Stealing a Stranger’s Miles to Book Award Flights is a Very Serious Crime

Given how easy it can be to rack up lots of miles and points, it’s no surprise that we’re often asked if it’s possible to send miles to a third party in exchange for cash. The short answer is yes, it’s possible, but it’s against the terms and conditions of virtually every loyalty program — while you can book travel for someone else, you can’t do so in exchange for cash. Stealing someone else’s miles, however, is flat-out illegal.

According to reports, Avazdavani stole miles from many different American Airlines customers — one man who had 275,000 miles stolen noticed that someone had booked four plane tickets and two hotel stays without his permission. He contacted the police and the airline, which reinstated the stolen miles.

Airlines and hotel programs alike take fraud very seriously, and frequently add measures to protect accounts, as Marriott did last year. United Airlines even offers frequent flyer miles to customers who point out security flaws with its “Bug Bounty” program. Despite loyalty program efforts, however, individual users can still be taken advantage of if their credentials are compromised in some other way — for example, if your login information is compromised during a bank website breach and you use the same username and password on an airline or hotel program’s site, thieves could easily access your points and miles.

If you know that your login info has fallen into the wrong hands, be sure to change your password for any accounts with matching credentials. If a thief does manage to steal your points or miles, the program will likely work to have them restored, especially if the program is at fault. That said, it’s best to avoid that situation if you can help it.

Source: thepointsguy.com