I think incomm may have done some smart thing more than we understand the information is given out. I dont believe just inside/outside barcode is any different than the Green dot cards where there used to be a lot of fraud. The scamsters would create a bar code and slide a old card with new bar code, keep the origional card with them, the same can be done in this case and It would still scan etc. All bets are off once you have access to the entire bar code inside.
What seperates this card is, it is packaged well. It will be hard for someone to slide the card out and then seal it all back in an it would not be visible to someone. Either way we will find out how scamsters do it when there is a case of fraud.

Would be pretty trivial for someone to open it and copy the front of the card, without detaching the glue on the back side (bar code side).

There's no way to make this secure until the idiot CC processors in this country finally require PIN for credit AND debit, and also generate the PIN at the time of purchase of GC.

PIN at the time of purchase will stop the fraud in tracks. Only thing is they will have to interate the various terminals from the various retailers with issuing bank such as incomm.

At the moment PIN will only prevent MO draining. They can still go buy merchandise and run it as credit. That's even harder to track down as no one will check ID for someone buying 2k worth of crap at Best Buy.

I bought 4 VGC from walmart self checkout today. after opening them, I found the last 4 digits were erased, damn, I went to liquidate them quickly, but the magnetic stripe seems to have been damaged. so can't use them, not sure how and if I can get the money back from walmart/incomm.

Call the InComm Customer Service line to report a defective card. They'll assign you a Case #, and tell you a list of documents to email or fax (pictures of the card, your photo ID, and purchase receipt). A few weeks later you should receive a check from InComm for the loaded value.

How would you have liquidated them even if the mag strip wasnt damaged? dont you need PIN to get MO? and or load money? unless you were going to buy something for 2k like a credit card.
This seems like a manufacturing defect and you should be able to get your money, be sure you have a receipt and all packaging with numbers etc, this makes things easier when you have to fight it out.

thanks for the info...I called the number on the back, talked to a live representative and reported tempered cards. the rep took the several digits from the barcode on the back of each VGC and put a hold on each of them, so scammer can't use them if they haven't drained the balance yet, I need to email InComm all the documents for InComm's investigation. hopefully the balance hasn't been drained yet.

I tried to liquidate to no avail as the mag strip is damaged. not a manufacturing defect, scammer took them home and erased the last 4 digits and 3 digits security code , then put them back to Walmart. when I opened them, there was not much glue and it is scam 100%.

In any case, InComm should make you whole. You have the purchase receipt, promptly reported the problem, and poor card security is not your responsibility. Keep us updated, and best of luck!

thanks, can't really blame InComm, nobody can prevent such tactics from scammers, unless Walmart lock up the VGC's before customers' purchase.

were these vanilla gift cards? we just discussed few posts above that they are hard to scam! lol

That's fine for the idle chat here. But read the bottom of the WM receipt -- the blame has already been negotiated by the parties involved (and without our input).

hard for scammers to put another card in the package to match up barcode with the enhanced new package design, but the original card inside the package can still be tampered by the scammer then put back in, so we can't use them but scammer can drain the balance once loaded. so need to carefully vet the package on each VGC to identify any tampering. I casually grabbed 4 VGC's without checking, that scammer might put back 30 tampered VGC's to that Walmart. the 4 VGC's I got is this:

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b5f9855d48.gif

I think I need to get VGC's from Kroger instead of walmart, even if they cost $2 more each. but think again, scammers can scratch off digits and damage magnetic strip, then put them back to walmart, kroger , anywhere else. nowhere is safe for this kind of fraud tactics.