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.
Wonderful Wanda says
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?
rick b says
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.
David says
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).
Jay says
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.:(
T S says
No CVC when used as debit, just 16 digit number and repeat SAME LAST 4 as PIN.
I just got burnt on some, tried calling everyone in the chain to ask how to be safer. No one would help!
My best guess they figure out ‘batches’ – as the barcodes and 16 digits are not that special.
So pick up random barcode distribution to lessen their odds.
Then go to the car and change pins immediately by phone.
timothy says
your full of shit jay i just had this happen on visa gift my sister sent to me…so shut up ahole
Mark says
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.
David says
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.
Stu says
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
Angelina Aucello says
So frustrating!
John Thomas says
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.
Rob says
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…
Jasmine Perez says
Did you ever get your money back?
Gail says
Whatever any of you do don’t ever ever ever buy a serve prepaid Visa or serve prepaid American Express the American Express Serve Department definitely definitely fraud look up serve Enterprise complete bulshit heathen Warfare non-american sucks I don’t know what they’re up to the lady that was helping me corporate American Express that we were doing a three-way conversation with serve all the sudden phone with silent they actually had enough pull on their side to make her disconnect her call with me I am still freaked out about that with a very very eerie feeling she mentioned exposing them and all the sudden she’s like disappeared never heard from her again promised you wouldn’t hang up she promised if we got disconnected that she will call me back and I’ve never heard a word from her again just weird feeling
Rob says
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!
Crystal says
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.
Stephen D says
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.
Joyce says
I got 2 100 dollar vanilla visa gift cards for Xmas and no sooner did open and tried to use it they were both on zero balance. Now i have to spend the next six months of my life filling out dispute forms and making declarations under oath that they weren’t my charges. And there’s no guarantee to get the money back so it’s probably all for nothing and my friend lost 200 dollars. Gift cards on anything are NEVER an option for me again ever!!
Lori says
This just happened to me on a $500 theperfectgift visa. All the money gone before I even opened it… I call the number on the back of the card and cannot get a real person to talk to… I don’t know what to do? Anyone? And I’m guessing I won’t see that money either?
Kara says
Yes they can. I recently sent a $100 visa gift card to my brother for Christmas. When he activated it there was only $2.00 left on the card. When he finally got through to customer service, they informed him that someone in California had used that card number for multiple online purchases before He ever received it in the mail. He filed a fraud claim & now has to wait at least 90 days to get compensated. I will never by gift cards again!
Ron says
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.
Ted says
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.
colleen says
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.
Askmrlee says
Newer cards I see at Safeway have just a tear strip to expose a barcode and no paper mag stripe.
Olesya says
Yep, same thing happened to me. $800 down the drain!!! Fought with their complaints and replacement Dept for over 6 months, no answer or results. Will try stay away from these deals from now on or spend it immediately (within an hour) after I purchase one.
Pahill says
They will waive the replacement card fee. Make sure you call in and talk to a rep to activate it so that they can waive it then (just explain to them the situation), If you do it through the automatic system it will automatically charge you and you will have to do a dispute to get it credit back. I had the same situation happen to me a few months ago. Lesson learned.
rpm says
I got a one vanilla card.i put 500$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.
Deidre says
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!!
Stephen Dreher says
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.
Jamie says
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.
Chriss Gllespie says
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.
Matt says
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.
Wueenp says
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.
Isiah says
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.
Susan says
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.
Jasmine Perez says
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?
keith lambert says
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
Mandi says
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.
Janice says
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.
Caitlin L Moss says
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.
richard says
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.
T S says
My transaction are a clue:
Tested the card (pending) at Carl’s (Hardees).
Later tested the card again (different place, but all of them), again pending.
Then , $98 or so at Target.
All California.
So the pending were not spent, but tests.
The $98 Target had to be another gift card, with no sales tax.
T S says
Also, they’ve gotta’ be testing thousands of numbers, automatically with a PC, and then get a ‘hit’ once the card is ‘loaded’ at purchase.
Erdogan says
Hello to everyone. i bought Gift Card from Ralphs grocery store. i put 200$ in it and than i came to home. One week later i came to use my card for online purchase and i tried to activated first.
I saw that card used before and just 44$ left.
I call the number which is behind the card after 2 hour i got someone on the line and they tried to help me as:
send dispute form
fill it
send it in 10 days
wait for investigation
wait for result
than we will see if we can help.
This is ridiculous. They already knows we cant follow all these things of because busy life style over here.
So http://www.prepaidgiftbalance.com company just steal money from people like this.
Newman says
Same thing just happened to me, and now I’m in the middle of the whole ridiculous process of (hopefully) getting the funds returned to the gift card. It’s been weeks of calling and being on hold for 60min before finally getting a hold of someone who really doesn’t care (or just getting hung up on). I’m super frustrated and close to giving up, except that now I’m mad and I think they want me to give up, so I want to keep going:). Anyway… anyone else think it could be some internal fraud at M/C, so that a percentage of people who receive these giftcards and get hacked just give up trying to get the funds back because it’s such a laborious process? Would save Mastercard a lot of money…
Gail says
That’s so funny that you mentioned could it be an inside because I’m thinking the same exact thing with serve prepaid American Express I’ve been fighting with them for over a month finally I decided to call corporate American Express Corporate had a lady on the phone with me that stayed on the phone with me but we did a three-way conversation with serve because they have been hanging up on me for a month just kept getting the same answer from every Department through serve which was there is absolutely nothing we can do they couldn’t refund my money because you cannot file a dispute unless you register the card yet there was absolutely no way that I could register the card I kept getting an error that said oops we failed to load this and serve wouldn’t connect me with technical support so that they could reset the card I don’t think it would be that hard anyway so the lady from corporate I could tell she was getting frustrated cuz she just had a feeling something was up it was just you could feel there was a scam going on within the company so the corporate lady says well why don’t we do an expedition the man from serve stuttered a few times and then said excuse me what did you say and then she reputed it I thought to myself what the hell does this word mean so I made a mental note look it up later but anyway all the sudden silence I just figured he hung up again so I start talking to the lady you know thanking her silence I’m like hello is anybody there time went on for another 7 Minutes of just silence and then finally the phone disconnected very eerie feeling that serve had this much control over the corporate American Express that they had her disconnected from my phone call it just was a very Eerie feeling she even had told me earlier if for whatever reason we got disconnected that she would phone me back if she promised that she would not hang up on me she was a very very nice woman and I’ve not heard from her since. I looked up that word and pretty much what it means is that on her side corporate. She’s going to pull all of the bigwigs together and expose the company and they would be fined and just a lot of negative things on their behalf and like I said the phone call just went silent and it’s really a freaky feeling I don’t know what is going on over there I’m definitely ready to give up and then I would say about 20 minutes after that conversation I open up my text and there’s a spyware message malware whatever its called and of course in my mind I’m connecting the two anyway if you look up online serve Enterprises which is serve prepaid American Express it is a huge huge scam so I’m not trying to get in the middle of no Warfare money or whatever the hell them people are up to
Scott Ryan says
Months ago I was scammed by some rip-offs after my father’s death, they promised to fix my credit score. I told them my entire financial situation and they promised to help me ASAP and I trusted them. They asked me to make an upfront payment of $2000 which I did. I had already made the second payment of $2000 before my wonderful cousin sister who has been beside me through all my ordeals convinced me they were scammers, she later introduced me to a credit guru (Metronet Credit Solution) who had helped her acquire loan in the past. They helped me clear every negative item on my report and boosted my score to excellent within 9days interval; they further helped me to recover my $4,000 from those scammers. I’m very grateful for their help. I strongly recommend them to any person in need of credit fix, fund recovery, bitcoin recovery. Are you tired of been scammed Contact them via METRONETCREDITSOLUTION@GMAIL.COM or text 6 2 6 5 1 4 0 6 2 0for any kind of loan, bitcoin investment and don’t forget to mention me.
Bobbie says
Today I purchase a large amount US Bank Gift Card as part of a fuel points system. It would have given me about 2.00 off 35 gallons of gas. I came home, called to activate the card and was transferred. The woman I spoke with said their Fraud Department had defected the card was compromised in January of 2021. (This is May of 2022). There was no damage to the packaging as if it has been tampered with so I was really confused. I know the store does a turnover of cards and no way a card has hung on the shelf since January 2021.
So I was told they would send me a new card in 7-14 days because the card has been compromised in 2021. The store I purchased for said they just sell the cards so now for 7-14 days I am out a large sum of money. Lesson learned I will never buy this gift card again, especially after reading your comments.
Bf says
Type O, the amount off gas would have been about 2.50 off each gallon of gas
Legal Diva says
Litterally JUST happened to me! I just registered the card and no sooner than that the transactions began popping up as I am sitting at my desk. Anyone who says this doesn’t happen is clueless. I am a lawyer and a Judge-I have no reason to make this up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG! this is horrible!
Gosnell Renee says
It’s imperative that I tell you this. You guys have to note that not all those out there who pose to be hackers are real. Creditors kept coming after me and putting all to my credit report; this really caught up with me and kept drowning my credit score. My score was 495 low and all my cards were maxed out. I have been on search lately on how to take off eviction from my public records with lots more, people on different forums kept talking about professionals but most were all fake, I was skeptical to trust a ghost this time until a friend introduced me to what he referred to as “One on one with your best and reliable hacker ” on that very day, I mailed them on ROOTKITSCREDITSPECIA LIST AT GMAIL DOT COM for help, few minutes later, I got a feedback on steps involved, fortunately for me I requested if we can meet in person because the address was close to me and the GURU agreed and scheduled appointment time, we met and he took time to explain everything involved and I visited twice before conclusion of job, I paid in cash for the first time using credit repair service , the fear of being scammed was off track. it’s been 5 days now after I pulled my score and it showed up on excellent reports with all negative cleared. I’ve applied for loan last week on their recommendation. Today, I just got approved, its like a magic last week but I pleaded with them to wait I get loan approval and to be convinced of the 790 excellent score I pulled last week was real. Thanks to team ROOTKITS CREDIT SPECIALIST for the job well done and hopeful you will finish my hubby own Asap this week. You can WhatsApp: +1(626) 514 0620 and appreciate me soon
Jasmyn says
I just purchased a Vanilla Visa Gift card from Walmart. I go online to check the balance and it shows $150. I try to buy things online and its declined due to card error. I go back online to check my balance and it says there’s a card error. I call Customer service and they told me I need to go back to the store because it wasn’t activated…. Why would it show a balance if it wasn’t properly activated? smh
David Schultz says
I purchased an American Express gift card at Walgreens. I came home open up the package went to activate iI purchased an American Express gift card at Walgreens. I came home opened up. The package went to activate it after I put $220 on the card at the store.. when I went to activate it, it said there was a zero balance on it and five transactions. Four of them failed but the fifth one finally took, and they took the entire amount of money off of there. I called the American Express card company number on the back of the card and it turned out to be a phony baloney company that every time you tried to open up the website or get a number or email them or go on the Internet and pick the difference website listings it would always come up not enough information salty address my LifeLock and Norten Spie Ware I would say unsafe site. I cannot get a hold of the company to save my life because there’s no way to contact the company. It turned out it was a dummy fraudulent front of a company. I called the American Express company number again and they told me that , the transaction that was made would take a week and a half to be processed and taken off the card. There was nothing they could do. They wouldn’t turn me over to the fraud department or make a case even. Because the card was in limbo, waiting for the company to take the money off of it . So when I waited to the day that the card was supposed of been processed through the so-called company.? It turns out the money never came back on the card and the money was spent. I called the American Express number again back on the back of the card because they had my name in their system already and they could not make a claim to get my money back for a fraudulent case because they could not get a hold of his company either . I told the company many times throughout the week that I could not reach this company or get a hold of them so they need to cancel the card. But they said if they cancel the car, the money would never be returned to the card, so I had to keep it open. so as I said, I did not get the money put back on the card and the card somehow was spent. The company turned out to be fraudulent and American Express did not help me get the money back because they said they had to wait for the company to take the money to begin with to file charges . I don’t know why American Express does not have an insurance company to repay people money back like that especially when people use their company in good faith and get robbed. It’s very irritating to know that I had no control over the situation to get a hold of the company to have American Express help me and to make a case to even get my money back to begin with. To this day I never got my $220 back, and American Express didn’t even help me even though it was their card which they said they can’t make fraudulent claims through that type of service. I’ve had this happen with GreenDot and Vanilla as well and I have lost several thousand dollars over the last few years because the companies refused to really help you. Not to mention when I called American Express and explain this to them several different times they would just hang up on me Because I would ask them what am I supposed to do if I cannot get this company to help me or you to help me. And when I would explain it to them again, they said you just have to wait to see if the money gets returned to the card or gets spent off of it then we will make a claim. And I told them you’re not going to get a hold of this company because it is a front . I know that’s a lot of the monies that I get stolen off of prepaid cards usually come out of Massachusetts or New York.
Martins Armstrong says
Losing a loved one can be very devastating. I lost my dad who was my best friend about 6months ago. I drowned myself in alcohol in order to forget my sorrow but to no avail. Before I realized myself, my life was already a mess. My credit which was at 761(three years of hard work) had already dropped to 498, all my cash spent and all my card maxed out. I had so many negative items (late payments, inquiries, collections, judgments and garnishment). A good friend of mine recommended METRONET CREDIT SOLUTION; they helped me raise my credit 784 from the initial 498. I am very grateful for this great help. If you’ve messed up your credit and you really need quick assistance, then I recommend them. I reached them via metronetcreditsolution at gmail dot com. Thank me later
Nunyabuziness says
I bought a $110 Vanilla Visa Gift Card at Safeway. Right out of the package the card number on the front was already scratched off. I cannot activate my card. It looks deliberately scratched off. I feel scammed I cannot get a refund even with my receipt. I called and got a ticket number but nothing. I
I don’t know what to do. Should I call the local news or file a complaint, and have BBB help me get a resolution to my problem?
Tompae says
amazon gift card for every one
Andrew Lakeford says
Do you want to find out if your significant other is cheating on you , pherhaps you are curious about who they message or what they do with their whatsapp
all day. If you wish to monitor any mobile phone remotely from your phone , i advice you contact this wonderful hacker > privatehacker247 @ gmail . com.
He got me access into my ex girlfriends phone and i saw her chat with other dudes, I really want to thank you Private hacker from saving me from a cheating
partner. His services are 100% secured and he made it easy for me through out the whole process.
Dylan Wright says
I just have to share this testimony. I am finally a free man. My records are clean, I have a great job and a better house. All thanks to this genius Vadimwebhack@ gmail’com
I was so tired of being turned down and rejected on potential job opportunities due to an assault charge and DUI that occurred over 20 years ago. My mugshot would pop up which was humiliating.
I had bad credit which made me find it hard to rent or buy a car. But I’m glad all that is over now, all thanks to Vadimwebhack@ gmail’com
I am a licensed professional counselor with a masters degree. I have goals to go further in my career but was blocked by my online incriminating information until Vadimwebhack stepped in. IF YOU NEED HELP, CONTACT Vadimwebhack@ gmail’com.
Dave Kellener says
A poor credit can have a negative impact on your life. If you aspire to ever own a home or car, building and maintaining a good credit score is essential then I will advise you to contact credit hero for quick solution. A lot of lives have been transformed through his good services and I’m one of his beneficiaries. You can also contact him with all your credit related issues and get your credit fixed to an excellent standard with the following contact details Email: credithero123 @ Gmail dot Com “
Greg Clayton says
GOLD CREDIT is the best online credit repair company i have seen so far. When i urgently needed my credit score increased so i could get approved for a loan to buy a home for my family i first contacted 2 credit repair guys that ripped me off . They only took money from me without doing any single change on my credit. They kept on asking for more funds with no change or improvement on my credit, so i terminated their service and decided to try one more credit repair expert and to my surprise { GOLDCREDITFIX @ GMAIL .COM } boosted my score to 790 and removed all the negative items on my credit . if you also need a legit credit repair company then contact Gold credit today.
Aaron Powell says
If you are planning on applying for a loan to buy a house or car and you have a poor credit score that is hindering
then lenders from approving you , then you need to contact this credit repair master called credit hero.
Credit Hero helped me when i wanted to buy a home for my Sick Mum but my credit score was in the poor 500 and i
got denied when i aaplied the first time. I contacted {credithero123 @ gmail com} to work on my credit and he was
able to boost my credit score from 512 up to 795 in 2 weeks. I want to use this medium to thank him because i have gotten approved for the loan with my new score.
guangzo mihn says
With a business deal on the line, I needed to clean up my credit report fast. After detailed research to avoid being scammed again, I chose an ethical hacker. I found (support@thehackerspro.com) and, despite few testimonials, felt confident. Their dark web expert, Vladimir Kolarov, also expunged my criminal records. It was money well spent.
Keira Watson says
I completely recommend Tech Wizard to everyone in need of a credit specialist. School Grades Change, DUI repair and other credit related issues. After I did my due diligence, I contacted Tech Wizard through (TECHWIZARD64 @ GMAILCOM) and narrated my problem and how I would want to proceed with fixing my credit report because I was at low 490. He confirmed he will increase my score from to 770 which he did in just 3 weeks, he removed all the collections and charge offs I had and also added some tradelines to my report. I completely recommend Tech Wizard!.
christine wirsing says
To everyone who has been duped, hacked, or lost bank funds and bitcoins by fraudulent internet investors or hackers who tricked you into making false investments or trading cryptocurrencies, I heartily suggest this book. 90% of the money I lost—$457,000—was retrieved from a phony investment platform after I fell prey to a cryptocurrency fraud. By apprehending the criminals and scammers, my friends who were also defrauded and lost their bank assets are now receiving their money back. Your cash can only be tracked down by CIPHER BLADE RECOVERY. Speak with them right now to get your money back.
Contact them:Telegram:@cipherbladerecoveryltd
Solana Cillian says
Never trust friends around your man because they will all deal with you just like I was dealt with by friends who snatched my man away from me all thanks to Albertgonzalezwizard this hacker is the reason I got all the informations about my man having an affair with my friends right at my back because I got all access to my man phone remotely and I was able to see a lot of there chats from WhatsApp, text messages, iMessages and many more.. with the help of albertgonzalez@cryptorecwizard.com or albertgonzalezcryptorecoverywi@gmail.com Whatassp +31 616251474 Or Whatassp: +31 685280486 ( Telegram: Albertgonzalezwizard ) I got the best phone hack without trace.
Anna says
Well I have always used Kalfjohnson424 @gmail com for any Private online investigations. Have you ever needed an expert when it comes to hacking? Have you ever wanted to hack someone’s email account? Recover lost accounts, school grades, boost credit score? Do you need to find a person’s sensitive information? Do you want to invade a person’s PayPal, Skrill, Amazon, Facebook, or any other site account? Upgrade of University Grades, Password, and email Retrieval, phone Lines monitoring, Skype Accounts, Hack Social Network, Trace calls on real-time conversations, Remove Criminal Records, Credit Fixing, cyber-crime investigation., Identification of Cheating Partner or employee, Search no more because thehackerspro forensic team is your go to contact Kalfjohnson424 @gmail com.
Watson says
I want to publicly appreciate the effort of kalfjohnson424 gmail com for helping me hack my partner’s whatsapp messages without touching the target phone in less than 24hrs and my partner did not find out.. he is fast and highly reliable.. You all can also contact him for all sorts of hacking [whatsapp, kik, facebook, password recovery, chat histories, grade upgrade e.t.c]. just tell him joy refered you…he would be willing to help you. Goodluck.
Cheng kurt says
FINALLY I GOT MY LOST BITCOIN BACK ALL THANKS TO KEVIN M HACKER
Hello everyone I want to use this Medium to say big thank you to KEVIN M HACKER for they helped me recover my stolen crypto worth $250,000 through their hacking skills I tried it I was skeptic but it worked and I got my money back, I’m so glad I came across them early because I thought I was never going to get my money back from those fake online investment websites . you can also contact them via Email: kevinmitnick100@hackermail.com or WhatsApp via: +12569564498, or Telegram @Kelvinmhacker, and I’m sure you will be happy you did.
HONG TIA CHO says
When the unthinkable happened and a valued Bitcoin wallet was lost, I was hopeless and lost. But thanks to the expertise of “GHOST CHAMPION RECOVERY PRO, the trending Ethical hackers and PI on the web made this miraculous recovery possible. This highly skilled team of cyber digital punks swung into action, the minute I reported a bunch of losers who almost made me lose my digital assets investment. Leveraging on these scammer’s weaknesses and using their deep technical knowledge and cutting-edge tools to trace cryptocurrency already sent out. Through meticulous analysis and tenacious private investigative prowess, they were able to pinpoint the exact location of the missing Bitcoin, which had become entangled in the complex web of online transactions. GHOST CHAMPION RECOVERY PRO carefully extracted the valuable cryptocurrency, navigating the labyrinth of code and cryptography that stood in their way. It was a triumph of human ingenuity over technological complexity – a remarkable feat that left the grateful owner in awe. In the end, the lost Bitcoin was restored, the crisis averted, and faith in the power of digital asset recovery was renewed. GHOST CHAMPION RECOVERY PRO has once again demonstrated its unparalleled ability to solve even the most daunting cryptocurrency conundrums, emerging as a true hero in the high-stakes world of digital finance. It was not a good experience for me when I lost my bitcoin of 205,000 USDT, I had nothing to do until someone told me about GHOST CHAMPION RECOVERY PRO. I gave them a chance and today I am grateful for it. Get GHOST CHAMPION RECOVERY PRO to get your lost bitcoin back via: ( ghostchampionwizard@gmail.com )
Murphy Schwartz says
In the past 1 year now the cryptocurrency market has grown more unstable, and these investment firms have preyed on those hoping to earn handsomely from their cryptocurrency holdings. As one of the victims of a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment scheme, I lost $121,000 in all. Luckily, I was able to contact VIRTUAL FUNDS RESURRECTION, the most well-known and reliable cryptocurrency recovery company who was able to assist me in getting back my lost cryptocurrency. I was left behind and I was unable to access my investment accounts or cryptocurrency wallet. I am thrilled and appreciative to VIRTUAL FUNDS RESURRECTION COMPANY of their assistance in helping me retrieve back my $121,000 of my cryptocurrency funds.
Email: virtualfundsresurrection001{@} zohomail.com
Website: https://virtualfundsresurrection.info
support@virtualfundsresurrection.info
Anna says
i want to publicly appreciate the effort of kalfjohnson424 gmail com for helping me hack my partner’s whatsapp messages without touching the target phone in less than 24hrs and my partner did not find out.. he is fast and highly reliable.. You all can also contact him for all sorts of hacking [whatsapp, kik, facebook, password recovery, chat histories, grade upgrade e.t.c]. just tell him joy refered you…he would be willing to help you. Goodluck.