A retired London couple lost £4,000 worth of British Airways business class flights after scammers cancelled their booking out of spite. Geoff Spink, 63, a retired broadcaster, had booked return BA Club Class tickets from London Heathrow to Atlanta for £5,091, travelling with his American wife Dawn.
The trouble began when Mr Spink left a specially adapted North Face fleece on the outbound flight on 27 October. Attempts to retrieve it through the airline and Atlanta airport's lost and found proved futile, leading him to seek help on social media. Fraudsters posing as BA customer service accounts on X responded, trying to persuade him to download an app for compensation.
Mr Spink realised the scam and cut contact, but the scammers retaliated by using the booking reference and his last name to cancel the remaining flights via BA's website. The £600 tax refund went to Mr Spink, but the cancellation was deliberate. He initially ignored the cancellation email, thinking it part of the scam, only to discover the flights were gone when checking in.
BA's call centre in India could only offer new tickets at £13,088 for a one-way flight or £3,891 for premium economy, which Mr Spink bought. He criticised BA for lacking two-factor authentication to prevent such fraud. His travel insurer rejected the claim, but American Express is reviewing the case. Mr Spink emphasised that cyber security must be taken more seriously by airlines.
