Originally Posted by
Lovelabs2
Three of my USB VGC were also declined at Safeway for $500 MO purchase in the past three days. Each decline was due to suspected fraud by USB and card was blocked. Had to call CS each time to get unblocked. Never has happened before. I liquidate within 30 min. This may have been the case with your cards.
Another DP here stated that a USB manager confirmed lots of fraud on USB cards lately…so I guess they are putting extra eyeballs on cards where full amount purchase is attempted…..get the “not authorized” message. Just another roadblock in this MS game. It’s another reason to pass on USB cards for awhile.
This is unrelated to the situation I was describing above but common for USB VGCs. I noticed this behavior in early 2020 when trying to do a PIN-based debit for the entire card amount. What worked for me is waiting 24 hours before draining the cards, timestamped by time the card was loaded/activated at purchase.
That said, I haven't run into this form of fraud protection on USB VGCs for all of 2021 and with my current snags, the cards were not blocked but were just not working (PIN-based issues, not a hard decline).
-b.