Apr 13, 2015, 12:55 pm
Last edit by: phant0m
************Gift Card Fraud Alert************
http://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/
How can I protect myself?
1) Do not buy a card that has been opened or looks tampered with. Inspect all packaging thoroughly before purchasing. Many posters say that the packaging looks pristine, but the glue seems excessive once opened. Open the package to inspect the glue before you pay for it, if the cashier allows that.
2) Use the card quickly. The card has no value until YOU add money. If you spend your funds before the fraudster figures out that it's loaded, you win. Or at least register your card. That might give you another layer of security but beware it might NOT be bulletproof.
3) Keep your receipts and packaging until your card is liquidated. You will need the receipt to make a claim.
I'll add a few more from the school of hard knocks (also now known as the school of the paranoid MSer)....
4) If it's the only card of its type left on the rack, should you buy it or not? Consider: did the fraudster remove all the other cards so some sucker would quickly come along quickly and buy the card he has placed there purposefully?
5) A corollary to #4: Should you buy the top card in a stack of cards, or dig deeper and pick out one a distance from the top? Did the fraudster put the card he wants some sucker to buy at the top of the stack so it would sell quickly and he could do his evil deed?
6) Open card packages soon after purchase. Don't wait a few days. If anything looks amiss (too much glue inside the pack, too little glue inside, glue in the wrong location, mag stripe doesn't look right, some card numbers illegible), call the 800 number on the back of the card immediately to report it and ask about a replacement.
Each link of Gift Card MS:
1. Gift Card issuer: Vanilla, Metabank, US Bank, Green Dot etc. There can be data hack. It is rare.
2. GC Merchant: grocery and drug stores. Online GC sellers (Simon Mall, Gift Card Mall etc.). The data hack is possible, but rare.
3. Shipping: GCs can be stolen. But this is not fraud.
4. GC Cash Out: Walmart, Dollar General, Family Dollar, CVS etc. This is very rare.
For unsold GCs with bar code exposed, the store is required to destroy the GCs. Fraud can happen when the unsuspecting store staff return the unsold GCs back to the shelf. But it is very rare to have a batch of GCs all tampered and returned to the store shelf.
Here is a web site with information about gift card fraud:
http://www.tripwire.com/state-of-sec...-so-lucrative/
Here are some stores where FT members have experienced fraud:
List of Stores to avoid or be Alert:
(1) Reported by IWOL in So Cal:
VONS => Ventura Blvd & Reseda
Reported by Lovenola:
Ralph's in Downey at 9200 Lakewood Blvd.
Ralph's in Pasadena at 211 E. Foothill Blvd.
Ralph's in Monrovia at 1193 Huntington Dr.
3) Reported by domino007
Ralphs in 13321 Jamboree Rd, Tustin
Ralphs in Irvine on Alton, Walnut and Irvine Blvd
Reported by DaveInLA:
Ralphs in Brea- 305 W Imperial Hwy. VGC was purchased in 12/2014.
Reported by 46sky:
Ralphs in Culver City on Venice Blvd - VGC purchased 2/2015.
Reported by Chrisflyer66:
Ralphs in San Diego on Sports Arena - VGCs purchased in 2014-2015.
Ralph's - 1435 W Chapman Ave, Orange, CA 92868 - Purchased 12/2019
Seems to me that only People in so.Cal are reporting
http://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/
How can I protect myself?
1) Do not buy a card that has been opened or looks tampered with. Inspect all packaging thoroughly before purchasing. Many posters say that the packaging looks pristine, but the glue seems excessive once opened. Open the package to inspect the glue before you pay for it, if the cashier allows that.
2) Use the card quickly. The card has no value until YOU add money. If you spend your funds before the fraudster figures out that it's loaded, you win. Or at least register your card. That might give you another layer of security but beware it might NOT be bulletproof.
3) Keep your receipts and packaging until your card is liquidated. You will need the receipt to make a claim.
I'll add a few more from the school of hard knocks (also now known as the school of the paranoid MSer)....
4) If it's the only card of its type left on the rack, should you buy it or not? Consider: did the fraudster remove all the other cards so some sucker would quickly come along quickly and buy the card he has placed there purposefully?
5) A corollary to #4: Should you buy the top card in a stack of cards, or dig deeper and pick out one a distance from the top? Did the fraudster put the card he wants some sucker to buy at the top of the stack so it would sell quickly and he could do his evil deed?
6) Open card packages soon after purchase. Don't wait a few days. If anything looks amiss (too much glue inside the pack, too little glue inside, glue in the wrong location, mag stripe doesn't look right, some card numbers illegible), call the 800 number on the back of the card immediately to report it and ask about a replacement.
Each link of Gift Card MS:
1. Gift Card issuer: Vanilla, Metabank, US Bank, Green Dot etc. There can be data hack. It is rare.
2. GC Merchant: grocery and drug stores. Online GC sellers (Simon Mall, Gift Card Mall etc.). The data hack is possible, but rare.
3. Shipping: GCs can be stolen. But this is not fraud.
4. GC Cash Out: Walmart, Dollar General, Family Dollar, CVS etc. This is very rare.
For unsold GCs with bar code exposed, the store is required to destroy the GCs. Fraud can happen when the unsuspecting store staff return the unsold GCs back to the shelf. But it is very rare to have a batch of GCs all tampered and returned to the store shelf.
Here is a web site with information about gift card fraud:
http://www.tripwire.com/state-of-sec...-so-lucrative/
Here are some stores where FT members have experienced fraud:
List of Stores to avoid or be Alert:
(1) Reported by IWOL in So Cal:
VONS => Ventura Blvd & Reseda
Reported by Lovenola:
Ralph's in Downey at 9200 Lakewood Blvd.
Ralph's in Pasadena at 211 E. Foothill Blvd.
Ralph's in Monrovia at 1193 Huntington Dr.
3) Reported by domino007
Ralphs in 13321 Jamboree Rd, Tustin
Ralphs in Irvine on Alton, Walnut and Irvine Blvd
Reported by DaveInLA:
Ralphs in Brea- 305 W Imperial Hwy. VGC was purchased in 12/2014.
Reported by 46sky:
Ralphs in Culver City on Venice Blvd - VGC purchased 2/2015.
Reported by Chrisflyer66:
Ralphs in San Diego on Sports Arena - VGCs purchased in 2014-2015.
Ralph's - 1435 W Chapman Ave, Orange, CA 92868 - Purchased 12/2019
Seems to me that only People in so.Cal are reporting
Gift Card Fraud !!!
Mar 17, 2015, 8:05 pm
#556
Moderator: Manufactured Spending
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 6,580
Someone else beat me to it, but that is not true. You cannot prove that you did not break it yourself. Claims of this nature are, realistically, never denied, unless you have a history of fraudulent claims. All that they may ask for is that you try to return it to the store, and give them a chance to accept your return.
Mar 17, 2015, 8:07 pm
#557
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 10,904
If I ever bought a fraudulent gift card, I absolutely would.
Mar 18, 2015, 12:59 am
#558
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 55
Anyone who bought from Krogers though and got burned, follow the advice above and they should be able to sort you out much quicker than it would take to fax everything in.
Apr 3, 2015, 1:54 am
#562
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: 787
Programs: Too many to list
Posts: 1,306
Those mofos take nothing for granted. Had GC from Kroger for personal use with 60 dollar balance Last night someone rang up $45 in some Pizza place in LA.
Stay away fro Kroger or BlackHawk cards. I called CS and they know about this. Supervisor basically told me they have no idea what the f is going on. They have had thousands of calls about GC fraud coming out of LA area.
Stay away fro Kroger or BlackHawk cards. I called CS and they know about this. Supervisor basically told me they have no idea what the f is going on. They have had thousands of calls about GC fraud coming out of LA area.
Apr 3, 2015, 6:02 am
#563
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 3,688
Inspite of all these reports of fraud from buying GCs issued by BHN, what baffles me is the fact that many FT readers still continue to buy them 
It's either they have no other source of GCs sold for CCs, or they like the thrill of getting scammed?
It's either they have no other source of GCs sold for CCs, or they like the thrill of getting scammed?
Apr 3, 2015, 5:26 pm
#564
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 908
Those mofos take nothing for granted. Had GC from Kroger for personal use with 60 dollar balance Last night someone rang up $45 in some Pizza place in LA.
Stay away fro Kroger or BlackHawk cards. I called CS and they know about this. Supervisor basically told me they have no idea what the f is going on. They have had thousands of calls about GC fraud coming out of LA area.
Stay away fro Kroger or BlackHawk cards. I called CS and they know about this. Supervisor basically told me they have no idea what the f is going on. They have had thousands of calls about GC fraud coming out of LA area.
Apr 3, 2015, 10:34 pm
#565
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: CVG
Programs: Hyatt Giraffe
Posts: 1,664
Those mofos take nothing for granted. Had GC from Kroger for personal use with 60 dollar balance Last night someone rang up $45 in some Pizza place in LA.
Stay away fro Kroger or BlackHawk cards. I called CS and they know about this. Supervisor basically told me they have no idea what the f is going on. They have had thousands of calls about GC fraud coming out of LA area.
Stay away fro Kroger or BlackHawk cards. I called CS and they know about this. Supervisor basically told me they have no idea what the f is going on. They have had thousands of calls about GC fraud coming out of LA area.
Apr 4, 2015, 5:53 am
#567
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Land of the parrots and parrotheads
Programs: Several dozen
Posts: 4,820
Apr 5, 2015, 7:59 pm
#568
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 24
Just got three USBank Visa cards from two different Ralphs in Los Angeles that have been physically tampered with. The three digit codes on the back of the cards were scratched off and the glue tore the pin paper as I pulled it off which never happens on normal cards.
Apr 6, 2015, 12:23 pm
#570
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 908
I have never gotten a gc from Ralphs. And because if this, I will never try.