Theft of $25K in Delta SkyMiles Gets Woman Fired

The personal assistant to a consultant at a local company allegedly used $25,000 worth of Delta SkyMiles without permission.

The boss told Milton police that on Aug. 7 he discovered that the employee had been accessing his account without permission. He said she had been booking airline tickets for her personal use since earlier this year, using his account to pay for them. He discovered the identity fraud when his balance seemed low. A check on the Skymiles account revealed her name and other names that weren't familiar to him.

A call to Delta's Revenue Protection unit showed that nearly 700,000 SkyMiles had been used without his authorization. The personal assistant had been given permission to book one flight for herself and one other person on Dec. 31, 2012.

Three unauthorized charges were made on his corporate credit card also, but those were handled internally within the company.

The employee was fired a day after the identity fraud was discovered. No charges have been filed. The victim wanted to document the identity theft.

Daughter Never Gets Her Tax Refund

A tax refund for a Milton student was taking a long time to arrive, so her mother checked online with the GA Department of Revenue for its status. She found that her daughter had been a victim of identity fraud.

A call to the department and later the IRS revealed that her daughter's tax refund had been mailed to a Savannah address. The IRS worker asked if she had worked at Target, but her mother replied she only worked at Wild Wings.

The identity theft already was under investigation by the IRS, which promised to notify her of any progress on the case.

For questions about this blotter, email Bob Pepalis.