Yes the points do indeed get stolen by Hilton if you don't say with them in a year. They even close your account. I just got hit by this.

After an unusual year of no travel due to some sad family stuff I'm now ready to hit the road again. I went online to make some expensive reservations, and the Hilton website wouldn't let me log in. When I inquired about this I found they'd disabled my (Silver VIP) account and taken away all my points.

You really have to wonder about the logic of Hilton's actions. Rather than welcome me back as an old friend, I find they've closed my account and stolen my stuff. A sane loyalty program would have preserved my points, kept the account open, and just dropped me down a level to Blue.

For example Virgin Atlantic dropped me from Gold to Silver because I didn't travel this year, but Virgin didn't steal my miles or close my account.

Shame on Hilton. Now I'm traveling again I'll be putting thousands of dollars of business elsewhere. Those points they stole are the last thing they're ever getting from me.