Fraudulent China Southern flight in my name, what to do next?

[glasszon]

A week ago someone opened a China Southern FF account in my name using my email address and flew an international flight with it 2 days ago. The email appear to be genuine as it originates from csair.com, any idea what I should do next?

Given it is an international flight, does it mean someone has copied my details and managed to fly using a fraudulent passport in my name across international borders? That's my biggest concern as I don't see how they could have otherwise flown and credit an international flight in my name otherwise

Before anyone asks. Yes, I confirmed that all my passports are in my possession, so if it did take place then someone must have copied my passport details instead of using my genuine passports

 

[jbman]

I suggest contact the airline/frequent flyer program and inform them of the situation

 

[burneracc]

intuitive steps that make the most sense to me

• contact china southern
  1. Check with them that no travel occurred under your passport
  2. Make sure to explicitly ask them something along the lines of "can you confirm in writing that the passenger identity used for this flight does not match my passport details and that no travel occurred under my documents"
• Password reset the china southern account to gain access and find out more info
  1. its linked to your email so it stands to reason that you should be able to get into the account
  2. it may show a record of passports linked to the account / potentially their phone number
• potentially renew your passport(s) if china southern can confirm that your number was flown on. you may be able to get them to cover the fees if thats the case (or at least some form of compensation).

good luck + keep us updated. this type of thing is quite interesting to me (although I appreciate its no fun at all for you!)


oh also, one thing that crossed my mind - if your personal info has been compromised to this degree, FREEZE YOUR CREDIT, if only for the additional peace of mind while you investigate this.

 

[glasszon]

Ok, this is super strange. I managed to log into FF account on csair.com using the credentials in the initial email and can confirm that the emails are genuine, but:

• It has the wrong DOB
• The passport on file is Japanese, yet I am not a Japanese citizen nor holds Japanese passport, and the passport number does not match the ones I hold

What does this actually mean? The flight was from Japan to China so I cannot see how someone could fake a Japanese passport in my name and manage to check in from an airport in Japan. I could call csair.com to shut down the account but that doesn't solve the problem of finding out whether someone did try to travel across international border using my name

Not sure whether it's a co-incidence, but I purchased an air ticket from a different Chinese airline a few days ago before all this happened.

The only thing I know for sure is someone has my full name along with my email address, there's no evidence they have my passport details nor my DOB as those were incorrect on the csair.com account

Edit: One last thing, the international flight was on China Southern metal, so I am struggling to see how someone could credit the flight if the booking isn't in my name.

 

[Hvr]

Suggest you change your email login as well.

 

[NM]

Does your email address somewhat match your name? Could it be that someone in Japan actually has the same (or similar) name and just entered the slightly wrong email address into the FF account booking?

I have had a gmail email address since they first started them, and it is a simple and generic version of my name. It turns out there are several people around the world with the same surname and initial as me and they seem to think this gmail address is theirs They likely have a similar email address, perhaps with middle initials or a trailing number or similar, and either provide my email address by mistake or they provide it verbally and someone else enters it incorrectly.

I receive notifications monthly from Amex, addressed to "Natasha" saying my corporate card statement is available. I contacted Amex and they do not seem to be able to do anything about it. I also receive things like dentist booking confirmations for "Nicole" in Nigeria using my gmail email address. And that is juts a few examples. I have been invited to birthday parties, to join Whatsapp groups for friends on holidays, account points balances at Macys and other retailers. All have the same surname and first names starting with the same letter as mine, which somewhat could match my gmail email address. I now just delete the emails and don't bother trying to inform the sender that they have sent to the wrong email address.

And I do not use that email address for anything important.