Properly, it lastly occurred — I fell sufferer to one among my loyalty program accounts being hacked, particularly my Southwest Speedy Rewards account. On Dec. 3, I obtained an electronic mail from Southwest at 9:30 p.m. EST confirming my resort reservation at Hampton Inn & Suites Kalamazoo-Oshtemo for a check-in date of Dec. 4 and a checkout date of Dec. 5.
The e-mail said that 17,100 Southwest factors had been deducted from my account to e book this resort. In keeping with TPG’s December 2024 valuations, that is about $240 in worth. Initially, I believed this is perhaps a phishing electronic mail rip-off attempting to coax me into clicking on the hyperlinks supplied to steal info. Instantly, I logged into my Southwest account to examine if the factors had been deducted.
Sadly, sure, this hacker had used my hard-earned reward factors to e book a resort keep.
Listed here are the steps I took to get my factors again and how one can attempt to stop hackers from stealing your factors and miles.
Associated: How you can defend your self towards rewards program information breaches
What I did when my Southwest Speedy Rewards account was hacked
After realizing that somebody had accessed my Speedy Rewards account, I instantly modified my password to forestall extra factors from getting used. Subsequent, I known as Southwest to tell the airline that my account had been hacked and that my factors had been used fraudulently.
As a result of it was late at night time, the Southwest consultant knowledgeable me that this was a Speedy Rewards difficulty — she may solely help with flights and never resort reservations — so I would want to name the cellphone line for the loyalty program within the morning when it reopened.
Nonetheless, the Southwest rep advised me to name the resort on to allow them to know that this reservation was made as a result of my account had been hacked. Although it might not assist me get my factors again instantly into my account, it was value leaving a paper path of the steps taken to indicate that this was fraud.
After I known as the resort immediately, the entrance desk worker was extraordinarily apologetic. Although she couldn’t cancel the reservation on her finish, she left an in depth be aware for her supervisor to offer me a name within the morning so he may attempt to resolve the problem.
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Associated: How you can establish and stop bank card fraud
Although nothing additional could possibly be finished that night time to get my Southwest factors again, I spent the following few hours ensuring my loyalty program passwords had been up to date. Whereas some airways and resort applications have employed two-step authentication, others, similar to Southwest, haven’t but adopted go well with.
To offer myself peace of thoughts, I made a decision to alter all of my passwords to attempt to mitigate the danger of my different accounts being hacked and my rewards being stolen utilizing my info.
The following morning, I known as Southwest Speedy Rewards and gave the lady an in depth description of what had occurred, explaining that I had instantly contacted Southwest, knowledgeable the airline of the account hack, known as the resort and altered my account password. The rep advised me that she can be submitting a report and that somebody from Southwest would comply with up with me by way of electronic mail concerning my factors. She famous a number of occasions that it was a very good factor I had found the hack instantly, as some individuals do not understand for months that they’ve rewards lacking from their account.
After I used to be finished talking with the Southwest rep, the resort supervisor gave me a name to let me know that he had obtained the reserving be aware and he can be canceling the reservation on his finish. As a result of this reservation was booked with factors by way of a 3rd occasion, he couldn’t give me again my rewards, however once more, it confirmed Southwest {that a} paper path was being left to assist my case.
Southwest did give me my factors again, however …
On Dec. 4, I obtained an electronic mail from a Southwest Speedy Rewards rep telling me that the airline takes “the safety of our members’ Speedy Rewards accounts severely, and we defend our members from fraudulent exercise by fortifying your information towards a breach.” The e-mail states that Southwest “requires members to enter a password previous to accessing any of their account info,” they usually encourage using a “robust password.”
The e-mail additionally cites Southwest’s phrases and circumstances, noting that the airline is “not chargeable for unauthorized entry to a member’s account and won’t substitute stolen factors or awards.”
Nonetheless, as a “gesture of goodwill and one-time exception,” Southwest determined to refund me the 17,100 factors.
Other than being a Speedy Rewards member, I additionally maintain the Southwest Speedy Rewards® Plus Credit score Card. I am unsure if this truth was taken into consideration when my case was being reviewed.
Whereas I’m grateful that Southwest returned my reward factors, I can not assist however acknowledge that we reside in a digital age wherein hackers and scammers work endlessly to entry individuals’s private account info. Even large firms have fallen sufferer to those hacks. For Southwest to rely solely on one password and never an extra step to authenticate the consumer appears a bit behind the occasions.
We reached out to Southwest with my expertise, and a spokesperson despatched us the next assertion:
Southwest is dedicated to defending our Clients’ accounts with complete cyber safety controls. We are going to proceed to boost our core expertise and have applied a variety of proactive and responsive safety measures throughout our platforms.
It is value noting that Southwest is not alone right here, as a number of different airways — together with American and Frontier — do not have two-factor authentication choices for securing your loyalty account balances.
So, how am I attempting to guard my accounts within the wake of this hack?
Steps to guard your loyalty accounts to safeguard your factors and miles
Although these extra steps aren’t assured to guard your private info and loyalty accounts, they certain will not damage.
Change and replace your passwords
Whether or not you have been hacked or not, updating your password recurrently is a good suggestion, particularly if you have not finished so in a very long time. Moreover, ensure to have completely different passwords for every of your accounts. If in case you have one password (or a really comparable one) for each account, hackers might simply entry all of them.
Arrange two-step authentication (when doable)
These days, many airline and resort loyalty applications supply two-step authentication to assist safe your account. This system will sometimes require an extra code, which will probably be despatched by way of electronic mail, textual content or by way of an authentication app similar to Google Authenticator.
Get electronic mail and/or textual content alerts
Although nobody likes to be inundated with a bunch of emails and/or texts, it is a good suggestion to verify your communication preferences are up to date. Most applications will contact you when a reserving is made, your factors and miles are used or even when your contact info/profile has been up to date. It will assist you establish fraud early — which might make it simpler to resolve.
As a result of Southwest instantly notified me about my reserving — and since I am somebody who incessantly checks my emails on my cellphone — I may contact the right events instantly, change my account password and resolve the problem.
Associated: My AAdvantage account was hacked: This is what occurred and how one can defend your self
Backside line
A hacker not too long ago redeemed greater than 17,000 of my Southwest Speedy Rewards factors, although I used to be in a position to shortly take steps to get them again. Sadly, I’m not the primary — and will not be the final — factors and miles fanatic to fall sufferer to an account hack. Earlier this yr, TPG managing editor Clint Henderson had nearly 400,000 American Airways AAdvantage miles stolen from his account. Fortunately, he too acquired them again.
However as fraudsters proceed to get extra intelligent of their hacking strategies, it is best to be diligent and pay shut consideration to your private accounts. Although Southwest refunded me my factors, in keeping with their phrases, this was not assured and substitute of stolen factors is seemingly solely permitted on a case-by-case foundation. Due to this fact, to make sure you do not utterly lose out in your hard-earned rewards, take extra steps to safe your accounts.
