An extremely interesting and rare case of quick arrest in a loyalty currency fraud case just played out at a Marriott property in Naples, FL, where police arrested a 29-year-old male who was checked in under a reservation booked with stolen Bonvoy points.
Following a police report by the victim, the alleged fraudster who stayed at the hotel with his 25-year-old female partner and their infant son, was arrested as the Naples Police Department responded with six officers to the scene (likely due to the criminal record of the individual).
A few things stand out in this case, one being that a case of identity theft and fraud of loyalty points is followed up on so quickly and diligently as this case and also that the local police department deploys so many resources to a case such as this.
The case was revealed on Flyertalk by member KRSW (see the thread here) and the victim in the case contacted the police to report identity theft and misuse of her Bonvoy loyalty currency [points].
Here is the police report quoted by the FT member:
On Thursday 04/27/2023 at approximately 1300 hours Sgt Perez #262, Det Martinez #274, M/Ofc Collins #227, M/Ofc Perry #224, Ofc Granese #291 and Ofc Blomquist #321 responded to a call for a fraud located at 4075 9th St N (The Residence Inn).
The initial call was made by J**** ****** who going forward will be referred to as the victim. The victim stated she had received an email on Wednesday 04/26/2023 at approximately 1200 hours (est) stating her personal identification information had been stolen including her Marriott rewards account information. The victim further stated she had received an email from the Residence Inn confirming a reservation that she had not booked using her rewards account. The victim called the business and thought to have cancelled the reservation and changed the log in for the account but when she woke up this morning and checked her email at approximately 1230 hours( est) she had a notification stating that someone had checked into the Residence Inn using her account info. Email was sent at approximately 0415 hours( est) on Thursday 04/27/2023. The victim was emailed a blank sworn statement to be completed and expressed to Ofc Blomquist that she wanted to pursue prosecution.
Upon arrival officers were met by J** A** the general manager of the establishment. A** stated he was present when Cobb checked into the hotel and that the reservation was made in the name of the victim but that someone called claiming to be the victim and told the hotel that Cobb was allowed to check in for that reservation. A** informed the officers Cobb had checked in at around 1545 hours on Wednesday 04/26/2023. After the arrival of the officers and A** made phone contact with the victim confirming that the victim did not know or authorize Cobb to use her information for the reservation A** led the officers to the reserved room in order to be evicted from it. A sworn statement was completed by A**.
In the reserved room officers found 1 male and 1 female later identified as Eric Quilliam Cobb (29, (M) and Drew Christian Hamilton (DOB 25, (F) along with their infant son Sage Cobb (DOB 6/2022). Officers escorted the individuals from the building while continuing the investigation. Cobb only stated during our initial investigation that his friend, who’s name he does not know, made the reservation for him. Cobb was taken into custody and removed to N.J.C by Ofc Granese. Both individuals were given an indefinite trespass warning from the location and informed not to return. Hamilton left the area by uber with her son and a notification was made to the department of children and families by Ofc Blomquist.
What’s interesting here is the timeline. The victim reacted very quickly and precisely, contacting the local law enforcement agency where the crime was occurring rather than a police department in her own city (assuming here that she doesn’t live in Naples, FL). Likewise, the Naples PD was very quick to connect the dots, respond to the scene, and make the appropriate arrest as the victim pressed charges.
This would have most likely gone unnoticed or without consequences had the victim of the fraud not pursued this case as Marriott Corporate like doesn’t care much about it even IF they refund the points to victims of fraud. It’s usually up to the individual involved in a case to make sure offenders will be tracked down and prosecuted as happened in this case.
According to the post on Flyertalk, the alleged fraudster has an extensive criminal record in Florida and that particular country alone, hence why the police department was likely inclined to respond with the large amount officers (six), which isn’t typical for a simple fraud investigation. Mind you, Naples is a rather safe and affluent place where law enforcement is inclined to keep it that way. Making quick arrests and prosecuting cases sends signals to criminals to not try to pull anything in a particular community, just like not taking any action sends all the wrong signals inviting even more crime.
Marriott should thank the Bonvoy member and the General Manager of this hotel for their quick action as likewise it sends a signal to potential fraudsters that this isn’t a petty crime and there WILL be consequences if caught.
I wonder though how the transaction could go through even after the victim changed her passwords on the Bonvoy account and notified the hotel. Does Marriott have a deeper problem with account security than it appears?
There are always hacks, such as the 2020 data breach with over five million customers affected:
Such data usually winds up in illicit databases for sale. It’s likely that the fraudster obtained it there or through another source. He’ll eventually have to answer for all this in court.
It’s not unusual that even unsuspecting guests check in at hotels who have reservations that they purchased online in good faith, as that’s a common method of fraudsters to offload loyalty points. Sell something, for example, on Facebook marketplace or classifieds, claiming it’s a booking they can’t use themselves, but that is transferable and offer a good deal. Many people jump on it, not knowing how this booking really came about.
Now, in this case, that is highly unlikely as you have a notorious criminal involved as the main culprit, and he couldn’t provide any further details to the responding officers. Not that he should, at least not without an attorney present. But if this individual were entirely innocent, the first thing one would instinctively do is pull up the correspondence on the cellphone to show how you ended up at the hotel.
Conclusion
HUGE kudos to the fraud victim and Naples Police Department, who actually responded to the report as quickly as they did and made an arrest in the case. Also, the management of the property was on the ball as well although I’m not sure how the fraudster was actually allowed to check in when she notified the hotel beforehand and why the reservation was still active rather than being canceled and refunded.
Were hotel management purposely waiting to see who shows up and then see how it plays out? If so I admire their sense of adventure for playing detective, but the problem is you never know who shows up and a hotel is the last place where you want anything violent to occur.