Qantas staffer steals FF Points

[PaulC83]

Qantas staffer steals Mundine's frequent flyers - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Qantas is investigating the alleged theft of hundreds of thousands of frequent flyer points from boxer Anthony Mundine.
It is alleged a Melbourne-based Qantas employee took 200,000 frequent flyer points out of Anthony Mundine's account in at least two unauthorised transactions.

Not good, must be some serious security issues with the system if they was able to do this, or they was incredibly stupid.....

 

[samh004]

I can’t think of anyone scarier to steal from… still, they must have thought he’d been hit too many times to notice a couple hundred thousand!

the article says they attempted to contact him but haven’t yet, so maybe the alarm was raised by Qantas, not by him. Also says the police were investigating, but I thought Qantas’ official stance was that points were worth nothing. I realise it’s still theft, but theft of nothing

 

[pauly7]

Couldn't have happened to a nicer person....

Cough.

 

[markis10]

Strange story as it would appear the theft was not noticed by Mundine, begs the question as to how it came to be published.

 

[ejb]

Couldn't have happened to a nicer person....

Cough.

Watch him turn this into a massive story once he notices the points missing.

Does beg the question though, how safe are our points from theft by anyone?

I change my pin monthly but that is all I can do.

ejb

 

[coyote25]

Based on the story it appears QANTAS caught the staff member this gives me confidence not concern.

Obviously staff have access to client data - the goal is to have staff who are honest but if not systems to catch the dishonest.

Whenever I hear stories about employers catching staff it shows they have good processes. Unfortunately lots of people get tempted to do the wrong thing and a few could work for any employer large or small. I worry whenever someone says a large employer has no fraud - shows they have no idea or don't want to know

 

[Hvr]

While I don't know how the fraud was detected I would imagine certain high profile accounts would be automatically monitored for suspicious transaction types.

If such a transaction occurred it would then be a simple matter to audit it and go from there.

 

[markis10]

While I don't know how the fraud was detected I would imagine certain high profile accounts would be automatically monitored for suspicious transaction types.

If such a transaction occurred it would then be s simple matter to audit it and go from there.

That would be common sense but how did it get to the press???? Very odd!

 

[ejb]

That would be common sense but how did it get to the press???? Very odd!

From the article it appears QFF notified the press about the issue.

Maybe trying to be proactive to avoid bad press.

ejb

 

[markis10]

QF could have reversed the points on the account and the OP probably would have been none the wiser to the "technical issue", I feel there is a lot to the story that is missing.

 

[Hvr]

QF could have reversed the points on the account and the OP probably would have been none the wiser to the "technical issue", I feel there is a lot to the story that is missing.

Maybe they want to make an example of the staffer? Detecting fraud is only one step, a strict prosecution and recovery policy is also essential as is publicity about these processes so that other staff learn from this unsuccessful fraud.

 

[Mal]

From the article it appears QFF notified the press about the issue.

The press get notified by many different means. Sometimes companies want the press, sometimes they don't.

I suspect someone in the Police tipped off the news. Not an uncommon situation.

 

[markis10]

Maybe they want to make an example of the staffer? Detecting fraud is only one step, a strict prosecution and recovery policy is also essential as is publicity about these processes so that other staff learn from this unsuccessful fraud.

I have never known a corporate entity to showcase their systems in such a public manner when they are clearly flawed, you generally dont hang your dirty washing out in such an obvious way, its usually left to a public inquiry much further down the track if it is going to see the light of day. Corporations dont usually make examples of bad apples, they just discard them.

 

[ejb]

The press get notified by many different means. Sometimes companies want the press, sometimes they don't.

I suspect someone in the Police tipped off the news. Not an uncommon situation.

I took the fact that QF commented meant they released the news as I would have expected a "no comment" otherwise.

However I do expect more information to be forthcoming.

ejb

 

[Mal]

I took the fact that QF commented meant they released the news as I would have expected a "no comment" otherwise.

I don't believe that.

Companies know what "potential" media issues will occur, and their PR staff are trained up on the issues. This issue has been leaked to the press, and as a result the PR staffers are spilling their pre-prepared lines.

I'm also interested in what other information turns up ...

 

[Danger]

I find it interesting the AFP are investigating. How are QFF points quantified in terms of value in this case? Their value varies depending on the time, date and flight, really. And is it actually theft? Aren't points intangible?

 

[medhead]

Theft is not the only possible crime involved. In moving the points without the members knowledge the staffer has misrepresented their ability to make the transaction = fraud.

As for security. Everytime I ring up the csr asks for my pin. They seem to have no specific access to my account without the pin. So on one hand apparent security. But in reality extremely bad to ask for the pin

 

[NYCguy]

Everytime I ring up the csr asks for my pin. They seem to have no specific access to my account without the pin. So on one hand apparent security. But in reality extremely bad to ask for the pin

I would consider it to be very suspicious behavior if someone from my Bank asked me to tell me my PIN, and I can't imagine why airline staff can't access the FF account details they need to see without asking for yours. That's really not kosher, I've never been asked for my PIN or password when I've called an airline!

 

[Keith009]

I would consider it to be very suspicious behavior if someone from my Bank asked me to tell me my PIN, and I can't imagine why airline staff can't access the FF account details they need to see without asking for yours. That's really not kosher, I've never been asked for my PIN or password when I've called an airline!

Not an uncommon practise unfortunately. SPG also asks for my password whenever I ring up to redeem points. Haven't had any airline or hotel points stolen so far, but I'd imagine any suspicious transactions would be rather traceable by the organisation concerned.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I would consider it to be very suspicious behavior if someone from my Bank asked me to tell me my PIN, and I can't imagine why airline staff can't access the FF account details they need to see without asking for yours. That's really not kosher, I've never been asked for my PIN or password when I've called an airline!

I guess it's what the airline uses to verify that the person calling is in fact the frequent flyer whereas banks ask a series of other security questions such as mothers maiden name, cc limit, additional cardholders.

Perhaps airlines & hotel chains need to also adopt a similar method.