Rite Aid Gift Cards causing heat with LE?
 

Today if found out that one of the routes that I've been utilizing for MS may have attracted some attention from LE.

I was doing Cardpool -> Rite Aid GC -> PP MyCash -> Walmart MO

I had liquidated about $3k this month between 2-3 RA locations. One location, the Cashier would offer to "throw away" the used gift cards, however I found out otherwise. Today, when I attempted to liquidate Rite aid GC, the manager informed me that a number of other folks had been doing this in my area and that they had been collecting the used Gift cards and saving them based on instructions from the local police dept. Manager mentioned that they dont know if Rite aid GCs were purchased with stolen gift cards then sold on secondary market. Was wondering if any of you have experienced this?

I think I'm going to back off from this approach (after i finish off the remaining $1k in Rite Aid GC) and utilize the other routes i have.

Been reading various threads here on FT, I tried finding information about the scenario above but couldn't find anything, so I'm starting a new one - if this needs to be moved - let me know. Thanks!

You must have some pretty nice RAs in your area, none will let me buy any prepaids on credit...let alone with a RA giftcard. The idea is genius though.

its very YMMV by store. I've had better luck with newer associates or ones that just DGAF. Their systems don't hard stop you paying with GC's. I also got like a few hundred amazon GC this way too.

When you buy gift cards from one of these third-party brokers, you never know the source of those gift cards. The person who sold them to the company has often bought them with a stolen credit card, in which case the person attempting to use the GC will naturally draw suspicion. There is a thread on FatWallet where the OP was questioned by police after Walgreens called the cops in a situation like this. IIRC in that case the OP wasn't even buying GC but regular merchandise. Apparently these cops had not heard of Cardpool, but I'd think that you'd have plenty of evidence to prove your innocence if it came to that, as you'd have a receipt to show where you got the GC, and Cardpool could confirm it was the same one.

I'd be most worried not about LE, but about Rite Aid shutting it down due to losses they are sustaining as a result of these stolen GCs being cashed out, whether it is done by the CC thief or by someone who bought the GC online. In general buying V/MC/AX GC with store GC is always heavily YMMV if the registers aren't hard coded against it, and if they're taking big losses due to fraud in that area or store, it'll kill the deal. Sadly this kind of problem is why a lot of good opportunities have died.

wth is LE?

Law enforcement

Those shady guys who hang around in donut shops.

As has been mentioned, probably the greater concern is being shutdown (super jealous of your ability to purchase with store GC). Also, I doubt local PD would investigate this. If anything, local PD probably just told RA to hold the GC just as a CYA measure.

You don't happen to live in Hemet, CA do you OP?

I hope your gravy train don't get derailed anytime soon if RA realizes they are losing money from *possibly* fraudulent transactions. Like others said, dealing with LE is the least of your worries now because you have proof your cards are legit.

lol haha

I see these cause and effects of this POA:

1. you lose a lot of MS opportunities @ RA which you're doing with legit tools.
2. if you're just one among many who does this same thing, but difference is they're using stolen GCs and/or CCs, thank your lucky stars when they get busted by LE during your hiatus.

OP, whatever you decide to do, good luck!

There's no way of eliminating the risk.

Even if you stop liquidating the cards you purchased, there's the chance the ones you have already liquidated were originally stolen.

Even if you purchased them in good face and had no knowledge of them being stolen, stolen is stolen.

Even if none of your cards were stolen, there is a nonzero chance you can be caught up as bycatch, if only due to LEO clumsiness and a bias to act first and sort out later.

Bottom line, either you are comfortable with there being unavoidable, uncontrollable risks ... or you don't play the game.

You can lower the risks. But you can't eliminate or fully control the risks.

That's not legal advice. That's the lesson I learned. And, fwiw, I didn't stop playing.

Right, but that applies to everything. The clerk wrongly identifies you as the person who paid with the stolen gift cards, and then saw you leave and enter the apartment of that person who was found murdered...

Unless they're Texas Rangers. :cool:

The police where you live must not have much real crime going on. I can not imagine any cops in the US caring the slightest about fraudulent gift card use at a chain store. Most places the cops don't have enough resources to deal with actual murders, armed robberies and general people beating the crap out of each other.

Some low-life is suspected of frauding VRs at a drug store? Yeah, call that one in to your city's police dispatcher, surely they'll send a squad car right over to check it out...
:rolleyes:

Hi All... some time lurker, first time poster. Thought I would throw up my datapoint on the RA GC for PPMC... I stumbled into this method not too long ago, tested it out with a 10.00 RA GC, saw you could make the purchase, and figured, why not go 500.00?
That worked out swimmingly as well... the first time. No hassle, just got the PPMC with 3 GC and left.

This time round, I got 1K in RA GC, 6 cards total. Well, it wound up being a run around town, stopped at probably 5 or 6 stores before I finally found a couple of clerks who didn't care and made the sale. All the others said some variation of you can't buy GC w/ GC, called over the manager, etc... one of the GCs wound up being short a few bucks as well, i guess you can't really trust the online sites.

Def. a bit nerve racking at the prospect of trying to figure out how to do all my shopping at RA for the next 10 years... people would have been getting a lot of candy bars, cough syrup, and crappy mp3 players for xmas. luckily I got rid of all the GC...

I agree with you - no way to eliminate risk, just to lower them. I'll keep playing - I'll use the other methods i have going on to MS and ease off the gas pedal on this method.

Yeah, it's a PITA to run around town to different locations - I had to go to 8 stores within a 20 mile radius, different shifts, different days to liquidate the $3k in the last month.

Other ways i've liquidated Low denomination GC - You can buy Beer/Liquor/Sodas/ice cream/ice for parties, Let the wifey go to town on whatever cosmetics she wants/needs, contact solution and eyedrops, TP, and whatever snacks you want during the day.

You might be surprised.

Suburban cops can, will and do show up for $20 grocery store shoplifiting arrests, so $500 is well within their "care zone". Chances are they responding to at least one shoplifting call a week, so they likely are already on a first name basis with the store managers. Ditto for pharmacies and shoplifting of alcohol or meds.

Likewise, in some cities there are enclaves where cops/fire/attorneys live due to residency requirements. They can be extremely territorial.

Sometimes they react based on the "broken window" approach to LE.

Sometimes because their wives, kids or neighbors work at the store.

Regardless of the connection, they take care of their own.

yeah nwflyboy is way off base here. maybe he doesnt value money and thinks $500 is akin to TP. but many folks around the country dont even make that much a week, esp the ones working at these stores where this exact kinda fraud happens. maybe even the cop themselves. so get out of your MS bubble and get a grip on the actual value of $500 -- put it into perspective.

but anyways, all reported crime is meant to be taken seriously -- that is the law. you can call in a robbery and file a police report for your used, 2nd hand iPod worth maybe $50 and they WILL assign a detective to your case. I kid you not. an actual detective will follow up with you and anyone else you suspect might be in possession of your belongings if you can provide evidence.

Yeah, but they HATE it. Store loss prevention/mall security get to do the fun thing and "apprehend" the shoplifter, but the real cops have to do all the work- hours of paperwork for an arrest because the store wants to press charges for a $9 piece of makeup. I'd rather those hours be going towards going after real criminals.

Only way I can see the 5-0 being involved in this thread's situation is with drug type deals (which is why I mentioned Hemet)