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Hi all,
I received about 7000 emails last weeks over the space of a few hours so I realised one of my accounts was hacked. I spent hours looking through the emails but no suspicious emails. Checked banks etc and all was fine.
A few days later, I tried to book a flight using my Avios points and it said I needed more points! I checked my account and 265000 points were transferred to an Iberia account.
First of all, I did NOT receive an email to say my avios was transferred. Also, I don’t understand how 250k points can be transferred without any sort of text authentication . That is such poor security.
I need to book a flight for next weekend and plan to use an upgrade voucher that expires in November. Does anyone know who long it takes to get this resolved? I raised on WhatsApp as recommended here and yesterday morning, I received an email from britishairwaysclub@ba.com asking for passport and copy of address. I replied straightaway.. When I asked on WhatApp for any update, they said it could take up to 90 days!!
Now I pay £12 a month for Barclays Avios account and £20 for Avios Plus credit. Spending over £300 a year and not being able to use my earned points and voucher seems very unfair.
Does anyone know how long it usually takes? Also, any way to get this escalated? My friend has offered to send me points so I can book but I don’t think that’s possible.
Thanks for any advice and I’m sorry if this has been asked before.
These things can take a while, do not expect a quick resolution.
If you have a friend who can book on your behalf (this is better than them sending you any Avios) then I would accept their kind offer, you can always repay the favour by booking for them at a future date. Do not ask anyone to send you Avios unless you are certain your account is unlocked and fully usable for bookings.
If, at a future date, you or a friend ever want to send Avios the best route is via Finnair accounts. If you do not have one, open one today, and pass on this advice this to any friends you have with an interest in using Avios. But, I would repeat, do not send anything to BAC until everything is resolved.
First of all, I did NOT receive an email
Have you checked to see what email address is on your account? It could have been changed.
@med_guy, sorry, forgot the most important advice: get a password manager (eg bitwarden), and change every password on every account you have to something unique. Set up 2FA/2SV/MFA where possible. Start with the highest value accounts to an attacker, which is usually your email account(s).
Quite a few people have reported this now and it is a bit crazy that BA seems to need more evidence of an account holder’s ID to investigate than to fraudulently transfer the avios!
Readers have reported getting the matter resolved in as little as 2 weeks, so you may be lucky.
Rhys did an article not so long ago about the same thing happening to his brother (?).
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