Chinese "travel hackers"

[f0xx]

So I've found this Chinese forum that is basically similar to forums like these. But their ethics... are nil.
Forging airline/hotel statements. Photoshopping high quality pictures of bloggers FF cards. Not to mention as most of you have seen... Selling statuses on eBay for profit.

I think this is detrimental to our hobby. Especially seeing as they will use any means to obtain statuses.

Below is an example that I used from their "tool"

What're y'alls thoughts on this?

 

[mbaker4096]

Not impressed with the trickery.

I'd be surprised if this were to work though. Wouldn't their be checks in place at check-in, i.e. your status would be clearly associated with your reservation and your status/tier shown correctly via lookup from a central server.

 

[f0xx]

You're not understanding how they're leveraging this.
They're saying they have Diamond/Gold and status matching out to another hotel program.

 

[Fuerza]

With eBay buyer protection what do they have to gain? eBay protects consumers better than sellers IMO.

 

[f0xx]

With eBay buyer protection what do they have to gain? eBay protects consumers better than sellers IMO.

I've thought about that.
What's stopping someone from buying this. Getting gold. Then turning around and lodging a PP complaint.

 

[Fuerza]

I've thought about that.
What's stopping someone from buying this. Getting gold. Then turning around and lodging a PP complaint.

Filing a complaint on a legit auction is a dick move IMO. I've had that done when a seller complained about undisclosed damage on a Michael Kors hand bag I sold them. I issued a refund and they sent the product back.

In the above situation using the gold status once and then filing a complaint the selling could show proof that the product was not returned in an unused manner. So the seller could show proof and eBay could side with the seller. You really have to research your selling product. I've called and talked to eBay about product selling they are were actually helpful. Even products like the above, plus Airline miles and BitCoin.

 

[f0xx]

Filing a complaint on a legit auction is a dick move IMO. I've had that done when a seller complained about undisclosed damage on a Michael Kors hand bag I sold them. I issued a refund and they sent the product back.

In the above situation using the gold status once and then filing a complaint the selling could show proof that the product was not returned in an unused manner. So the seller could show proof and eBay could side with the seller. You really have to research your selling product. I've called and talked to eBay about product selling they are were actually helpful. Even products like the above, plus Airline miles and BitCoin.

The issue comes where eBay says you're not allowed to sell goods without physical proof.
I.E. Phone unlocks.

I have experience with this because people would sell their unlock services. Buyers would get the unlock. Dispute the claim they never received the good and because there was no physical good eBay/PayPal would side with the buyer.

To bypass eBay immediately closing their ads. The sellers would say "we'll send you a card in the mail with your unlock code". Of course they'd never send something in the mail. They'd actually just email you your unlock code after supplying IMEI etc.

I find it funny that this forum I've found lays out exactly how to obtain certian statuses. Even tells you how to exploit them and sell them on eBay.
You'd laugh at some of the things I've seen.

Stupid bloggers keep posting HIGH res e-peen pictures of their status cards which in return the bloggers just photoshop and send to say AirBerlin and boom! Status!

 

[Haley]

Yeah, I stopped selling on ebay eons ago because of the fraud over there.

Not sure if anything has changed, but you needed to be able to show you mailed something to the address on file. People would ask you to ship to 'Mom's house' or want you to use 1st class mail. Or there was kiting crap.

But if what you are selling is pure profit, there is no monetary risk. If less than every buyer gets a refund you win.

I'm surprised bloggers aren't bigger hacker targets, using an image of a loyalty account is nothing. Think about how much PII is linked to those accounts.

 

[Ctrix65513]

<removed>

 

[hiro905]

This isn't surprising at all

 

[allen060421]

hey f0xx,

Is the forum in question made up of 4 numbers?
I used Google translate and I've seem some crazy stuff that goes on.
They even use someone's unclaimed flight record to claim mileage...