Fraud on Velocity Frequent Flyer accounts

[Legoman]

still no update and called in they can’t tell much beside asking me to wait.

Consider yourself lucky you got that much out of them!. Velocity have just downright stopped replying to me altogether now. No auto-acknowledgement, no reply, no excuses, no timeline update. Just complete radio silence.

Told a mate who is a VAH pilot and said there is no way in the known universe I would book a flight anywhere with the company he works for while they refuse to even communicate with me about why they've suspended my loyalty account with them. He basically just threw his hands in the air and intimated "join the club". Reckons there are so many people who hate VAH who have lost so much more than just some nebulus points, that I should consider myself one of the very lucky ones. He reckons it is only a matter of time before Virgin is either bankrupt again or broken up and sold.

 

[simmomelb]

Told a mate who is a VAH pilot and said there is no way in the known universe I would book a flight anywhere with the company he works for while they refuse to even communicate with me about why they've suspended my loyalty account with them. He basically just threw his hands in the air and intimated "join the club". Reckons there are so many people who hate VAH who have lost so much more than just some nebulus points, that I should consider myself one of the very lucky ones. He reckons it is only a matter of time before Virgin is either bankrupt again or broken up and sold.

Of course it's being sold, that was the plan since Bain bought the company, that's exactly what they do!
It's public information that it will be placed back on the ASX and part of it ~20% bought by Qatar Airways, if approved.
VA is currently doing very well financially, no issues there.
Anyone suggesting anything else is just a personal opinion and nothing more, not based on any facts.

 

[Legoman]

Anyone suggesting anything else is just a personal opinion and nothing more, not based on any facts.

Unfortunately in this day and age and especially so in the world of private equity, shorting meme stocks and the airline industry more generally, facts are whatever someone says they are in whatever moment their vested interest would like them to be. The line between opinion and fact is so opaque and blurred as to virtually not exist anymore.

 

[simmomelb]

Unfortunately in this day and age and especially so in the world of private equity, shorting meme stocks and the airline industry more generally, facts are whatever someone says they are in whatever moment their vested interest would like them to be. The line between opinion and fact is so opaque and blurred as to virtually not exist anymore.

The facts are they are tuning over a healthy profit as per documents filed with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission.

Under the current direction of the company, they are in their best financial situation they have been in 11 years, that is a fact.

You're clearly disgruntled because of your issue with Velocity, understandably, but that has no bearing on the above.

 

[Legoman]

The facts are they are tuning over a healthy profit as per documents filed with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission.

Under the current direction of the company, they are in their best financial situation they have been in 11 years, that is a fact.

Again, facts are whatever you want them to be. If you want to sell a company, then of course you make it look massively profitable on paper. It's called a pump-n-dump in the financial vernacular. Rest assured though that as soon as the buyer then wants to avoid paying any tax, that non-existent paper profit instantly becomes a massive loss (as it has been for every single year Virgin Australia has operated).

You are obviously entitled to believe whatever you're being told in the moment so long as it aligns with your own beliefs and pre-determined ideas about the world. That will work for you I'm sure in the short term. Just make sure you jump ship before the tide turns.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Again, facts are whatever you want them to be. If you want to sell a company, then of course you make it look massively profitable on paper. It's called a pump-n-dump in the financial vernacular. Rest assured though that as soon as the buyer then wants to avoid paying any tax, that non-existent paper profit instantly becomes a massive loss (as it has been for every single year Virgin Australia has operated).

You are obviously entitled to believe whatever you're being told in the moment so long as it aligns with your own beliefs and pre-determined ideas about the world. That will work for you I'm sure in the short term. Just make sure you jump ship before the tide turns.

A lot has changed since 2020 and the collapse, I'm sure the accounts for Virgin when public are still out there. It's not hard to see how the company is now profitable.

Workforce disagreement with management is a tale as old as time. Whether legitimate gripes or not

 

[warren.south]

I just tried to log in to my account and got the following message:

"INACTIVE, SUSPENDED OR CLOSED ACCOUNT
The Velocity Membership number you have entered is associated with an inactive, suspended or close account. Please check that you have entered the correct membership details or contact the Membership Contact Centre for assistance."

Called up the contact centre - and they informed me that my mobile number, email and address had been changed on the account - and that a large number of points had been transferred out? My account is under investigation - and someone will contact me within 30 business days.

Has anyone had this issue before? I didn't realise stealing points was a thing?

Cheers,
dB

Same here. Only when i found out the hacker was on a flight using my points. i rang Velocity with all details including the name on the ticket etc. Account was suspended and was told i would be contacted within 30 business days - DIDNT HAPPEN. Have tried conacting them weekly since then - been told the issue has been "escalated" but cant tell when I will get an update, or when it will be resolved. APPALLING CUSTOMER SERVICE

 

[tmdl]

Same here. Only when i found out the hacker was on a flight using my points. i rang Velocity with all details including the name on the ticket etc. Account was suspended and was told i would be contacted within 30 business days - DIDNT HAPPEN. Have tried conacting them weekly since then - been told the issue has been "escalated" but cant tell when I will get an update, or when it will be resolved. APPALLING CUSTOMER SERVICE

I know the feeling.... Im still waiting as my account shows the incorrect amount of points (-160k less)

 

[aikman]

Same here. Only when i found out the hacker was on a flight using my points. i rang Velocity with all details including the name on the ticket etc. Account was suspended and was told i would be contacted within 30 business days - DIDNT HAPPEN. Have tried conacting them weekly since then - been told the issue has been "escalated" but cant tell when I will get an update, or when it will be resolved. APPALLING CUSTOMER SERVICE

How long have you been waiting?

 

[AIRwin]

Only when i found out the hacker was on a flight using my points.

Was it a domestic or international flight?

 

[Legoman]

Exciting update!
Warning: The following contains idiotic circular logic and confected catch-22 reasoning of a Kafkaesque nature that should only be read by those with no sense of irony at all.

Finally got a reply from Velocity this morning addressing my increasingly urgent requests for them to tell me literally anything about their lack of security that has led directly to the theft of my ~100K points.

Not by any means TLDR, but here is the selected pertinent section of their reply…

We understand your frustration… we're unable to discuss further details through email due to security reasons

No, that is not a joke, though I can obviously see how it would be taken as one. Velocity refuse to discuss their lack of security "due to security reasons". Just to be 100% perfectly clear on this so there's absolutely no misunderstanding whatsoever, even for the guy at the back of the room scratching his nuts, the organisation that has demonstrated by their lack of action their complete disregard for even the most fundamental of basic security measures, is now claiming that owing to their diligence for security, they can't discuss their flailing lack of it that has rendered me the victim of their incompetence.

 

[RAM]

Exciting update!
Warning: The following contains idiotic circular logic and confected catch-22 reasoning of a Kafkaesque nature that should only be read by those with no sense of irony at all.

Finally got a reply from Velocity this morning addressing my increasingly urgent requests for them to tell me literally anything about their lack of security that has led directly to the theft of my ~100K points.

Not by any means TLDR, but here is the selected pertinent section of their reply…


No, that is not a joke, though I can obviously see how it would be taken as one. Velocity refuse to discuss their lack of security "due to security reasons". Just to be 100% perfectly clear on this so there's absolutely no misunderstanding whatsoever, even for the guy at the back of the room scratching his nuts, the organisation that has demonstrated by their lack of action their complete disregard for even the most fundamental of basic security measures, is now claiming that owing to their diligence for security, they can't discuss their flailing lack of it that has rendered me the victim of their incompetence.

OR perhaps they do not want to reveal the (or one of several) flaws with their current procedures and tip off other potential hackers.

 

[Legoman]

OR perhaps they do not want to reveal the (or one of several) flaws with their current procedures and tip off other potential hackers.

The first bit was correct. They do not want to reveal… but the reason is not so idealistic and proper as to be helping the enemy, but much more because their risk mitigation legal team has told them not to provide any evidence that could in future be used against them in potential lawsuits. Exactly the same reasons as to why getting information out of Medibank/Optus/Latitude/Optus (again) and a huge list of others was always like getting blood out of a stone. Nothing to do with protecting their customers and everything to do with protecting their own coughs.

 

[aikman]

Anybody else had trouble unlinking FlyBuys and 7-Eleven from your suspended account? I am told this needs to happen before the new Velocity account can be set up.

 

[Legoman]

Anybody else had trouble unlinking FlyBuys and 7-Eleven from your suspended account? I am told this needs to happen before the new Velocity account can be set up.

Didn't even know you could link FlyBuys to 7-11? If however, you're talking about Velocity being linked to 7-11, then that's really easy because in the app under the Velocity linked logo button there's a link right there labelled DE-LINK VELOCITY ACCOUNT, which, whilst I haven't tried it myself, sounds very self-evident and explanatory.

 

[Thomas088]

Anybody else had trouble unlinking FlyBuys and 7-Eleven from your suspended account? I am told this needs to happen before the new Velocity account can be set up.

I had to do both as part of transitioning to the new Velocity account - both need to be unlinked in the respective apps/websites. I was only able to unlink SingAir directly from the VA website

 

[MARTINE]

Same here. Only when i found out the hacker was on a flight using my points. i rang Velocity with all details including the name on the ticket etc. Account was suspended and was told i would be contacted within 30 business days - DIDNT HAPPEN. Have tried conacting them weekly since then - been told the issue has been "escalated" but cant tell when I will get an update, or when it will be resolved. APPALLING CUSTOMER SERVICE

If you have the name of the traveller can he / she be reported to AFP - crime occuring in airspace. Grasping at straws here

 

[aikman]

I had to do both as part of transitioning to the new Velocity account - both need to be unlinked in the respective apps/websites. I was only able to unlink SingAir directly from the VA website

Did the unlinking take effect immediately?

Even though I had delinked FlyBuys, the phone agent said it was still linked at their end.

I couldn't delink 7-Eleven because I had to log in to Velocity which I couldn't because it was suspended.

 

[Thomas088]

Did the unlinking take effect immediately?

Even though I had delinked FlyBuys, the phone agent said it was still linked at their end.

I couldn't delink 7-Eleven because I had to log in to Velocity which I couldn't because it was suspended.

Yes it was instant but the phone agent had to unlock my compromised account for me to be able to login like you described

 

[angad596]

Did the unlinking take effect immediately?

Even though I had delinked FlyBuys, the phone agent said it was still linked at their end.

I couldn't delink 7-Eleven because I had to log in to Velocity which I couldn't because it was suspended.

I had the same issue had to un-link my krisflyer account and Flybuys
The accounts need to be activated by velocity first to unlink
Krisflyer unlinked easily and so did Flybuys from my Flybuys account but did not unlink at velocity end
Velocity had to set up a request to unlink told will take 5 business days but took 2.5 weeks with me calling every second day after the 5 business days timeframe

I do have my account back finally with new velocity number after hack took place on 03 July 24 reported 04/07/24
Worst people to deal with to get anything resolved with

The fraud dept does not communicate no correspondence in the whole process except email when points were reinstated after contacting email below

I only got the points reinstated is by emailing [email protected] after lapse of 40 business days

Account points were reinstated in 1 day of emailing customer care above with a long email but Flybuys unlinking took another 2.5 weeks

Total time to get my 1.3 million points reinstated 10 weeks

Feel it’s time to back Qantas FF now