Yesterday, we reported on a guy who stole about 30 gift cards from Safeway near the Sunvalley Mall.
Obviously the gift cards had no money on them, and most of us had no clue there could be something behind stealing un-activated gift cards.
One Claycordian wrote a comment about why thieves steal gift cards, and now it all makes sense.
Here’s the comment:
Lemme teach y’all clowns about the “not activated” gift cards….they steal the gift cards, take them home, carefully open them, then they write down the full card number, expiration, and CVV. Then they scratch off a couple of numbers before carefully sealing them back up and taking them back to a store to put them on the shelves. Then when somebody purchases (activates the gift card) for $100 or $200 the thief then somehow is getting pinged that funds are available on the card and they quickly use up the money on the cards to buy things. I know this because I myself bought a $200 gift card recently from Target and when I opened it, I noticed two numbers were scratched off which meant I could not use the card that I just loaded $200 onto. I was pissed! I grabbed the entire stack of cards at the Livermore target and slammed them on the guest services counter and proceeded to rip all of them open in front of the manager. At first, they tried to tell me it was a manufactures defect LOL! I THINK NOT! So I caught onto it immediately after I opened my gift card and noticed the 2 numbers scratched off. These gift cards need to be locked in a case or something because it’s truly gotten out of hand and it seems like nobody besides me is catching on!
This falls under the category of “you learn something new everyday.”
QUESTION: How long do you think it will be until all the gift cards are locked up?
34 comments
Scummy. Glad i now know to open the cards right away if i purchase in the future. Thanks flor this PSA.
This has been going on for years. I remember someone telling me about this over 10 years ago. I don’t think they’ll ever lock them up. The stores want them visible so you’ll buy them.
I thought everyone knew about this.
Kind of related was my experience with Walmart, where we bought two several hundred dollar gift cards and gave them as gifts to elderly parents who like Walmart, but when they went to Walmart to find what they were worth, the cards were switched by the employee and they were given cards with almost nothing on them. Walmart has all sorts of security cameras, but did absolutely nothing to follow this up except telling us the cards had been emptied buying stuff at a Walmart in Stockton. Not sure the lesson here, maybe watch your cards more carefully or maybe don’t put too much money on individual cards. I’ve always hated Walmart anyway and this just gives me one more reason. I would have thought it would be in their best interest to know if an employee was stealing.
Any employee that pulls anything like that is stupid, they will lose their job and have problems getting another job. When l worked at Macy’s Palo Alto we had an employee that didn’t give the cards back to the person if there were money left on it. She was found out fired and prosecuted.
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TIP:
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Don’t buy or use gift cards.
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“Cash is king”
Until the government forces crypto on us so they have more control.
Cash is getting harder to use and most likely on its way out
So do I get a compensation from Claycord.com for my free knowledge?? 🙂 hahaah. I’m very happy to see this be re-posted. Awesome!
Yes, you do get compensation, and your gift card is in the mail.
Good information, thanks. In the future don’t take it out on the customer service team, they didn’t anything wrong.
Why did this person have to call those of us who don’t know what happens when gift cards are stolen, clowns? This former claycordian sounds like a rude person.
@RAIDERETTE, GO READ HANNE JEPSEN AND JUMPY JOE’S COMMENTS AND THEN ASK YOURSELF THAT QUESTION AGAIN.
Let me break it down for everyone.
51% of US adults forget to redeem their gift cards (search the stats, it’s true)
Do not buy gift cards, period. It’s an industry for ripoff, er, profit.
Working in an establishment that sells gift cards it is up to the sales associate to check nothing is scratched off. Some times a child will take a card and play with it, if the old enough the might stracth a few numbers off out of curiosity
This is pure speculation, and it is false as well. Somehow gets pinged? How do you propose that is? And the cards would have to be used online that would easily create a trail, it’s not like a skimming hack where the numbers are just sold for profit or actual cards are used that have been created from the skimmed numbers.
If this was a thing then every retailer would also have even more internal controls over these as if they were cash assets.
Unless said person has 20+ years store management experience as I do, this is nothing more than an opinion and no, he did not slam gift cards on the counter either. Yes, I worked at both Target and Walmart.
@JUMPY JOE I DID SLAM THE GIFT CARDS ON THE COUNTER AT THE LIVERMORE TARGET AND PROCEEDED TO RIP THEM OPEN ONE BY ONE TO PROVE THE STORE’S INCOMPETENCE IN PAYING ATTENTION TO THE SCAMMERS TAKING THESE CARDS AND RETURNING THEM BACK TO THE STORES AFTER GATHERING THE CARD INFORMATION. HOW YOU GONNA TELL ME? I KNOW WHAT I DID. AND THIS AINT “SPECULATION” AS YOU SAY, ITS ALL FACTUAL. HOW ARE THEY PINGED? EVER HEARD OF CREDIT CARD SQUARES? THEY STORE INFORMATION AND DELIVER A NOTIFCATION WHEN PAYMENTS ARE RECIEVED AKA OR WHEN FUNDS ARE LOADED. WOW DUDE, LOOK INTO COGNITVE DISSONANCE BECUASE YOU MY FRIEND ARE SUFFERING FROM IT IMMENSELY. FUN FACT: A “KNOW-IT-ALL” KNOWS NOTHING. STEP YOUR GAME UP.
Once a store tells me they no long sell the cards at their own location I no longer get those cards at all. Been to many years of hearing about off the rack store gift cards being ripped off. I try to only get physical gift cards from the business it self. Other wise I do print at home versions.
This does not make sense you can’t seal the numbers up again after the been scratched of.
Most gift cards have a card board cover over the scratch off, and the thieves only need the final digits. If you aren’t paying close attention you wouldn’t notice the last two digits were scratched, and most retail employees aren’t looking for this. I spent a few years as a bookkeeper at a grocery store. I was in charge of the cards and it wasn’t common but it does happen.
@HANNE JEPPSEN WOW GENIUS! THEY OPEN THE PACKAGE, WRITE DOWN THE NUMBERS, SCRACTH A COUPLE OF NUMBERS OFF AND THEN SEAL THER PACKAGE BACK TOGETHER. ARE YOU SERIOUS?
This does not apply to the store gift cards. First of all they are not in a package. When somebody buys a gift card, we scan the card, put in the whatever amount the customer want on the card. Then give the card to the customer. If the customer lose the card or someone steals it, then they can redeem it for the amount on the card. There is no way they the scammers can take cards and strach the number off and redeem the card, since it has not been scanned. Gift cards that have a Visa or similar logo on it, I wouldn’t know anything about them, we don’t sell them where I work. The ones we sell they have to be scanned and the amount entered for someone to be able to redeem them. As for what goes on with gift cards on the internet and other establisment I have no knowledge of. I’m only talking about the ones that are available where I work.
WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT “THE ONES WHERE YOU WORK”! WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE VISA, MASTER CARD AND AMERICAN EXPRESS GIFT CARS THAT HAVE 200$, 100$ AND 50$ OPTIONS. IF YOURE GOING TO JOIN IN THE DISCUSSION PLEASE STICK TO THE DISCUSSION TOPICS.
The article mentioned gift card, it did not specify what kind. I did point out that I don’t know about the other kind of cards. The article mentioned Target, I assumed the talked about Target gift card that would the same as the ones I sell, they have to be scanned and do not expire.
More information for those who don’t believe such type of scam is possible. Unfortunately, as technology changes so will the way these scams work.
https://us.norton.com/blog/online-scams/types-of-gift-card-scams#
There are 2 kind of giftcards, there are ones with a visa, mastercard or some other credit card company logo on them. They can be used at different establishments. We get them at Macy’s, they get processed as a credit or debit card, some the customer have to know the exact amount on the card, and then we put that in the computer, others they computer automatically know the amount, so if it is a $50.00 gift card and the customer spend $25.00 of course there are $25.00 left, but it is not reflected on the receipt. Those cards I don’t know that much about, what is or isen’t possible in terms of scams. However, a Macy’s gift card, can of course only be used at Macy’s, ones the number’s are scrathes off, you cannot cover them up. When the receipt prints out it will reflect whatever amount is left. If it gets stolen or dropped and someone picks it up, and there’s money left on it, it is easy to use, because it is associated with a name, all you have to do is have the card and present it to the sales associate.
Why not just give cash … or a check? Seems silly to even bother with gift cards.
Your story need a revamp. They also carefully open in stores, take a picture with a phone and then go outside and open them. It’s really easy at Target and WalMart as they slip a few in the clothes they take to the dressing room the click click away
I always hated getting gift cards. Cash is appreciated. When I was hurt and out of work someone gave me a Cheesecake Factory gift card that was obviously a regift. Now a door dash gift card that’s legit.
cool story bro
Cash is king? One Christmas, instead of sending toys to out of state relatives, I sent cash. None of the kids got any. They were in different states, so the cash never made it out of California….Oakland????
As an ex-retail manger, this is extremely true. We always train our employees to look for tampered cards but occasionally some slip through. Everyone is human and we all make mistakes sometimes. So I also would hear feedback from customers sometimes about this or similar issues (not usually from my store) and I would explain: “When buying gift cards, ALWAYS inspect them first. If they are bent up, slightly scratched, the scratch off area looks tampered in ANY way. Grab a different one. If it HAS been scratched or you suspect tampering, be a friend to others and bring it to the register and inform them of the possible tampered cards.
@ERIN YOU ARE MY TYPE OF HUMAN. INTELLIGENCE IS EVERYTHING. THANK YOU!
I just read the original comment from again. He writes that the scammers write down numbers etc. and expiration dates. According to California law gift cards cannot expire. In fact we tell customers when the buy a card or get a store credit, they do not expire. So I can only conclude that we are talking about the cards that have a bank logo on it, such as Visa, American Express, as stated previously I have no knowledge of those cards. So I don’t have an opinion.
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