300,000 miles stolen from my Avios BA account
 

Today by chance I looked at my BA Executive account and was shocked to see that about 300,000 Avios points had disappeared.

I noticed that the points had been taken out last week for a stay at a hotel in Hungary.

I notified BA who are now investigating.My account will be blocked.

Has this ever happened to others? I find it pretty scary. Fortunately it was only one week ago. I only check my account about twice a year.

Yes it has. There are several previous threads covering this very issue.

I'd check your anti virus software etc and scan your computer.

And if you use the same password anywhere else, better change it quick.

I'm really sorry to hear this. In addition to what was mentioned before it's also important to keep data such as your booking references and membership numbers safe. A lot of information can be gained just from a thrown away boarding pass, that can lead to fraud.

There was a fantastic talk about airline reservation systems' security recently, related to this, if anyone is interested: https://media.ccc.de/v/33c3-7964-whe...armen_sandiego

Thank you.

I was going to say that at least one passenger enjoyed the new BoB product:)

On a serious note, sorry to hear of the OP's situation, but I do think BA will sort this out eventually.

I'm just wondering about the practicality of doing this. I assume they had your password, allowing them to do the booking.

I know if someone books a reward flight, the total comes off immediately, so easy to spot and stop ahead of time (and leading to someone in handcuffs as they turn up to take the flight). But do hotel bookings not get taken off until after the stay is made? I know Hiltons take their points off at the time of booking, rather than at the time of stay. Is BAEC different?

Hotel bookings come off nearly immediately, within a few hours.

So was the stay taken or just booked, OP?

If not, seems as if the hackers bet on the hacked account owner not noticing....

I do hope this gets sorted out. Frequent traveller accounts seem to be particularly prone to this these days. I keep an eye on mine at least twice a week. Watch out for your IHG Rewards accounts too, with their silly 1980s four digit passwords.

Thank you for your responses.

The password came up automatically when I would put the account number. Also all I had to do was write 1 number and the whole account number would come up.

Maybe that is what caused it.

But fortunately I have never had problems with American, Alaska, United and Delta. Touch wood.

I am glad I'm not alone in my views on that.

Well that's a browser setting, not a BA default setting.

Yep, was just about to comment on this. The only way that could have been the cause is if you lost possession of your laptop (or whichever device has remembered your password).

Bretteee...
Sorry to hear this.. It is scary. This is why I change my password once a month. It may sound a bit on the OCD side but it works for me...I hope that BA will give you back this Avois...Good luck