that's right...

what's also important is what to call it. Is it fraud or is it "not doing what a program intended for?"

Like many here abd eksewhere, I was doing a ton of gift card schemes to get miles and while the mileage earning CC and the accompanying airline seemed to have no problem with my activity, the gift card issuing banks would eventually change their programs and marketing deals because so many people were "in on something" and this ultimately probably cost them some money. They would change the terms or make new fees so it was harder to do the gig, or make the fees such that it was hardly even worth doing it anyway. And in more than one case, I got letters of refusal from a few GC companies with my funds eventually returned. I was not in trouble legally, and in the case of US Bank, I was never reprimanded with the activity on my US Bank Visa or the miles program at NW airlines that it ties to, but that bank's gift card department flatly booted me saying I was "thought to be possibly involved with a high level useage of the gift card I held that generated activity that did not appear to fit what the product was intended for..."

Legal? Sure. Ethical? Maybe, maybe not. Possible? Yup. Against banking rules? Well, they can change those when they want, so yes and no. Ending a relationship with that bank forever? Probably not, but use of a certain product could have been ended. In some cases, users simply reapplied later and were fine again. It's all subjective and hard to care about when you are working with millions.

Actuaries...