crimsonAA

Stickers saying it was ok?

TheBOSman

I've definitely seen that, almost every time. Of course, the 10-digit PINs are way off, but every one on the rack has all of the ones in a particular sequence for the most part.

lwildernorva

And that is the mistake. Since the card is activated upon the completion of the purchase at the store, every moment delayed before loading to BB gives any crooks time to discover recently activated cards.

The takeaway from this (and the rule I've followed since buying these): treat the cards just like cash, deposit to BB as soon as possible (it's generally the first thing I do when I get home after buying them), and protect your BB like any other debit card.

TheBOSman

Look at the back side of the register's screen the next time you go in. Or look at the stickers towards the corners of the doors. Read carefully .

The Mileage Millionaire

It is.

particlemn

I did some investigation at my desk of the VR card, it appears the scratch off cover is actually a sticker, you can peal away and the apply another sticker with the scratch off stuff on it

infamousdx

Yea really. Poor guy was probably butthurt from last time I was in there where he said cash only and I politely corrected him and asked him to just try to see if it would let me pay with cc. It did and he was a little sore for looking like a dunce in front of his high school employees.

I'll just have the wife go tmrw morning when he's not on shift.

member7777

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

TheBOSman

Not particularly easily though (just tried myself on a used one), but you are definitely right. I don't think I wait more than 20-30 minutes ever to load these though, and I'm definitely going to start scratching them before I leave the store.

The Mileage Millionaire

Lovely. Nice job VR Network!

DCBob

Thank you for alerting us to this frightening scam. All the more reason to buy only two at a time and load immediately. Also, thanks for realizing that scratching off any part of the silver strip over the PIN is a bad idea.

Because you purchased these cards in Atlanta, I am willing to bet this is an inside job because InComm (Vanilla Reload Network) is located at 250 Williams Street Northwest, Atlanta, GA 30303. How far is that address from the CVS store where you purchased your cards? My guess is that it's within 2 miles.

jetsarefast2

Physically or digitally discover?

I purchased one a few days ago, tucked it in a safe place, and am waiting to receive my BB card in the mail.

nwflyboy

This does not make any sense.

What is to be gained by removing some of the digits of the PIN?

In order to (fraudulently) use these cards, all you need are the two numbers - one of which is readily readable without any shenanigans, one of which needs to be revealed by scratching off the silver coating stuff.

Obtaining a machine that you could feed a card into and then re-cover the PIN numbers with the silver stuff seems like an awful lot of work and well beyond the crack-heads and other usual fraudsters.

I have a different theory.

This is an "inside job" - someone who works at the place where these are printed/produced. They pull a handful off the production line before the silver coating goes on, they record the numbers (photocopy, scan or take a picture with their smartphone), then they put them back on the production line. The silver coating goes on, they get boxed up and sent out for distribution.

But there are two pieces I don't get...

1. These cards have no value until loaded at the register. And there's no way a fraudster would know when a particular card got loaded (unless they had hacked Incomm's system - in which case they have much bigger problems than a rogue employee at the printer). So I would guess that there's another step involved that took place before the card even arrived at your local CVS: armed with the card numbers, somebody fraudulently loaded the VR card (using a stolen credit card?) then quickly unloaded it.

2. Once the employee lifted the card, and got the numbers, why even bother putting the card back in the production line? Maybe (probably) they account for each piece printed, so cards gone missing would make the klaxons sound, but cards removed then reinserted wouldn't. Hmm.

The missing digits are interesting. Could some of the digits be printed at one stage of the production line, then the remaining digits applied later? Maybe the cards were re-inserted into the production line at some point after the second set of digits should have been printed.

Then again, how did the card get loaded/unloaded without all the digits?

For that matter, shouldn't there be a check at the register when loading a card to see if the card has already been used? I mean, try taking a used card to your CVS and ask them to put another $500 on it - that's not going to fly.

Hmmm. It's quite the puzzle.

groobie

I am in the habit of buying one, going to my car, locking the door, and immediately loading it using my smart phone. I am a bit paranoid about those things...nothing has gone wrong so far, but I figure the sooner it's in my account, the better.

nwflyboy

I would also add that, from what I've read here and elsewhere, InComm seems to be surprisingly good to deal with when something goes wrong (I have no personal experience, but that's my sense from reading stuff). As long as you keep your receipts and play ball with them, it appears they will take care of things.

I keep all my receipts when buying VRs and am not worried. I *will* start taking a closer look at the cards before I buy them. But the sky ain't falling.