Originally Posted by
danville 1K
In the course of "exchanging" items its quite likely you'd be emailing concerning the trade. If your "exchangor" was working for the airline all they had to do was compare your email address to the email address on file for your account and bingo, they know who you are. In the event of a non-sanctioned trade (swapping miles for upgrades, selling upgrades, etc.) they'd audit and shut down your account (not necessarily in that order).
Originally Posted by
StartinSanDiego
Ahh, that makes sense. Undercover moles!!!
Here's a quote from a thread on the AA forum. You can find it
HERE. The thread has been going since 2007 and is 135 pages long. Chock full of how AA finds you and the punishment they inflict upon offenders.
Originally Posted by
JonNYC
BTW, if you're ever tempted to respond to an ad (Craigs list especially comes to mind)-- keep in mind you may be replying directly to AA-- who puts out false buy offers to find out who is selling.