I'm very unhappy with this decision. I credit and collect BA avios for the sole purpose of redeeming for HKG-TPE but yet haven't been able to use it for a while. No clarification has ever been offered until this thread.
While I'd blame the fraudulent activity basically came from BA's own mistake of getting hacked - I agree with one of the previous poster that if you can somehow enable it via phone booking so that we can prove our identity, it's at least a stopgap to whatever BA is trying accomplish.
Dear BA, if you are reading this, can you at least enable the redemption via phone? At least I can provide you with my personal information, and the 'hackers ' are very less likely to actually call to make a redemption.
Thank you.