All the way on the other side of the world, Chinese citizens are learning to make money off their credit cards. Yes, we are warned since an early age of the trickery and deception of credit card companies, but there are ways to manipulate those businesses right back. Many airlines in China have started giving frequent flier miles to airline credit card holders-and a booming scalper business has formed in which unscrupulous individuals purchase credit card points from card holders, cash them in for free tickets, and sell them to travel agencies. Credit card holders in China have been delighted to discover they can sell back their points for money rather than using them on a potentially paltry selection of items on the credit card online shop. Prices on points buying websites vary greatly, from 18 to 800 yuan for every 10,000 points. Although these may seem very tempting to the average consumer, experts warn that the deals could backfire on cardholders since they have no legal protection. The businesses could potentially steal their card information. Financial institutions have started to notice these operations, and they are taking different steps to show their disapproval of transferring credit card points.
