Hackers stole 730,000 points from my account!!!

[atkinsont]

Someone hacked my account, changed my contact info including email address, mailing address (maybe name?), and then stole most of my rapid reward points (730,000 points!). Not sure how this is allowed or even possible.  I received an email stating that changes were made (which made me look up my account info), but shouldn't there be a verification email that I must RESPOND to, to allow such changes to my account?... and a waiting period to verify before allowing points to be used (especially in this quantity)? - I have noticed this on other accounts when a third party (or myself makes any changes). I have been an a-list or preferred member (with companion pass) every year for the last 12 years.  I am sick about this, and waiting for some resolution.  What do I do?  Will I ever get these points back?

[dfwskier]

Sorry to hear that.

1)  File a police report

2) Change your password

3) Notify SW -- and provide a copy of the police report.

File a claim with your home insurance policy. You lost somewhere around $10000+- worth of points, and insurance should provide some reimbursement.

[atkinsont]

What police dept. do I file with? Local sheriff?

I'll see what happens, but will look into my homeowners policy also.... easily $10k in points... ugg...

[dfwskier]

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@atkinsont wrote:

What police dept. do I file with? Local sheriff?

I'll see what happens, but will look into my homeowners policy also.... easily $10k in points... ugg...

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You would file with your local police department.

[bec102896]

How soon after the change and points disappearing did you notice? 

couldn’t you call and cancel all tickets purchased with your points (at least unflown flights) 

[atkinsont]

I received an email from southwest stating that my account had been "updated" and immediately tried to log into my SW account and it didn't work... tried to reset the password and it made me call southwest instead.  They asked me to verify my address and email and neither matched the information in their system (obviously someone hacked the account and changed the info before using the pointers to purchase gift cards or something else (not flights or anything directly traceable).  I called within an hour of the breach and the points were gone and unfortunately the customer service team that handles this had already left for the day.  They locked my account (which does what?) And said they would get back to me in 48 hours...  in the mean time, more time goes by without anyone able to cancel the transaction or find out who did it.  I'm so frustrated.

[Siscolie2002]

Sad to hear. Oddly enough someone just tried to sell me flight credits through social media. Claiming to receive $1000 credit for $400. People will do anything now days..smh 

I pray you receive all that was stolen from you.🙏🏽

[ParSWA]

I'm really sorry to hear this terrible news. Since points are simply another form of money, as we have with our bank, SWA should absolutely require multifactor authentication for point redemption, account changes, etc. Multifactor authentication would help solve a great majority of this kind of theft.

Additionally, using a password tool like Dashlane, which assigns you a long, varied, and complex password, and allows you to easily change your password at any time or interval, is a good layer of protection that we can do ourselves. I use Dashlane to change my sensitive passwords every 60 days. Also, never use a password, or variation thereof, that you previously used.

Hopefully, SWA will take some ownership here and make you whole. You're looking at a loss valued at around $10,000... and in reality, if you had to pay for $10,000 in travel out of pocket, you'd have to earn a gross income of a lot more than that. Plus, if you have the Companion Pass and travel regularly with them, then those points are worth twice that amount.

Good luck and I hope you come out on the right side of this terrible situation.

[nostresshere]

Would be great if OP came back and shared the end result.

[DancingDavidE]

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@nostresshere wrote:

Would be great if OP came back and shared the end result.

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You'll have better results to tag  them if they are still active on the board from that long ago. @atkinsont 

Summarizing from other posts the points can be restored sometimes if they can be intercepted based on whatever the hackers are doing with them, but many cases the points are spent in a way that Southwest can't verify what has happened. (You are allowed to book someone else a flight with your points for instance, so having only the example of another person booked with your points isn't evidence of fraud all by itself.)

There seems to be a mixture of examples where the points are or aren't able to be restored.