Originally Posted by
sfoflyer12
Closing out an account and selling the miles seems pretty low risk. The money is in your bank account before the award flight is taken. If not just call and complain / cancel award reservation.
But who in the WORLD would buy a ticket from these "brokers" - it seems like so much can go wrong. The original seller reneges, the broker goes back on the deal, the airline cancels the tickets out - then you are left with a wrecked trip which has got to be super expensive to fix.
So I have no idea how these businesses stay in business unless some of them have really worked it out so the flyer is OK.
In a sense, the money really isn't in your bank account until about three weeks after you deposit a check, which could be fake. Similarly, AFAIK PayPal can claw back payments, in this case in particular if the broker claims that the airline didn't permit the passenger to travel. If the broker refuses to ultimately pay you, what could you do? Complain to the airline that you sold your miles and the broker didn't pay? Since airlines claim that they own the miles, I don't think police or other law enforcement would intervene.
I'm not sure that many brokers stay in business under the same name for very long.