (I found out via 'have I been pwned' alert).

wonder if hackers decrypted these and worked out a way to get VFF #s from email addresses and found some folk that reused passwords.

And people save their passwords in their browsers and sometimes their devices get compromised. (not saying that's you Sharky)

Velocity need MFA, like, yesterday!!!

 

[Madz]

I’ve had 700,000 points transferred out fraudulently on 31 July and 2 August. I noticed on Tuesday night and called Virgin immediately. It’s the same story as others, the hackers have changed my email, phone etc and booked flights to London, Shanghai, San Francisco, New York and more in names that I have never heard of. They have frozen my account and said they will launch an investigation that will take 30 days. The weird thing is that I updated my password for the first time in a few years in early July, to a unique password.

This is tens of thousands of dollars worth of points. They better be able to cancel those redemptions!

 

[Thomas088]

So no way for me to see, although I eventually got authenticated to enough of a level where they asked did I know a Mr XX Tze and someone else who had booked a JFK to Haneda flight on Nippon.

So after some wrangling and a very long phone call, I managed to get the account on hold so no further damage. Looks like they're blocking the reward flight and the investigation is underway.

What I also managed to secure was a confirmation email from them that the account was frozen and a reference number (that outcome was a hard graft). 30 business days was the consistent messaging both call centre reps gave me.

Oddly enough, especially as the account is frozen, I can still log on to my Velocity app, despite the fraudsters changing all my credentials (email, password). Not sure that's cool!

I'll let you know the outcome.

I had an almost identical experience - 2 business class tickets booked on ANA to JFK in mid-July, reported to Velocity a couple of days later and the account suspended for 30 business days. Email & password were also changed.

I was logged out of the Velocity app automatically, but can see in the Virgin Australia app that they points redemption has been reversed and points reinstated. No further communications yet apart from the 'Suspension of your Velocity Account' email I received shortly after letting the team know of the unautorised redemption.

Hopefully I'll be able to access the account again shortly!