Originally Posted by
808Pants
1) What else does the scammer know about my personal information? When I called UAL to see what the scammer would have had to tell them to authenticate & use my CC number, the rep knew nothing, perhaps naturally. She kept putting me on hold while talking to their fraud department - which evidently knew nothing about this yet, though it was by then a couple of days later, after the weekend when I'd discovered the scam. She promised me repeatedly that they'd be calling me to tell me the details I'd asked for. It's a couple of days later now, and...no call. Anyone know what validating info UAL or your average travel agent in Nigeria would need, in order to successfully charge someone's card? Surely they'd need the CVS...what else?
Go to united.com and see what info is needed to book a flight for the situation where cardholder is not traveling. That is exactly what they had. Any more would be unnecessary, any less would not work.
Originally Posted by
808Pants
2) I've had this credit-card issuer call me to question MUCH less suspicious charges - for example, because I was charging meals while on a neighbor-island trip here in Hawaii...yet tickets being charged for USA junkets, under the names of two Nigerians, originating from Lagos doesn't sound any alarm bells?
Airline purchases (other than very close-in purchases) generally don't ring any bells because they are not frequently used by fraudsters. Fraudsters like to get their merchandise and run, they don't want to use stolen cards to pay for something that they are going to receive in the future and have to show ID to use. It's too easy to get caught when you have to show your passport to claim your stolen items.
Originally Posted by
808Pants
3) So did my credit-card issuer just pull the plug on the payment to UAL, and perhaps leave them holding the bag?
Most likely you caught this before the trip was scheduled. In the event that they took the trip already, then either UAL, their merchant processor, or the issuer will bear the loss according to their agreement.
Originally Posted by
808Pants
4) Did the twits actually get to travel on someone else's dime?
Highly doubtful. If they did, then UAL knows who they are (assuming they didn't commit other crimes like using stolen passports) and can track them down.