Nigel Turner, a small business owner from the UK, was recently the target of a scam. He had just made an elaborate plan to go to Corfu at the end of the month. Turner thought he was buying British Airways loyalty points—called Avios—from a person in a Facebook group. Unfortunately, the payment was just as fraudulent as the tattoo transaction itself, leaving Turner with $18,000 in losses and a canceled Florida vacation.
Turner was very much looking forward to redeeming his Avios points on an upcoming flight. He that cost those points with a bank transfer to the scammer. She completed the transaction, and he verified that the points had indeed been transferred to his Avios account. In an avalanche of foreshadowing, it comes to light that he himself had been conned. Then the scammer vanished, and like Turner, he was left without the hard-earned points he needed for his trips.
Due to this fraudulent scheme, Turner incurred an overall loss of £1,300 for the flights. He’d booked a non-refundable hotel and sorted airport transfers which all added up to another £700 dragging his losses up even further. British Airways came to the rescue to save the day. They replaced Turner’s legitimate Avios points—which he’d used to purchase the flight—verifying that he wasn’t the one conducting the fraud.
I don’t want to sugar coat it, we’re both self-employed and this has devastated us both financially and mentally Turner explained. The experience had taken a heavy toll on him, especially since he had to tell friends and family that their holiday was not going ahead as intended. “It’s heartbreaking to tell someone you love that the holiday you both looked forward to for months is gone,” he added.
Turner’s experience serves as a cautionary tale of a new and increasing type of scam when using loyalty points purchased through third-party sources. British Airways allows you to pool up to 60,000 Avios between people on its website. Watch out, because there’s a £50 admin fee, so it’s very important to send these through approved channels.
Enacted last October, the new rules mandate banks and payment companies return the money to customers duped into transferring cash to fraudsters. Far too many people are falling prey to these scams.
Scams like this can occur even if you feel you have done everything to protect yourself. “I had the points in my account before paying – and I still got scammed,” Turner remarked, emphasizing the need for caution in online transactions.