MilesBuzz! - Fraud at LAX duty-free?--Miles cards esp vulnurable?

Just back from burning lots of miles on a trip to Europe.

But, I am starting to wonder if using your miles credit card at the duty free opens you up to fraud--and, if some duty free employees are credit card crooks?

My traveling friend bought some small, personal items at the LAX duty-free on departure. They were delivered to the gate, so duty free workers certainly knew which flight we were on.

The mileage card used at the duty-free was not used after that purchase.

However, the fraud department contacted my friend a few days ago to ask if a (declined) charge at a jewelry store in IST had been made by friend and also advised that there had been numerous charges on the card in MAD, IST and in California.

Our route on the trip. LAX, MAD, IST.

Now, I am wondering if using a miles card at the duty free opens you up to fraud since this appears to be the source here.

Duty free employes know you are probably a frequent traveler (likely to be gone for a while and so not getting your bills or security calls from bank) and US resident (from US issued card). They also know your routing from seeing your ticket, boarding pass. They have all the info needed for fraudulent charges from seeing your card.

So, is duty free the source of this miles credit card fraud?

Anyone else run into this at LAX or elsewhere?

Interesting story. But I see nothing that ties this to a miles-earning credit card as opposed to any other credit card.

Interesting story. But I see nothing that ties this to a miles-earning credit card as opposed to any other credit card.

agreed. also, shopping at duty free doesn't mark anyone as a particularly-frequent traveller.

agreed. also, shopping at duty free doesn't mark anyone as a particularly-frequent traveller.

No, it wouldn't mark anyone for sure as a particularly frequent traveller, but it is vastly more likely that someone shopping duty free is one than your random customer at a local pharmacy or gas station. And more importantly, they would know that you were departing the country, hence likely to be less easily reached by credit card security and less on top of charges to the card, and they would know where you were flying to, so be able to match cities and give any spending pattern a more plausible appearance. All that said, it seems somewhat improbable that they be able to carefully match up charge to travel plans that way, or bother to do so for the minimal advantage such an effort would yield.

I am not saying that the OP's companion was not the victim of fraud or that it couldn't have traced back to duty free, but I should think it wouldn't be too long before a duty free employee would be caught at it. If, for example, AmEx's security department started to experience a number of fraud reports that had in common an airport duty free, I think they would be on it quickly. Yes, there are a lot of different card issuers out there, some not all that diligent in tracking down fraud, but computers are great at finding the commonalities.

I had $22K in fraudulent charges to a Chase Visa a few years ago in Puerto Rico and never learned how it was done. My suspicion is that the card was duplicated in one of the various restaurants we ate in and then they were off to the races, while the issuer's security department slept, but only a suspicion.

Every pay with your CC in a restaurant? It's much easier to get your card swiped there than at a duty free.

Every pay with your CC in a restaurant? It's much easier to get your card swiped there than at a duty free.

Agreed. But according to OP the fraud use happened both in CA and Europe, which sounds interesting to me.

I think it is extremely unlikely that your friend's credit card number would have been stolen in LAX then fraudently used in MAD and IST, the exact two cities you mention were part of your routing.

Receipts are supposed to display only the last digits of the card number but that does not always happen. Any chance that the full card # was displayed on a receipt?