I’m debating buying more and trying to liquidate a bit further from the mall. I am curious to see how far this policy extends in the area.
Unfortunately, the middle of nowhere wouldn’t be an option for me since this is a very densely populated area and I don’t travel for work.

Seems like it may be a new policy for my area. I went to two WMs and it was the exact same thing. Both asked to see the card and both specifically said that they can’t accept Simon mall cards. One of the stores I went to is the one I always go to. And it was the same CSR that’s usually there. She said she was instructed to check for and deny any Simon mall cards and that the card had to have my name on it. She has been extremely friendly every time I’ve been in there. Her demeanor led me to believe that she wanted to do the transaction but was afraid of getting in trouble.

I’ll probably test this out some more in a few days. I have more than a dozen stores (evenly split between super centers and NMs) within about 30 minutes from my house.

This is becoming widespread with a lot of DPs coming in with the same experience.

This was posted on reddit MS sub, store referred to is Kroger.

FWIW, doing switcheroo is ALWAYS risky since more cashiers have been trained to check the last 4 of card number which usually shows on the receipt and/or their monitor. During those times I was asked for the card, I gave to them what I had and if they said they don't accept it, so be it. There were times, fwr, cashiers flipped the SMGCs back n forth, gave them back to me and gave me the go signal to swipe (happened at WM and grocery store(s))

The cashier and store manager who said it was illegal to use GC was wrong although switching cards was indeed shady. Store has two options ~ 1.put back the funds in the GCs swiped and if they can't, 2.they have to give cash refund while telling the person they can't come back to buy MOs there. They CANNOT keep the funds or else customer can file a case of theft against them since they took the payment but did not give the goods (MO) purchased. There was no mention what region/state/city this happened and one can expect them to be on lookout for more MSers with SM GCs doing the same thing. I have not experienced this kind of issue at the grocery store(s) but at WM, when there were issues with MGMO printing and my receipt says refund amount and I see the drawer opened, I make sure to ask for my cash refund from the cash dept manager if cashier refuses. The cash dept manager had no problem giving me cash refund.

PSA to newbies, best NOT to try switcheroo and the fat fingered/fake SSN trick anywhere you're asked to avoid troubles you don't want to deal with. Make sure you have back up liquidation plans or you might end up with stacks of GCs and a huge CC debt(s) with high interest rate(s).

Lol. Similar to how Simon will never sell 1k cards?

they used to accept AP but no more. Worked great for the 10% D/AP CB promo. One $10k purchased hit the max spend.

It’s definitely a local policy. I’m just not sure if it’s certain parts of the county, the whole county, or the entire region. But both rejections were before any swipes. The CSRs immediately asked to see ID and the card I was using. And both specifically said they can’t do Simon VGCs.
I bought another round of Simon cards. I’ve liquidated a little over half so far using my usual grocery stores and one WMNM. The NM register asked for ID for a $1k MO. I gave the CSR my ID and there was no problem. I’m not sure if I’ll have to provide ID for every purchase there now, or if it was just random.
I have a few cards left that I’m going to try at a regular WM further north when I head that way later this evening. I’m more curious than anything at this point. I was hoping my new BB card would be here by now so I could test how they treat that, but I guess I’ll have to wait for the next round of cards for that.