Okay, couple points here:
1. If you are keeping you purchases under $1000, DON'T post it is BAU. We know that; that is not the issue.
2. Second, let's keep the "I told you so" stuff to a minimum. While it is true this could put some in a tricky spot, many have racked up millions of miles/points with variations of these techniques....
3. Let keep focused on if this is "real" or not. If it happened to you, please post, tell exactly what happened and what your typical patterns are, velocity, etc.
For myself, I ran about $36K through early in the month. My last Wally trip was 4/20/19 and I typically liquidate about $2K a time, but sometimes more if they let me. Not banned yet, but have not tried since 4/20 to buy over $1K. (I've been knocking out $800 all week thanks to an office supply store.....)