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?