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Scammers Swipe $3,500 Worth of Frequent Flyer Miles: How to Protect Yours

Joe Sciarrotta logged into his American Advantage account to discover 120,000 of his airline miles were gone.

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With the summer travel season in full swing, criminals are finding ways to take advantage of those looking to get away. Thieves are going after your frequent flyer miles.

"It does give you that sense of vulnerability, just because we're in a technology age," said Davie resident Joey Sciarrotta.

Sciarrotta has been saving up his American Airlines miles for years for a special post-COVID British Isles trip with his family.

The Monroe County Sheriff's Office is issuing a warning after investigators have received multiple reports of criminals illegally redeeming airline frequent flyer miles and credits.

However, last week he noticed some unusual email activity.

"I had an email from American Airlines that said, 'Attention, your email address has been updated,'" Sciarrotta said.

The email was buried, though, under what seemed like dozens of other spam emails in his regular inbox. Fortunately, he noticed the email and decided to investigate.

He logged into his American Advantage account to discover 120,000 of his airline miles were gone. That's a more than $3,500 value.

"That's when I called American Airlines immediately," Sciarrotta said.

Someone he doesn't know had used his miles to book a flight for a trip he certainly was not planning to take.

"The ticket was from Dubai to a city in Nigeria," Sciarrotta said. "I’m like, no, I don’t know anybody in Dubai or Nigeria and I don’t know that passenger."

Sciarrotta reached out to NBC6 after seeing our story from last week about the Monroe County Sheriff's Office issuing a warning about this exact crime.

The department posted on Facebook that investigators have received multiple reports of criminals illegally redeeming people's airline frequent flyer miles or credits.

"The most important thing when you are thinking about your airline frequent flyer miles is to recognize they are a valuable currency,” said Zach Griff, the Senior Aviation Writer for The Points Guy.

He says to protect your loyalty account information the same way you would protect a bank account: use strong passwords and two-factor authentication if it's offered.

Griff says it's also important to monitor your accounts regularly.

"If there are fraudulent charges, odds are you’ll have more success at getting them reverse the faster and sooner you notice them," Griff said.

Sciarrotta says American plans to reimburse his miles since he has filed a police report with the Davie Police Department.

"Look for those nonsense emails because I think they’re trying to confuse us," he advised.

He thinks that's maybe how the criminals are trying to buy time to take the flights before getting caught.

"American Airlines has been in correspondence with the customer. We ask that they allow 30 days for a solution once a police report has been sent in," a spokesperson said.

On its website, American Airlines says it will never ask you to make security-related changes or collect personal or financial information in unsolicited emails or phone calls.

If you do suspect suspicious activity, the company says to email them immediately. Don't click on links or attachments.

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