Velocity Accounts being suspended for investigation

[Matthew Grech]

How many points did you transfer/receive?

2 X 50,000 from the same person 2.5 years ago

 

[Matthew Grech]

well the million dollar question is, did you?

Yes

 

[QF WP]

@Matthew Grech, are we to presume that you should not have qualified to receive the points under the T&C's at that time, thus the reason they suspended your account? From my viewpoint, they are being generous and reinstating with only a warning.

A salient lesson for us all. Play by the rules. Lest you have your account suspended and a degree of angst.

 

[AIRwin]

2 X 50,000 from the same person 2.5 years ago

What happened to his/her account?

 

[williamsf1]

Velocity has obviously caught out one of the big point sellers/ buyers, and the people who are getting suspended must have touched them in some way in the past.

 

[Matthew Grech]

@Matthew Grech, are we to presume that you should not have qualified to receive the points under the T&C's at that time, thus the reason they suspended your account? From my viewpoint, they are being generous and reinstating with only a warning.

A salient lesson for us all. Play by the rules. Lest you have your account suspended and a degree of angst.

That is correct and I am grateful that was all they did. Have learnt my lesson. Odd that it comes up now after 2.5 years ago though

 

[Matthew Grech]

What happened to his/her account?

Not sure, I havent been contacted by them

 

[dazzywazzy]

Update:

Wife’s (Gold) just had her account reactivated. Safe to say it is a relieved household, considering she has a flight tomorrow.

Edit: still waiting patiently for mine....

 

[lovetravellingoz]

That is correct and I am grateful that was all they did. Have learnt my lesson. Odd that it comes up now after 2.5 years ago though

Not really odd. It just meas that that they have identified one party in breach and when they check back they have found all associated parties.

Anything that goes in and out of an account is going to leave a trail and so if points are gained against the rules one will always be at risk. And the more points the other person trades the greater the likeliehood that a buyer will eventually be found out.

 

[theblank]

Odd that it comes up now after 2.5 years ago though

maybe they dropped the ball in monitoring these, and then decided to have a blitz.

 

[andye]

About a month or so ago I noticed a warning on the webpage about family pooling needing to be same address.
Didnt apply to me so took little notice. Not sure if it also mentioned transfers

 

[williamsf1]

maybe they dropped the ball in monitoring these, and then decided to have a blitz.

It is very hard to monitor, but once something is flagged (as appears to be the case in OzBargin and some members here) the web can be very extensive and they can go back many years and investigate in detail.

 

[williamsf1]

@Matthew Grech, are we to presume that you should not have qualified to receive the points under the T&C's at that time, thus the reason they suspended your account? From my viewpoint, they are being generous and reinstating with only a warning.

A salient lesson for us all. Play by the rules. Lest you have your account suspended and a degree of angst.

Very lucky I say ....

I also assume he is the same Mattg on Ozbargin .... who had his QF account canceled for selling points in 2016...

 

[Lonely Flyer]

I think their software is having a moment.

My wife linked her Flybuys to her Velocity card yesterday to take advantage of the 15% bonus. There was a hiccup in that she noticed her year of birth was wrong with Velocity so she called to correct that. She then linked her 2 accounts

3.55 pm Email congratulating her on successful link

3.55 pm Email saying because of changes to her account she will no longer be able to transfer from flybuys.

Is it the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.

 

[dazzywazzy]

Update:

My account restored as well, all is well with the world.

Thanks

 

[ozstamps]

Very lucky I say ....

I also assume he is the same Mattg on Ozbargin .... who had his QF account canceled for selling points in 2016...

The penny drops. Some folks always THINK they are smarter than the airline programs.

 

[ermen]

Haa. So received this today as an update.

Much ado about nothing... their software went into overdrive and capturing everyone within certain degrees of separation. I do note another family member (non-pooled) got an email which said that they engaged in points transfers for non friends / family (which they did 2+ years ago) and not to do it again.


By Email:- xx_XX

Dear xx_X

Activation of Velocity Frequent Flyer Membership Account – xx_xx_xx_XX

We appreciate your patience during our recent audit of your account during which time we were unable to
share much information with you. We do realise that this was less than an ideal situation and would like to
assure you that this process exists only to protect the best interests of both our members and Velocity Frequent Flyer.
We have reactivated your account today and apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Yours sincerely
Velocity Frequent Flyer

 

[maccaisking]

I tried to login to Velocity tonight and received this splash screen. I haven’t closed the account or allowed it to lapse, so it must be option B. No notification was received by me so I have contacted them by email tonight and will call tomorrow. Has anyone else received a recent notice like this?

I have had NO conduct on the account in breach of T&C including no buying or selling points, or transferring points outside of permitted family transfers

 

[theblank]

or transferring points outside of permitted family transfers

so thats it then, they are going to be questioniing your family transfers.

 

[maccaisking]

As expected, I was advised by email that I should call, and when I called was told almost nothing. My account is under a ‘routine review’ by the audit department and they could not provide any further information at this time. I think the lady I spoke to was about to say they were looking at whether I had been buying points (I haven’t) but stopped herself and said the review is to ensure the system is fair for all members, which suggests to me the review is not routine and I’ve been flagged for something. They assured me that any bookings I have will still earn points and SCs, but I can’t make redemption bookings during the review, which will be up to 30 days. Last week I booked a paid 3 sector run for this coming Friday (MEL - LNS - MEL - ADL) which will get me to platinum, with a 4th sector as a reward seat (ADL - MEL) so still earning SCs is important to me. My best guess is this activity has raised suspicions.

so thats it then, they are going to be questioniing your family transfers.

This is possible, but the only transfers my account has had are to/from my wife and from kids (6yo and 4yo) accounts. I also pool to/from my wife and we both pool from our kids, depending on who needs SCs. A quick look should show this. Also there have been no transfers in well over a year (maybe 2 years?) but pooling changes more often. None of the other accounts have any issues.

The review doesn’t concern me, although it is frustrating not to have been informed or to be able to be told what they are questioning and to be able to give them answers. I understand why points are quarantined during the review, but would be upset if i found a reward booking I wanted to make during this time. I think Velocity could still allow some access however, such as to setup or change pooling arrangements (I don’t need to change any, I did them last week) or view history, activity, etc. I will update when I know more