hamokmonky

Why would you go back to the store? Other than to get rid of other faulty cards on the rack, there is nothing they can do. Call incomm instead... You should have done that immediately to make it quicker and ensure the fraudsters don't get away with the money.

AndrewTheMan

I called InComm and filed a report. I went to the CVS to make the manager aware that someone is messing with the cards and if someone else comes in to not accuse/doubt them.

I find it interesting that only one card from each store was bad.. Tells me they are diversifying.

StartinSanDiego

I phoned in and asked. Some had processed, some were in the queue, and some were still with the investigator.

startbyservingothers

I'm still not certain this fraud is related to the specific location, but I thought I would post anyways. I got my first compromised card last week. Packaging looked perfect as well as the glue on the card. - Only 1 of the 2 cards I purchased at this location was compromised. I will double check and compare the glue on the packaging.

- Card was purchased in Lexington, KY. ~ 50% of funds were used in Houston, TX at what looks like a physical Whataburger location. Card was not darined fully on day 1. It was drained over several days. Many calls using 1Tel.com to prisoners. I had close to 20 charges for $13.19 listed as a transaction fee and equal number of matching charges for $1.80 labelled as a Per Call fee. Also a charge for $30 to DCA call that also seemed to be prisoner related. - One one hand , the charges way over in TX made me wonder if the card was just simply hacked. On the other I noticed that this Kroger just recently changed their policy to limit 1 of these cards per person. (Only this Kroger out of a dozen in my area). I may want to speak with the manager and see if they know of some fishy things going on in there store.

*** I think the fraudster could save a lot of time / money by joining the inmate in prison.

I'll definitely be more careful. I was worried about it at first. - 2 years in, I began to assume it was a "big city problem". My guess is that cloning cards has taken a big hit now that so many places require chip usage for credit cards. Gift cards are the perfect target since they don't come with chips. I cringe when I consider that people actually buy these as gifts!

prasha11

I wonder If fraud was serious problem, would have been removed from the rack, my guess is the problem has not touched the threshold point?

prasha11

others have got in less than 2 weeks

mhdena

Seems like s/he hasn't taken any steps to report their defrauded cards after several weeks now. Just keeps asking similar questions over and over.

prasha11

are u still waiting for more replacements? I sent 2 faxes (1) to PPD dispute and (2) lost / stolen replacement, should I expect in 2 weeks?

StartinSanDiego

I think the take away here is to report the fraud in a timely manner, provide the data requested by the issuer, and follow up as needed. I don't see anything thing in this thread that indicates you should "expect [it] in 2 weeks." Rather, it seems like the process can take a very long time, but seems to be mostly (not always) successful.

It's been said many times about MS, but, bears repeating: Never, ever, ever MS with funds that you can't afford to float.

46sky

The one thing that I havent been able to figure out is how is the fraud department able to ascertain that it really wasn't me that made the purchases at Walmart?

Its true, I faxed a letter stating that "I declare the above is correct" but for all practical purposes, how are they (the bank or the bank's insurance company) proving that I am really entitled to my money?

mhdena

I posted my experience in this thread Mar 10. I asked a couple of questions but did a whole lot more reading, and was reimbursed my $500 GC x4 within 11 days.

Those 4 cards were my threshold, no more from Ralphs for me.

But you keep asking the same questions over and over and evidently keep buying tampered with cards.

And you even asked if the replacements were tampered with? Why would they be? They weren't on a rack out in the open. I'd like to buy direct from here on out if they let me.

Alcibiades

Never in 2 weeks for cards that have unauthorized charges that are disputed.

fraudedatralphs

About a month ago I bought 10 $500 visa gift cards for a total of $5000 at a Ralphs in Southern California, and they were all tampered with, mine had some of that super sticky glue that couldn't be pealed off of the card at all, and the expiration dates on the outside of the package did not match the expiration date on the card itself.

Tried to use at Walmart to buy money orders but got a "debit not available error" on the cards I tried. Checked balances on all of the cards and the site gave some sort of card not valid error. Called the support number and they said that the cards were not activated properly and that I needed to fax in the card information and they would activate them. I faxed the info in and checked the next morning and the cards were activated.

Later that afternoon after work I tried to use the cards to buy money orders like I had originally planned, but the cards did not work yet again. Checked the balance online and they were all used at a Rite Aid store in Hemet. Knew at this point it was going to be a major headache so I called the number I had called the previous day to get the cards activated and was told to fax the card information.

A few days later I received a call from US Bank from a very unfriendly lady who stated that because the cards were used with a PIN number and run as debit at the Rite Aid store, I had no recourse and the cards could not be reissued. She basically indirectly accused me of being the one that actually used the cards and I was just trying to get my money back.

For the heck of it, knowing that the actual bank branch would not be able to do anything about my problem, I went to one of those grocery store US Bank locations and told them the story. The man at the bank said that the person that called me was incorrect about me having no recourse, explained the Visa zero liability policy, etc. Told me to keep calling them to press the issue. Basically this was a waste of time but it still satisfied me a bit.

So I called the gift card number again and was told to fax the information again. Again, a few days later I received a call stating that because because they were run as debit with a PIN number used, I was the only one that could have made the purchases and once again I was indirectly accused of using the cards at the Rite Aid store myself.

I purchased the cards at Ralphs with an American Express card, and after realizing that I was not going to get anywhere with US Bank I started the dispute process with Amex. Called them and explained what had happened, and later uploaded copies of my receipts from Ralphs, images of the cards themselves with the yellowish glue that could not be peeled off, images of the packaging with an expiration date different than what was on the cards themselves, screenshots of the transaction logs for each card, and a copy of a news article about gift card fraud in California. Was issued a temporary credit after my initial call.

About a month later, today, I received notice from American Express that the dispute was decided in my favor and the credit was made permanent. I feel bad that in the end, Ralphs was the one to be out the money. I much rather would have had US Bank been the ones to eat the loss, but Ralphs is negligent due to the large amount of Visa gift card fraud occurring at their stores, and them doing seemingly nothing to stop it. I informed the manager of the store about what had happened and he shrugged it off, telling me to take up the issue with the "gift card company", and also refused to take the remaining stock of Visa gift cards off of the shelves, his reason being that he had no proof that they were tampered with and said the packaging on all of them "looked fine".

I will never buy another gift card of any type from a grocery store after this experience, I will buy all my Visa gift cards from Simon malls, where I have never had a problem before in the past, and I like how they keep the cards inaccessible behind the counter before purchase (yes I am aware this does not prevent the Simon cashier from skimming the cards). As an added bonus, their fee ($3.95) is the lowest that I am aware of.

prasha11

what else could be the reason for replacement?

Alcibiades

Did you read the post 25 minutes prior ? At 10:04pm