For Qantas Frequent Flyer members with large point balances, having those points stolen could be a nightmare. Thankfully, if this does happen, the airline has processes in place to recover the points.
DoctorSimon was mortified to discover recently that 185,000 points had been stolen from their Qantas Frequent Flyer account. The thief had already used the points to book flights for three people. But the situation was quickly resolved.
This member called Qantas, who then immediately cancelled the flight reservations booked using the stolen points. DoctorSimon then sent a statutory declaration to Qantas and the points were reinstated the following morning.
I checked my QFF account on Easter Monday and found 185,000 points had been spent by someone (unknown) two days earlier (Easter Saturday) on a booking for 3 adults. Rang Qantas and advised, they cancelled the reservations. I sent in a stat dec with the details late on Easter Monday night and the QFF points were back in my account the next morning.
Thank you Qantas – excellent, prompt response.
Other AFF members have had similar experiences with Qantas Frequent Flyer points being stolen…
Mr.s. had 50000 points taken from his account a year or so ago. The hackers bought iTunes vouchers which I understand are more tradable that flight tickets. They changed Mr. s’s contact details, so Qantas had trouble contacting him. Qantas quickly refunded the points.
I can relate. I had 150,000 points stolen from from my QFF account a couple of years ago. They had booked flights and had already taken one departing Bali for the Middle East.
I too didn’t receive any confirmations of travel booked etc. Luckily I accidentally stumbled across it when I logged into my account (these were the days before I was points chasing and checking my account balance multiple times a week lol)
I had a similar positive experience and points were returned quickly after a stat dec. to Qantas.
Unfortunately, loyalty program fraud is more common than we may realise. Frequent flyer accounts are often easy targets as they are not protected nearly as well as bank accounts. Many people may not even realise that their account has been targeted. After hacking into the account, the perpetrators will often change the contact details on the account before stealing any points. That way, the account holder is less likely to be notified… which is worrying.
However, how did they get into my account? Why didn’t I get a TXT confirming the log-on from a new computer? Why didn’t I get an email of the itinerary, confirming deduction of the points? etc, etc. Seems it is too easy to steal from a QFF account, when it is effectively a bank account.
Luckily, airlines are aware that fraud occurs and are taking measures to prevent it. For example, Qantas has been introducing two-factor authentication on accounts. In this instance, it wasn’t enough to protect DoctorSimon‘s account. But at least Qantas acted promptly to resolve the situation once alerted to it.
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: QF Points taken and fast response from Qantas
