Real-time ability to detect hacking, theft, illegal transfer of miles protects Frequent Flyers' valuable Loyalty Program currency.
LONDON – CellPoint Mobile, a technology solutions firm that since 2007 has helped clients worldwide seamlessly handle mobile payments and digital transactions from a single, data-integrated platform, announces the availability of its Mobile Fraud Suite to help airlines combat, detect and prevent the emerging and growing issue of loyalty fraud in frequent-flyer and airline miles programs.
Miles-related loyalty fraud can expose airlines to potentially millions of dollars of lost revenue and value, according to CellPoint Mobile CEO Kristian Gjerding. At the forefront of mobile payments and digital transactions, CellPoint Mobile’s (CPM) anti-fraud solution identifies suspicious activity in frequent flyers’ reward accounts, triggers fraud alerts and gives airlines the real-time capabilities they need to halt fraudulent activities, lessen exposure to resulting losses and maintain the trust of program members, he said.
The fraud mitigation solution, already in place at Danish Rail (DSB), detects fraud arising from credit card transactions and digital wallet payments, and can monitor and detect potential activity as well in loyalty programs that store passenger-earned points and miles.
“Loyalty program fraud, which has increased in recent years specifically within the airline industry, is a serious issue that exposes airlines to potentially millions of dollars or euros in lost revenue, eroded margins and a lack of customer trust,” Gjerding explained. “Because frequent flyer miles represent a significant part of an airline’s valuation, airlines need the critical ability to step-check transactions in real time to prevent an individual or group from hacking a member’s account or gaining access to miles or rewards currency they have not legitimately earned.”
According to a recent Airline Information Survey, 72% of airline loyalty programs have experienced an issue with fraud, and 30% say it is growing rapidly each year. Worldwide, more than 70 frequent flyer programs have about 300 million members, according to Consumer Reports.
Loyalty program-related fraud encompasses numerous schemes, including employee theft or rewards manipulation; member attempts to accrue miles/rewards to which they are not entitled; non-member attempts to access accounts and redeem miles they do not own; or criminals who hack into members’ accounts to steal airline miles, create fictitious accounts to accumulate the stolen miles, and then turn the illegally acquired miles into tickets, which they sell for cash.
CPM’s platform relies on multifactor authentication and data-profiling modules that log the activity and data linked to a customer’s digital transactions, including call centre transactions, to create a view of each passenger that is comprehensive and secure. Rule sets based on that data monitor transactions for suspicious activities commonly linked to fraud, such as a request to change account information, or activity from a non-account phone number or email address, as well as other data.
The CPM anti-fraud solution is available to airlines as a standalone module or as part of an enterprise-level solution that manages end-to-end mobile payments and digital transactions, including credit card payments, booking, ticketing, upgrades, on-board ancillary revenue, parking events, digital wallets and more. Each CPM implementation, Gjerding says, is secure and built to protect customer privacy and personal information.
CPM simplifies the complex and increasingly fragmented process of handling mobile payments and transactions across all channels and all mobile devices. Its scalable, data-integrated, cross-channel technology platform improves client profitability, innovation and customer service, and increases sales, loyalty and ancillary revenue.
A loyalty fraud solution, Gjerding noted, provides airlines the necessary tools to detect and alert key stakeholders to loyalty program fraud in real time, and it offers airlines’ most loyal and valued customers the confidence and security they need as they increasingly use their mobile devices to plan, book or redeem their rewards for travel, and manage their frequent flyer accounts on the go.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
