pentelhos

I was recently scammed out of some miles by someone. I've given up on getting them back and learned my lesson BUT I know this scum bag has done this before and will do so again. I'd like to make sure he doesn't. I know for a fact he is an AA frequent flyer member. Any suggestions on how I can make sure this guy has pulled his last scam on American?

thanks for any advice in advance.

grahampros

To the OP. You likely expose yourself to admitting you were violating the terms of the AAdvantage program if you follow this up. If you were "scammed" you were likely selling or bartering miles which is explicitly forbidden.

maltasr

I'd recommend just eating it. Keep it under your hat. I was victimized too but just kept it to myself and I'm very contented that I did.. AA has little sympathy for people in our conundrum. Sorry!! Smacks of plain and simple greed which these programs all foster.

GNRMatt

Well, what exactly did the person do? If someone signed into your account and booked a ticket for himself with your miles, then that should definitely be reported. You have nothing to hide. If you did some shady deal with the person that backfired on you, that's another story. It's hard to offer good suggestions without knowing the full details of the story.

Calchas

Well you could anonymously tell AA, but if they audit this guy then your account will be in the records anyway.

orbitmic

I would recommend that you provide at least some 'hypothetical' details to give a sense of what you are talking about and what you stand to lose (or not). That said, if there is any wrong doing, it is of course a perfectly understandable to want to denounce it. If this is what you wish to do, I would suggest that you simply call AA or send them a letter detailing what you know with as much precision as you can. As you say, if someone is defrauding AA, it should enable them to track him/her and put an end to their unsavoury activities. As others have pointed out, if you yourself behaved in a way which is contrary to the terms and conditions that you have signed up to, there is a risk that you AA decide to react to your own wrongdoing as well (which could end up in your losing some miles or in your own account being terminated) although it is also possible they decide to be lenient if your confession enables them to catch a much bigger fish, it is hard to know without any sense of what you and he/she have done.

BoeingBoy

Ditto - the OP said nothing about a friend trying to get anywhere.

Jim

pentelhos

When I say I was scammed, I mean that I did attempt to sell miles. Yes, I now know this is a violation of the AA policies and I realize that my pleading ignorance is not going to get my miles back - an expensive lesson learned, so no need to berate me or get into some discussion of illegal vs immoral (preemptive strike)

That being said, when I am referring to being scammed is that this con artist got me to book the flight and then never sent payment (by repeating an oft repeated misconception about AA members being able to cancel tickets that they "gift". ) If anyone takes away any information from this thread, please realize that once you book a flight in someone else's name, it's THEIR ticket. You can't do anything at that point. (I've spent a lot of time reading old threads on here since this happened) At this point, what I am trying to do is make sure that this *&^# doesn't do this again to others and admittedly, that he doesn't get to use that flight I booked for him.

I will be happy to provide more details but nothing specific enough where someone can identify me (I know AA and other airlines like to monitor these boards).

pentelhos

@ maltasr

Keeping it under wraps and eating it is exactly why this scammer has been able to do this multiple times. I do not intend to let him do so again.

tom911

If anyone takes away anything from this thread, it's that there is risk in selling your frequent miles. Don't sell them and you won't have any risk at all.

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Since the miles for the award ticket came from your account, wouldn't AA let you cancel the ticket and reinstate the miles to your account upon payment of the $150 reinstatement fee?

will2288

I would of thought so. I am curious how this works.

Couldn't you just call AA pretending to be the passenger and cancel? If the OP made the booking, he would have the necessary personal information.

AAnerd

I dont think thats true.. I might be wrong with this, but when i booked a flight for a friend of mine (i did not "sell" per say since I didnt get any cash for it, but we had an agreement that he would take care of my dogs for one week for me while i was away for business and in return I'll get him a ticket anywhere in the 48states he want with my miles)... Of course he backed out of the deal a few days before i was leaving for business, I was pissed so I cancelled his ticket.. Now perhaps my friend didn't bother to call AA or whatever to prevent me from canceling, but I could cancel.. AA did not ask why, nor did they ask if I was the flyer or the guy who used the miles to buy this ticket, all i need to provide was the record locator... The point is, I got my miles back.. If what you say is true, then i shouldn't be able to cancel his ticket without my friend's consent..

Often1

Like robbing a bank with someone who agrees to a 50/50 split and who then keeps more than he agreed. A tough complaint to the police that you got sc**ed.

There's nothing new about the fact that the owner of the ticket is the passenger. The fact that you buy a ticket for someone does not make you the ticket's owner.

dfw_plt_aa

With the record locator and passenger name you can click on "Find a reservation" and pull up the reservation online. You can then click on the Cancel button to cancel this reservation.