Cyber fraud is not just about credit card details, unique identification details, or drugs now. These days, stolen flyer miles is the new kind of fraud going on among the hackers.
In August, Comparitech, a UK based research company scouted through a number of online marketplaces to judge the benefits of the frequent flyer miles. From the findings, they reported a huge black market that was selling fraudulent flyer miles to customers.
Through phishing scams, the hackers get access to loyalty accounts of a number of airlines and steal the points from their accounts. They then either sell access to other accounts or transfer the points to other accounts.
According to the research by Comparitech, the sales of 100,000 British Airways miles was estimated at $124 and for 100,000 Emirates Skywards the price was $520. The most commonly found airlines with sales on the dark web were British Airways and Delta.
The repercussions of illegal miles could land up the flyers in trouble by freezing of accounts, withdrawal of miles from the accounts that would include legal points and cancellation of future bookings.
The ways to protect your accounts from getting hacked are dumping the boarding passes after flights in a condition no one can understand anything imprinted, avoiding the frequent flyer mile details on the baggage tags, and not using the public Wi-Fi to access private airline accounts. You can also set up unique passwords for loyalty programs that only you know. Try using new passwords every time you log in.