Originally Posted by
christianj
Somehow or another I had several hotel programs recently get compromised and the thiefs used points for award stays, merchadise or gift cards. (I won't go into the whole story since I am also not exactly sure how they got the data. I do know that one day previously my AMEX account was also compromised and that was the only card I used at Target during the security breach timeframe. If the two are related somehow I don't know how but it does seem strange that all this happend within days of the AMEX account being breached)
Back to the IHG Rewards Club part....I only happend to check my IHG account since I had gotten emails from both Hilton and Marriott that my email address had been changed on those accounts. To my suprise, IHG had also been impacted and they had changed the email address and address and used points for reward stays. (NO email from IHG was ever received about the email address or any other account information having been changed.) I immediately called IHG to inform them of the fraud. The agent I spoke to took down all the details and said she would forward the details to their Fraud Department. Unlike HH and MR, she said she could not reset the password on the account and the Fraud Dept. had to look into the situation and would then reset the password.
Fast forward 5 days and still no contact from IHG! To make matters worse, since they had not reset the password the thiefs actually did two more redemptions for another 38k point AFTER I had already informed IHG of the situation. Naturally I called them again when I saw this and they said they would reach out to the Fraud Dept. again.
IHG's inability to deal with this issue is something I cannot understand! The second round of points deductions could have been avoided!
After Summer 2012 fiasco with several accounts being 'hacked' and untraceable emailed Amazon voucher purchased with hacked accounts points, IHG eventually restored points, and changed account security for the better.
Previously no timeout existed for NNNN password, so hackers could script and hack a known account number in seconds. Some other security inprovements were also made.
Personally I don't believe a thief would book and stay using your account, as they would be too open to arrest at time they use rooms. So unless rooms sold on ebay would be strange.
Persevere, I am sure the second batch of points will be refunded to your account eventually based on your description that points were spent after you reported that your account was compromised.