Beware of scams. Be wary of those selling status and miles on the web: a TFC reader's story
In recent days a reader wrote to me asking for enlightenment about a scam he suffered, actually [...]
In the past few days a reader wrote to me asking for clarification about a scam he had been subjected to, actually when the reader wrote to me he was still hoping he had not fallen for it. Here's what happened.
Statuses for sale on the Internet
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Posts often appear on various online platforms in which status, level upgrades in different loyalty programs and/or points from different frquent flyer programs are sold.
Of course, I am not talking about those who sell old frequent flyer cards or luggage tags, but those who place ads online in which they promise elite levels in exchange for money.
In some cases, especially when it comes to the status of hotel chains, they are "Legitimate" products that are, however, sold to users not in line with what the loyalty program provides. For example, it is not uncommon for a hotel chain to make deals with middlemen or large industrial groups by providing them with a number of cards to distribute to employees. It therefore happens that there is a resell market for these codes, but they are often "short-lived" and different from a traditional card.
More infrequently, similar situations exist in airline frequent flyers; the risk, however, is to find oneself with a fistful or worse, getting banned for life from the loyalty program.
Premium Volare status for sale on ebay
Searching on the well-known auction platform Several offers pop up in which "upgrades" to Premium are offered for sale, i.e., the level of ITA Airways' loyalty program, and it was one of them that "fooled" our reader.
The bait with which Marco (fictitious name) was collared was to make the buyer understand that this was a "genuine" sale of the possibility reserved for Executive users to gift status to a friend/relative, a very generous feature of ITA's FF and one that has been very successful. I honestly haven't gone to read the T&Cs of the loyalty program and have no idea if this is a legal practice, but I have some doubts, however, it is also true that as I gave a reader my invitation, everyone can feel free to dispose of their benefit as they see fit.
After asking the seller for information and trusting the positive reviews Marco's "capital" mistake was not to complete the transaction inside the platform, but to accept in exchange for the discount, to pay through another method and thus losing the protection offered by Ebay on its transactions. Today that ad is gone, but there are two other statuses for sale and my advice is always the same: beware of scams.
In addition to losing the money, you also risk the hoax, as the seller might ask (in addition to the card number) for your email or other info with the risk of To have their account drained as happened to another reader and this is also why everyone should enable dual authentication on their FF profiles.
