Air mileage points are "shunned", which link is lost
Recently, the topic of "Sister Station Misappropriating Airline Mileage Points" has been on the hot search list on Weibo. Many celebrities said that their air miles were stolen by people they don't know.
People familiar with the matter said that mileage theft has become an industrial chain.
The lawyer said that the airline mileage points belong to the network virtual property and should be protected by law.
At the same time, the responsibilities of airlines cannot be avoided. If they fail to fulfill the necessary security obligations, they need to bear civil liabilities.
In early September, many people in the entertainment industry reported that their airline mileage points were stolen by strangers. The pirates used these mileage points to redeem air tickets to provide convenience for themselves and their friends.
One stone stirred up a thousand waves.
In addition to the stolen mileage, some actors reported that they were registered with the airline's membership card without their knowledge.
In the early morning of September 20, actor Zhang Meng posted on Weibo that he found that his membership card number was completely different from the previous card number when he checked in.
After consulting the counter, I learned that Zhang Meng's membership card was recently applied for with her ID card, and all the information can be matched.
Zhang Meng said directly, this is more terrifying than the theft of miles, "Is the airline's internet censorship so lax? How could personal ID card information fall into the hands of strangers?"
At present, the relevant airlines have stated that they have been concerned about the theft of mileage, and the specific link is still under investigation.
Air mileage stolen within a week frequently attracts attention
Airlines have mileage records for members who fly a lot or have long journeys. These miles can be used to redeem some gifts. The most popular is to redeem miles for air tickets.
On September 6, a fan of actor Wu Lei exposed a video of a chat conversation with airline customer service staff. In the video, the fan exposed that a "station sister" of Wu Lei's fan station had embezzled Wu Lei's air mileage points.
After verification by this fan, the "Sister Zhan" has been embezzling Wu Lei's mileage since 2017 to redeem air tickets for herself and her friends. Earlier this month, she added a new assignee under Wu Lei's membership card, which is currently shared. 230,000 flight miles.
Subsequently, many people in the entertainment industry said that their air miles were stolen.
On September 8, singer Jiang Yingrong posted screenshots of two unfamiliar assignees on his Weibo, indicating that his mileage was stolen.
Studio Jiang Yingrong stated that when the studio called the airline customer service phone to defend rights, the other party proposed a solution to change the password and call the police.
The airline did not give a reasonable explanation as to how Jiang Yingrong's private information was leaked when he did not receive any SMS verification code prompt and could not add it personally.
Regarding "Sister Station" stealing air mileage, Liu Junhai, a professor at Renmin University of China Law School, said that air mileage points are virtual property on the Internet and should be protected by law.
According to the Tort Liability Law, anyone who damages the personal rights and property rights of others without the permission of others, or causes damages to others, shall bear civil liability, stop the infringement, compensate for the losses, apologize, and even return the property and restore the original state.
Some "scalpers" bid 500 yuan per 10,000 miles
The reporter learned from an interview that in addition to redeeming air tickets, airline mileage points can also be used to redeem airport value-added services, shopping mall goods, and offline consumption. Therefore, based on airline mileage, a mileage transaction chain has also been created.
A reporter from the Workers’ Daily saw in a QQ group that trades airline miles that some people have long acquired miles from various airlines and sold airline miles tickets.
In this QQ group, when the reporter said that he had mileage to sell, several "scalpers" soon came to inquire about the purchase, and some people bid 500 yuan per 10,000 mileage.
A "scalper" told reporters that the more popular ones are "department cards" that have never added assignees.
Because some airlines stipulate that the first transferee can take effect immediately, and the transferees added later will have to wait half a month to one month to take effect.
Different companies have different regulations on the number of transferees, but they can all be deleted.
In fact, people have been sentenced for stealing airline miles.
In June 2011, the People's Court of Wuhou District, Chengdu, Sichuan tried a case of theft of other people's air miles points for profit.
In 2003, the victim Zhang once applied for a membership card of an airline and generated mileage points.
In May 2010, the defendant fraudulently used Zhang's identity information to apply for another membership card, and accumulated 27,000 points of Zhang's mileage to his card.
A descendant sells the points to others, and the points are exchanged for two tickets.
A descendant of the case was arrested and brought to justice.
After trial, the Wuhou District Court found that the defendant had worked at a ticket sales agent on behalf of a certain person and had mastered the use of the airline's "black screen system" and "electronic ticketing system".
In May 2010, Dai used the system to obtain the personal information of multiple passengers and apply for airline membership, and then sold the mileage points in the membership card for profit.
The court found that the defendant used another person’s name to apply for an airline membership card on behalf of a certain person for the purpose of illegal possession, secretly stealing and selling other people’s airline mileage points. The amount was relatively large, and his behavior constituted the crime of theft.
In the end, Daimou was sentenced to 9 months imprisonment and a fine of 1,000 yuan, and the illegal gains were returned to the victim.
Zhang Linyong, assistant judge of the Criminal Court of the People’s Court of Zhuji City, Zhejiang Province, pointed out when talking about the theft of airline mileage points. Successfully obtaining the personal information of celebrities is the first step in stealing airline mileage points. Therefore, in addition to the crime of theft, the thief is likely to be involved. Crime of infringing on citizens' personal information.
The responsibility of airlines cannot be avoided
For the thief, the way to obtain passenger mileage is like stealing the QQ number. After obtaining the passenger's personal identity information, the password can be cracked, and then the mobile phone number can be changed to finally steal the mileage points.
For celebrities, there has always been a "business" on the Internet that illegally resells celebrities' identity information, and a few dollars can get their ID numbers and passport numbers.
In addition, most of the stars are "flying trapeze", accumulating a large number of miles, causing them to become the hardest hit area for miles stolen.
The reporter found that some airlines have enabled facial recognition to verify membership, while some airlines can complete a series of operations such as membership card registration with only ID information.
Industry insiders analyze that a ticket, from ticket booking to insurance, insurance companies, airlines, ticketing agencies, etc., may all become the source of information leakage.
In addition, it is not ruled out that criminals use network technology to invade the system to obtain passenger information.
“Consumers should change their passwords and call the police to protect their rights after they discover that their airline mileage points are stolen.” Liu Junhai pointed out that he also reminded airlines that as a platform party, their responsibilities are unavoidable and may bear civil liabilities. “If you are checking the celebrity’s identity or When logging in with the user name and password, the necessary security obligations were not fulfilled, and the airline was subjectively at fault."
"Airlines must stand on guard for consumers, protect passenger information, and provide passengers with a safe and stable consumption environment." Liu Junhai said.
Zhang Linyong pointed out that at present, my country has not officially promulgated a special personal information protection law. To eradicate the chaos that violates citizens’ personal information, it is not only necessary to use legislation to restrict personal behavior, but also to enhance citizens’ awareness of their own protection and build up personal information. The "protective wall" of protection.
Cao Yue