I’ll be the first to say that manufactured spending is not a regular part of my points-generating strategy. Not only do I find it extremely time-consuming, I also despise stepping foot in any Walmart.
I admire people who have mastered the art of manufactured spending and have dedicated the time, patience, and organization it truly requires. With my life being pulled in so many different directions, it’s just not for me.
With that being said, I do live within a mile of a Staples that almost never has more than two cars in the parking lot at any given time, so I’m easily tempted, and it’s hard to pass up on “free” and “easy points sometimes.
Like many, I took part in using my Chase Ink Business Cash card (Learn More) to buy some $200 MasterCard gift cards during the fee-free promotion that was going on at Staples at the end of April. Earning 5 points per dollar, and 19 cards later, I spent $3,800 on gift cards to generate 19,000 “free” Ultimate Rewards points. Not bad, right?
Though MS is not a regular part of my daily life, I’m not a novice to the various ways one can quickly liquidate the cards – I just didn’t want to really dedicate the time to doing so in a timely manner. I decided to bypass all of the hassle, and just use the cards one by one on regular expenses. Mistake?
I was managing the cards well and was thrilled that as of last night, I only had 6 left to worry about. When I saw that Walmart.com was offering $100 Uber e-gift cards for just $80 each, I thought it was a perfect opportunity to spend one of those bad boys since I use Uber on a fairly regular basis.
I quickly ripped the card from its packaging and went to the dedicated website to “register” my card so that I could use it to make an online purchase.
To my horror, I saw I only had an available balance of $19.92 on a brand new gift card!
Looking at the transaction history, I saw about 10 transactions that were definitely not mine. Whoever it was though definitely had me craving some In N Out.
I immediately called the number on the back of my card and explained that I had the card in my possession, fresh out of the packaging, and saw that it was hacked only because I went to register it online.
The agent transferred me to a supervisor that went and disputed the charges, but I still have to send additional information such as my name, address, phone number, signature, and a written statement stating that none of those charges are mine via fax.
After that, I have to send another fax asking to replace my card. To add salt to the wound, I later found out that it would be subject to a $5.95 card replacement fee.
By the way, I missed out on the $80 Uber gift card deal too.
Bottom Line
Loss of time and patience aside, there are a lot of risks to consider before jumping on the MS bandwagon.
Gift card fraud is more common that you think and it truly is a pain in the butt to deal with if it even happens to you.
In my case, since they were all in-person transactions, I think the fraudsters took the prepaid card from the rack and skimmed (copied the magnetic swipe data) from one card to another card and then waited for my skimmed card to be activated.
Once it was activated, they had an exact copy of the activated card and used it at their leisure.
Has this ever happened to you before? Feel free to share your thoughts and stories in the comments.
Wow, just wow, how they can “steal” your unopened gift card BEFORE it’s even paid for. That is just insane!
So, how the heck can you prevent that? Or how can you tell if the gift card was hacked before purchasing it?
You can’t. That’s why nobody in their right mind buys MC Gift Cards unless they can drain it immediately….like in less than an hour. USBank has a horrible security problem and anyone can just guess at card numbers and use easy scripts to keep checking if one is loaded.
Totally agree with you on expensing it immediately. Their website sucks that it doesnt allow genuine customers to get in to check the transactions. Also based on my experience I don’t know if its real outsider hackers or inside ones or questionable company’s business policies-processes (like do they reuse card numbers or duplicate them or do they try baiting customers).
Not possible because of expiration dates and cvv codes they change with every card no matter what. Tbh story sounds like bogus… sounds like the guy stole someone’s cc and used it up buying a bunch of gift cards lying about his points and then ran out of gift card money and tried to call and get more.:(
your full of shit jay i just had this happen on visa gift my sister sent to me…so shut up ahole
this same thing happened to me this past week. I activated my Vanilla MC and right after that my card was hacked with purchases that used up the whole $100.
My recent experience also was negative, bought discounted gift cards and, 1 worked and other was not working. I call up customer service and get it activated. I ask the reason for me not being able to activate online or via phone and CS indicates someone might have been trying to use it. She asks me to hold on while she is checking with someone if its all set (as if they are putting a trace on it). She comes back and indicates all good to go.
I check online and everything looks good including my registered address info. I try transacting online in evening and it doesnt go through. Check online and see Point of sale (POS) transaction in same city. I immediately call customer service asking how is it even possible for someone to use the card at a restaurant without having one. Anyways they indicate I cant raise fraud request only after transactions post, so no one takes action to block the card or calling the restaurant to check.
I raise the fraud request after few days, go through cumbersome process of receiving forms in mail to sign and return (no email/online – they work in middle ages of FAX system) .
Before they resolve my issue, they send two mails to my address however someone else’s name (I am guessing either bait mails OR their system-process is screwed up). Since its someone else name I return the mails without opening back to postal service. (Think one mail had an actual card in it, so thats why I am thinking of bait mail). I search online, the name of the person on the mail and it’s from my city however totally different street, so how is it even possible to mess up addresses.
Anyways, I receive response to my fraud dispute case after 2-3 months, that it was an error (“error occurred”) and no mention of any fraud, and they are refunding the amount. I call up CS to check balance on old card and she indicates they need to reissue a new one. New one arrives however with a fee (so am paying the fees twice with no fault of mine, just due to their error).
I am ‘guessing’ it could be any of below
– their process and systems are so bad that transactions form one card get onto another (they have something called card-id which gets associated to 16 digit card number, so its very much possible that their system having bugs or someone manual process of associating them incorrectly) OR
– they are trying to find real fraudsters by posting wrong transactions (why would they send someone else card to wrong address and in the end indicate ‘error’ rather than actual ‘fraud’) OR
– low probability – they are reusing card numbers (since I guess most cards balance goes to 0 in a year or less, so they could reissue a new one with same)
– genuine fraud – doesnt explain how a POS transaction can occur unless hacker is sophisticated to have machines to code cards (however their response was “error occurred” rather than fraud occurred).
Think the card packaging says distributed and serviced by blackhawk network so not sure if they are owned by US bank or an outsourced company of the bank or they have taken the business from the bank however to avoid pulling out existing products from market they are continuing to sell them. Also its a shame that blackhawk is based out of silicon valley and their prepaidgiftbalance website and systems-processes are so outdated/cumbersome to use (keeps out genuine customers from using their system). I found registering cards on their automated voice system more reliable and secure over their website (a first I guess).
Also suggest not registering your name-address-zip until you are ready to transact online, so that the card cannot be used online easily in case it gets hacked.
Yes this just happened to me with PREPPAIDGIFTBALANCE VISA. tHE CARD WAS USED BEFORE i TOOK IT OUT OF THE PACKAGE AND IM HAVING PROBLEMS WITH THIS COMPANY FAXING AND RECEIVING INFORMATION TO FILE A CLAIM.
iT WAS A FIVE HUNDRED DOLLAR CARD I BOUGHT AND I FOUND OUT FROM THE STORE I BOUGHT IT AT THE ENTIRE CARD WAS USED HOURS LATER AT A VONS.
I HAVE TO FILE A POLICE REPORT AND WAIT 60 – 90 days for an answer
So frustrating!
Vanilla Visa Gift Card Hacked November 2019.
Got a Visa Gift Card for my birthday for $300.00. I made ONE purchase for $27.50 and the REST was STOLEN out of the account. NEVER buy one of these for a friend or family member. When I called Visa to get a refund. They said it would take 90 days to recover the funds. Complete B.S.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fuck Visa, and Fuck their gift cards.
Same thing here (my kid actually) there’s someone at our local mall stealing the funds off these cards & vanilla won’t reverse the charges – instead asks I fill out a 3 page complaint form, wait 90 days to find out they can’t help!
Even the customer service rep agreed with me that the charges are clearly fraudulent but she can’t do anything except send me the complaint forms. It’s hard to believe that vanilla is ok with their customers literally getting robbed. In this case it was my 13 year old boy. I’d pay extra for PIN protection. I hope you get your money back…
Did you ever get your money back?
My son received a $200 vanilla visa from my mother for Christmas- I beleive there is a skimming machine set up at one of the restaurants within the food court. He was hungry & bought a $5.00 hot dog – 2 hours later there was a $190 charge from a Walmart on the west coast ( we are east coast)
I say there is a skimming machine in use because the same thing happened to him last year. I want to set up a sting operation & actually document the theft in real time so I can bust them. Such scumbags!
Same here. Purchased it for $500 also and when I went to use it it had $1.98 on it. I bought mine at Vons and mysteriously funds are completely gone and I just took it out of the packaging.
A lady at CVS told me how the jerks do it, but they go into the store and mess with the cards somehow. The store now does the activation differently so it doesn’t occur. You need to inform the Vons manager. I would also contact Vons corporate by email. If you are in California, contact the Secretary of State on line..there’s a fraud complaint form linked there somewhere. I did that and they take it seriously. They will reach out to the credit card issuer. You need to immediately call the credit card issuer. They are assholes but they can see who the merchant was your card was used at. Then try to reverse the charges. Eventually I got a new card and all my money back.
I would have even complained about the card replacement fee. You legitimately purchased a card with fraudulent charges and shouldn’t have to pay any further fees.
Two years ago I received two cards that were still in the packaging and put them aside for a few months – they got temporarily boxed up while I moved house. I found them in the last box a few months later and tried to use them but that’s when I discovered that one had been completely drained online to purchase another gift card and the other was left with about $9 after someone used it in a hardware store far from where I was. Many calls later to disinterested customer service reps l got one card replaced about 18 months after my first call. It also came minus $5.95 as a “card replacement fee”! I’m still waiting for the second replacement…
I warn anybody that will listen to NEVER buy gift cards that are out on the sales floor.
Happened to two cards purchased at Office Max – cards just like yours. Charges were all made in SoCal at Starbucks and Whole Foods.
I had to make multiple calls and submit letter etc. similar to yours. I didn’t get charged for the new cards but the experience was unpleasant enough and the Walmart MS was winding down anyway, so I’ve never bought another.
Newer cards I see at Safeway have just a tear strip to expose a barcode and no paper mag stripe.
Yep, same thing happened to me. $800 down the drain!!! Fought with their complaints and replacement Dept for over 6 months, no answer or results. Will try stay away from these deals from now on or spend it immediately (within an hour) after I purchase one.
They will waive the replacement card fee. Make sure you call in and talk to a rep to activate it so that they can waive it then (just explain to them the situation), If you do it through the automatic system it will automatically charge you and you will have to do a dispute to get it credit back. I had the same situation happen to me a few months ago. Lesson learned.
I got a one vanilla card.i put 500$on it.i spent 425$ before they stole the rest.this is why I only use prepaid cards over the internet.i guess I got lucky that’s all they stole.i don’t know how they did it .I only used it twice.
My son wanted to put $100 on gift on 7/8/19, the next day he tried to use and the money was gone. A water bill in New York was paid. We set a PIN number and password. All the fraud that happens with gift card are done Internal! Now we been waiting 90 days to get our money back. I will NEVER purchase a Vanilla Gift card again!!
The same has happened to me with a “Vanilla” Visa gift card. I attempted to use it days after receiving it and the balance had disappeared. Fortunately, the fraudulent purchase occurred over a weekend and I caught it before it fully processed. Vanilla told me to contact the vendor from whom the purchase was made. The first agent asked me for the order number…I tried to explain that I didn’t have an order number since I didn’t make the purchase. After insisting I speak with a supervisor, he simply connected the card to the purchase and cancelled it. He also told me there is MASSIVE fraud in Vanilla gift cards and has been going on for months. BE CAREFUL!!! Probably should steer away from Vanilla. I had to call them back, getting my money back is going to take days and sending me a new gift card (which I hope isn’t hacked before I get it). Get this — if my balance had gone to zero vs the 2 bucks left in it, Vanilla claimed I’d be out of luck entirely as in I couldn’t even get this money back. What? Part of me wonders if Vanilla is part of the scam.
This just happened to me with the Vanilla card…$500 down the drain, just like that! I am pretty sure I have never been this made in my life. Walmart is sorry, Mastercard is sorry, I am suppose to feel good all over because they are sorry! I will never purchased a prepaid credit card and I will do what I can to get the word out there. Good bye Christmas, but I will tell the kids that Walmart and Vanilla are both sorry.
Someone stole my money and paid for thier T mobile and geico bill. I am waiting to see what happens. Those accounts has names. All i dod was register it.
If you look closely at that transaction history, you will notice that they likely made at least two copies of the card. Two of the transactions were within seconds of each other, in different cities, at different restaurants.
Can someone give me the email for Vanilla gift card? I have been on hold for 2 hours for 3 days about my account is being used and I never used it with a $8 balanced.
The exact same thing just happened to me but it is currently 2 years after you posted this. It’s sad that people have to be like this and do that to someone.
Bought a $500 Visa Gift Card from Pavilions. Went to activate it a couple of days later and found it only had $1.98 left on it and the back signature place had been tampered with.
Someone went into Walmart and went shopping with the funds.
I had to prove that I bought the physical card and it was registered to me. LOTS of papework involved.
Headache ongoing. Very sorry I bought it
I had done so because my regular credit card had been compromisesd. Then to get this and find that this had been drained before I even got it out of the package
DON’T DO IT. Get some sleep at night.
Similar situation happened to me! I went online to check the balance on my visa gift card that had $75 and all of it was taken out and transferred into a paypal account! I didn’t have the chance to even use it and I had to file a dispute. I’m now waiting 90 days to see if they will refund me my money. Did anyone who was robbed ever get their money back?
Vanilla gift card 14 105 one for 200 and it was hacked before I ever got to use them and less than $3 left on each one I read this article in and now going to try to get my money back from vanilla I hope others have I shall find out I’ll try to leave a part to if I get the money from vanilla back don’t buy vanilla if you don’t want to get ripped off
I received a business Amex gift card from my employer ($2000) for completing a HUGE job I was working on. I was saving it to put toward the new vinyl flooring for my home. But when I opened the envelope and called to activate, they told me someone had already reported it stolen and a new card was sent to them. Now I have to go through the process of filing a claim, blah, blah, blah. And it could take 90 days to settle (hopefully I will get ALL my money back). I explained to them that my card was NOT LOST OR STOLLEN. Sounds like an “inside job” to me. How could someone get my card info if my employer ordered it directly from AMEX? So frustrating.
Thanks to everyone who told their fraud stories which I also have experienced way too many times. I almost decided to purchase prepaid cards which, thanks to all of you, I will not do. Cash only from now on even though it’s a pain to go to the bank. I pay for my groceries with cash and I use only credit cards from a few stores and pay them off before interest is applied. I’m actually spending less because it’s not as convenient to do it the “old fashioned” way.
More you want my personal info which is just how people get into this mess.
My aunt and uncle sent me a Visa gift card in the mail, which they’ve done many years before. This year because of issues with the post office, I didn’t receive the package until weeks after they sent it. It didn’t look like the package had been tampered with; the gift card was in a little gift back still in its packaging. I opened it and went online to register it and there was a zero balance. There was one transaction for the full amount from December 17th, which was after the time they sent it but before I received it. The card was registered in someone else’s name with an address! The address was in California (my aunt and uncle live in DC and I live in NY). I called the number and the guy was extremely unhelpful; first he said that the number wasn’t right and it wasn’t even one of their cards. He didn’t even offer to let me dispute the charges or file a complaint and just said to cut up the card.
Bought a visa giftcard. went to use 5 days later all 500 wiped clean . I called both the card company an nordstrom an little help . was able to track down what happened. Scammer hacked card bought gift cards for nordstrom online then went in an bought merchandise in person. I know the exact hours the card was emptied an the card company would not freeze the transaction they wanted to let the money clear before opening a case. Screwed out of 500 dollars.
amazon gift card for every one