Looks like everyone is looking for the criteria's used by Citibank.
Although I'm not affiliated with a Citibank or fraud investigation department of any bank, I can imply their method that invariably uses data warehousing technologies. So, basically, they seat on a front of data store containing every transaction done by every C2it user; full historical dimension should be available so they can reconstruct the state of any account at any given moment.
Then, they run some pre-packaged queries picking the "suspicious" activities, such as:

- draw many from the credit card, withdraw into bank account within the same c2it account (simple souls, they're being caught first)
- sending money only and always from account A to account B
- accounts with 0 overnight balance and high transaction activity
- ones who hits c2it limits, like send limits $500/day, $1000/4 days
- ones who operate only in round numbers
- ones who pick up the money received within a few minutes
- etc

The best case is to never get on such list.
Accounts marked then are turned over to data analysts who would make a final judgement. They will quickly shut down simple "abusive" accounts, but they have a limited time and skills and might leave more complex case alone. Highly qualified people would detect 99% of all cases, but they are a few and far between; and the cost of detection becomes prohibitive.

I'm pretty sure it's possible to design strategies impossible to crack; they key is schema's complexity and the number of participants/permutations.

You people need to chill.

You don't "give yourself" a bonus because you feel it is justified. c2it has made clear you can't use their service to rack up miles. If you do so, it could be considered federal wire fraud and you could go to prison.

By all means, set up some ridiculous group of 50 FlyerTalk members who transfer money in a circle to rack up miles. Then when you get busted by CitiBank you'll be protrayed on CNN as an elite hi-tech criminal credit card fraud ring.

I signed up with c2it so that I could pay the rent on my house to my brother with my CitiBank credit card and get the Aadvantage miles for it.

I do it every month, and have to break it down into 4 transactions. I don't know of anyone else with c2it so he is the only one I use the service with.

We have the same last name. The amounts are always the same, at the transaction limits.

Because of the activities of many of you, I appear to be at risk for being shut down.

Let's remember you can only earn 60,000 miles a year on a CitiBank Aadvantage credit card. So screwing around will only go so far.

Federal Wire Fraud and go to prison? Please show us the law that applies here!

But if you read C2IT rules, what you're also doing might be considered against them.

(Their terms state:
6. You may not send or receive funds to or from yourself or any other c2it members for the purpose of earning mileage, points or any other bonus on any of your or other c2it member's linked Card Accounts or Bank Accounts. )

So just by sending money to your brother to pay rent, you're doing it for "the purpose of earning mileage," since you could have easily did the same transaction by sending him a check.

Using this same theory, I could say I've been sending money to myself to pay my mortgage and get frequent flyer mileage at the same time. So we're both going to the pokey, if what you say is true. You've quoted a C2IT Term and Condition, but then extrapolated it into a Federal law that will send people to prison. The crooks in Congress, the Senate and White House write laws, not Citibank.

As far as the 60,000 mile AAdvantage Card limit, that's not really the issue. I wouldn't get to that limit using normal purchases, so stuff like C2IT and savings bond purchases pad things up a bit. But if this limit was an issue, one can get the 100,000 Advantage Platinum card for a $85 annual fee. Also, Gold and Platinum AAdavantage members are allowed no limit. These members probably earn enough miles as it is without C2IT, and the like.

If money is sent in one direction I don't think you are at risk. It is a legitimate payment. If your brother returned the same amount every month, now charged to his credit card, it would look funny to them. If they wouldn't allow mileage cards, would the usage drop dramatically? I bet it would. Would some people use it anyway as a way to send money too their kid at school, or pay the rent. Sure. Many people need to charge payments. I'm always a little suspicious when someone's first post is critical. Who are you really and why don't you post under your real handle. Clearly you have been here and posted here before.

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Ms.DtG

1. I have never been here before and this IS my real handle. What is "clear" to you just so happens to be completely false. I just fond this forum yesterday when WebFlyer sent me a newsletter with a link in it saying c2it was cracking down on people who used ther service to rack up miles.

2. I am not paying my rent with c2it just to get the miles. I am paying the rent with my Mastercard as a convenience and the miles are an added bonus. It is very convenient to pay him by e.mail without checks and without Internet bill pay, which I would otherwise be charged for. This is exactly why the service exists, for convenience. I advertise my auctions with c2it as a payment option. No one takes me up on it. It costs bidders nothing to send me the cash on Paypal, which they already are familiar with. I prefer c2it because it has no fees. Bidders couldn't care less about that.

3. Wire fraud is very inclusive. The laws are intended to prevent any kind of illicit gain via a communications network based on misrepresentation. Engaging in a scheme that is almost identical to check kiting (which is illegal) is a no-brainer for wire fraud, in my opinion. A check kite may be prosecuted as a bank fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1344. See Wolfswinkel, 44 F.3d at 784-85; United States v. Giordano, 489 F.2d 327 (2d Cir. 1973). It is important to also remember that if the bank is aware of an activity that suggests the existence of a check-kiting scheme, or is otherwise suspicious, the bank would need to file a suspicious activity report (SAR) in accordance with §21.11 (see Part 353 for FDIC banks).

4. Thanks for the tip on a higher mileage card. I will apply as I maxed out at 60,000 miles on my CitiBank card for 2002.

Sorry if I jumped to an erroneous conclusion. It is certainly a convenient service and I would love it if more people would pay me this way. I'm glad I have a few. C2it will just shut you down if they come to their own(erroneous or not ) conclusion. I don't think anyone will get visited by the feds. I don't think c2it thinks anyone is laundering money here.

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Ms.DtG

[This message has been edited by dgordon (edited 01-03-2003).]

Sending money to yourself via C2it is the same as check kiting?

Um, no. Not even close. The fraud in check kiting is that the money is created by the person committing the fraud through depositing checks and waiting for them to float. In the c2it situation, the money is being properly debited from a properly-identified account and moved to another, properly-identified account. No misrepresentation, no creation of money, no fraud. It may be against the rules of C2it, which is of course free to terminate a member who breeches its' rules...but it is certainly NOT fraud.

As an aside, here is a proper definition of check-kiting. How someone can think C2it is like this is beyond me....

"A person commits the crime of check kiting if he, pursuant to a scheme or artifice to defraud, obtains money from a financial institution by drawing a check against an account in which there are not sufficient collected funds to pay the check and, as part of the scheme or artifice, he purports to cover that check by depositing in such account another check drawn against insufficient collected funds."