Last week my wife purchased a Walmart gift card for a relative . We gave her the card on Monday . Today she went to use the card and it had been emptied . My wife called Walmart and they said it had been used in an online transaction . They are going to refund the money but we are trying to figure out how it happened . She lives alone and the card had been in her possession since we gave it to her . Any ideas ?

I don't specifically know how Walmart does its gift cards process. But if it's like most gift cards, that particular card was likely stolen from Walmart, the coating protecting the security code number on the card back was removed and the code logged. Then a fake coating was reapplied to make the card look unaltered, then the card is repackaged and slipped back into Walmart, waiting for someone to buy the card. How the thief checks whether the card(s) that they're reinserted back into the store has been loaded with credit...that part I don't fully understand. Perhaps they may try to buy something and see if it works?

But the same thing happened to me when I bought a Kroger gift card as a gift a few years ago. The recipient told me that the card had been emptied. In my case Kroger wouldn't refund me the funds that I had loaded onto the card. I did a bit of internet research and discovered that this particular scam is more frequent and prevalent than we might otherwise think. I mean, what store watches the gift card rack for shoplifters?

I don't know how

I was given a $400 visa gift card, went to use it and it was declined. I called them and they said it was used in CA. They asked me for the PIN on the back and sent me a new one

Along the same lines, didn’t Walmart just pull all those various gift cards over theft issues?

They had them for restaurants and such, gone now.

quote:

Originally posted by sourdough44:
Along the same lines, didn’t Walmart just pull all those various gift cards over theft issues?

They had them for restaurants and such, gone now.

She just bought the card last Saturday , so obviously not .

Same thing happened to my mom at Walgreens in FL- she bought my son a Roblox gift card or some game type gift card, and he tried to use after we returned home from Christmas with her, it was used. He was disappointed, and I just thought we had somehow messed up accessing the points..now I wish we’d followed up.

cards are not active until scanned at a register,

and most are supplied by Blackrock, IIRC (been out of the biz for a good while)


most store cards are attached to a backer, and the VISA and MC's are inside the packaging,

likely someone has a way scan the numbers on the back of the card (like a register would) and get in the system, or it could be a cashier activating them and stealing the numbers ,

or some other nefarious computer related trickery,



we had a group years ago that would steal a credit card, buy gift cards at one store, then go use those cards elsewhere
by doing the transactions in several stores it prevented them from getting caught easily,

tho lots did get caught and prosecuted

quote:

Originally posted by lyman:
cards are not active until scanned at a register,

and most are supplied by Blackrock, IIRC (been out of the biz for a good while)


most store cards are attached to a backer, and the VISA and MC's are inside the packaging,

likely someone has a way scan the numbers on the back of the card (like a register would) and get in the system, or it could be a cashier activating them and stealing the numbers ,

or some other nefarious computer related trickery,



we had a group years ago that would steal a credit card, buy gift cards at one store, then go use those cards elsewhere
by doing the transactions in several stores it prevented them from getting caught easily,

tho lots did get caught and prosecuted

I’d never have thought of doing that. Geez.

After several phone calls , emails , and finally a trip back to the store where she purchased the card , she got her money back . It was the local store manager that finally resolved it . Customer Service person wasn't having it .They only wanted to give a partial refund . They screwed with the wrong person .

That has been active around here for a while. The crooks print out barcode stickers for the back of the cards, attach them and hang the cards back on the rack. You come along, grab a card, take it to the cashier and add money onto it. My understanding is that you are actually adding money to an inactive card number online.
Check the back of any card you are interested in and use your fingernail to feel for a sticker.