Current Events > Don't buy gift cards in stores

(+) Yeah! (+)

People are scamming.

My mom bought an Apple gift card for me at Target. I kept trying to redeem it and it wouldnt work. I googled and found out this is happening to a lot of people.

So, I examine and notice the serial number on the actual card is different from the outside package. Someone had taken out the card and put a fake (?) or used one in.

Target and Apple would do nothing to help us. So now my mom is out of $50.

Evol posted...

Someone had taken out the card and put a fake (?) or used one in.

That's dumb. The card is useless until it's activated at the register.

Evol posted...

Target and Apple would do nothing to help us. So now my mom is out of $50.

Have her dispute the credit/debit charge.

She would have been out $50 regardless

TheOtherMike posted...

That's dumb. The card is useless until it's activated at the register.

No, the scammer has the real card that my mom actually paid for.

Their system didn't register that it was a used number when it went to try to "add" money to it?

Why would someone take a gift card out of the packaging? It doesn't have money on it. (Edit: You answered this 3 seconds before I asked it)

Why can she not return it to Target? Can't she go to the store and say "hey i paid 50 bucks and the money wasn't loaded onto it?"

TheOtherMike posted...

That's dumb. The card is useless until it's activated at the register.

Right, the scammer takes their own activator off another card, slaps it on the new card, and whoever buys the new card activates and pays for theirs

Grab the card that is farthest back. Don't grab the front card, that's the one the scammers are counting on you taking.

Shit I better check our target gift cards when I get home. $500 worth from work

Rathinor posted...

Right, the scammer takes their own activator off another card, slaps it on the new card, and whoever buys the new card activates and pays for theirs

But, at least in my experience, they scan the actual card to activate it. So there isn't anything to "switch".

https://www.denver7.com/news/contact-denver7/denver-man-loses-500-through-invalid-gift-card?_amp=true

This is exactly what happened to us. Dont know why this isnt being more widely reported, and why all companies are doing jack shit about it.

Evol posted...

No, the scammer has the real card that my mom actually paid for.

Yep, and it's useless because the actual cash value doesn't get applied until the card is paid for.

In fact, the cashier should have scanned the card your mom brought up and found it wasn't valid. This whole story is fishy.

TheOtherMike posted...

Yep, and it's useless because the actual cash value doesn't get applied until the card is paid for.

In fact, the cashier should have scanned the card your mom brought up and found it wasn't valid. This whole story is fishy.

From what I understand there are two ways.
1. Someone notes down a cards info and regularly checks to see if it's activated (only works on cards with exposed numbers)
2. Someone steals Card A and peels the barcode off. They then put said barcode over Card B's. Once someone buys Card B, Card A gets activated instead. (Only works on cards with an activation barcode that can be removed)

The way OP described it simply doesn't work. Any Card that has packaging you can swap is incredibly hard (near impossible) for you to reseal. But also, the barcode on the card is what's scanned, not packaging.
Simply swapping 2 cards won't do anything.

On top of that, Employees should be making sure the numbers on physical cards match what scans in.

Evol posted...

https://www.denver7.com/news/contact-denver7/denver-man-loses-500-through-invalid-gift-card?_amp=true

This is exactly what happened to us. Dont know why this isnt being more widely reported, and why all companies are doing jack shit about it.

But what happened in this article isn't what you described in the OP.

The article is about an invalid code being printed on the card. Your OP is about cards being switched.

bigblu89 posted...

But what happened in this article isn't what you described in the OP.

The article is about an invalid code being printed on the card. Your OP is about cards being switched.

I just know it wasnt the right card in the package because the serial numbers were different. I dont know if that man checked the serial numbers, but I had the same error message when trying to redeem, and my mom got the same response from Target and Apple.

Im just trying to help people not be scammed and ripped off and yall are being hard on me? Goodness.

Here is what led me to check the serial numbers:

https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/zry9fc/psa_careful_with_fake_gift_cards_at_target_rant/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

I felt really bad for my wife's grandma, she had bought a bunch of $50 Walmart cards to give out at Christmas and they were all empty

how are stores not noticing? like when a scammer is just standing at the gift card center and writing down a bunch of numbers or whatever, how are they not noticing?

I also compared it to a $25 one my mom bought a few months back. The paper felt flimsier, so thats why I think it was a fake.

The company response is always the same. Whether its Target, Walmart, Safeway, Rite-Aid, etc. Wow.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tfZbygbtgQA

Look at the serial number on her card. Same issue.

Don't buy gift cards. Just gift cash instead.

Man this has me nervous af. I wanna get home and check mjne.