If you know anything about scams, you'll know they often revolve around gift cards. To call something "the gift card scam" would be inaccurate at best.
The G2A Gift Card scam is only sort of a scam. Criminals will take stolen credit card details from various places, and use them to purchase legitimate gift cards. The gift card details can then be sold. It's really just money laundering.
The IRS/FBI/Police Gift Card scam is one in which someone is told they have a warrant, which somehow can be resolved by paying money in the form of gift cards. Mostly targeted at the elderly.
The same applies to the Advance Fee Gift Card scam, in which someone is told they will recieve a large amount of money (millions), but they juuuuust need to pay a couple hundred dollars in shipping/processing fees.
But none of these are the scam I am describing.
I am the victim of the Gift Card Tampering scam. How it works is someone walks into a store and heads for the gift card display. They look through them, and conceal some. They shoplift the cards. Gift cards have no value until activated at the cashier. Congrats to the thief, they made off with several worthless pieces of paper.
At home, the crook uses some combination of tools to open the card without damaging it, probably a blade and solvent. At home, they have all the time and privacy to do it seamlessly. Once the package is opened, the claim code is copied down. Optionally, the thief can take this time to mutilate the card's claim code, making it unredeemable by whoever buys the card.
They then replace the peel-off sticker, and re-seal the package. Then, the card is reverse-shoplifted back onto the shelf in the store. The thief then leaves, and hopes for some schmuck to come along and activate the card at the register.
Guess who the schmuck was.
Once the card is purchased, it's a race against the clock for the thief to claim the code before the gift card is opened and claimed by the genuine customer. If the store has no rate limiting on the gift card endpoint, the card can be drained seconds after being purchased. If not, that's where the code mutilation comes in to buy the crook some time to check the cards manually. Once the purchase has been verified, the claim code can be sold online on sites like G2A.
So... what should a victim do?
I bought the card simply to convert physical cash to an Amazon balance, so I bought the card, walked to my car, and opened it up in there. I noticed the issue, walked back into the store, and was immediately told that Gift Cards were ineligible for refunds or exchanges... but I was also told BY THE SAME CASHIER that this sort of scam happens all the time. I was told to try calling this random ass phone number for help getting a refund.
The companies participating in the calls below are aware that the call is recorded, as they state "this call may be recorded" at the start of the call.
The agent told me that they were for returns only, to which I explained that I wanted a return. They told me that the store had to authorize the return before they could help me. I then tried the store's corporate line. They were closed for a holiday... even though the stores themselves weren't.
Okay okay fine... I'll call Amazon. I've certainly never had any issues with their support ever. On this call I feel like I was a little rude at parts, and while I did just get scammed, I do feel bad about some of my tone in this call.
Anyway, Amazon (on the 20th) told me I would hear back from them in 24-48h by email.
The next day, I called CVS corporate (finally open), who despite seeing the receipt in the system, said they would need 7-10 business days to research the issue.
Amazon, to their credit, did get back to me, and asked for photos of the card.
I replied to the email with the requested photos. No reply. Time to call again I guess.
After a polite call, I was told that they would get back to me in 48h. They did not. I followed up the email on February 1st (2/1). In the mean time, I called CVS to see what they were up to, on the 3rd.
CVS told me to keep waiting... fine.
How about Amazon? They did not reply to that followup email. Time to call AGAIN.
48h my ass. I've heard that so many times, it's absurd.
Anyway, 2 days later, CVS leaves me a voicemail, basically telling me to fuck off.
Alright, fine. I'll see what Amazon has to say about the stupid email.
VICTORY!! They told me that I would be receiving $25 to my Amazon account. Okay, that's it, problem solved. Blog post over.
After a week, nothing was credited to my account. Time to call again. Also, check out the date. This is a month since I first bought the gift card.
The (very kind and understanding) agent was apologetic and told me that he would follow up the next day by email. To his credit, he did... only to tell me to await further replies.
So I waited.
And waited.
Another week goes by. FINE. I'll fucking call again. I just wanna see where this goes.
...the rep specifically said they would bypass the investigation and issue me a $25 credit directly. Finally, actual resolution.
and it was added!
So... I spent well over 2 hours calling Amazon and CVS and all the other people involved, just for $25. Clearly the time here was not worth the money, but it does make a good blog post.
I am not sure why Amazon seemed so incapable of replying to me, or really keeping any promises made, but hey, I got my $25.
The blame game - who's at fault here?
Clearly, the obvious answer is the scammer. That answer is technically correct, which is the best kind of correct. But it's only a good answer if you're boring.
Amazon clearly shares some responsibility in this, because their support systems don't work very well, though I am not going to attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. Amazon sees no additional profit from this, and actually may see less profit if people become wary of gift cards.
How about CVS? That's the store I bought the card at, and they refused to give me a refund. It would be awfully convenient if I could blame them, but I cannot for reasons that will become clear in a moment.
Let's take a look at the gift card packaging.
Say... what is that "Fastcard" bit in the upper left? Apparently it's a trademark of "InComm"... whatever that is. Their website says that they are a "gift card payments partner" who work with thousands of companies. I blame them.
I was speaking with a CVS employee after I got scammed, and they told me that this scam kept happening because the rack of gift cards was on the sales floor instead of behind the counter. When I asked why, they told me that the vendor who provides the gift cards insists on the display being available without a cashier. Why? I'm sure that they have the excuse of "increased customer engagement" or some other corpo-speak, but their whole business is gift cards. They must know damn well about this scam, and that merely allowing gift cards to be placed behind the counter could substantially reduce the number of people getting scammed.
It is (probably) simply the fear of lost revenue due to the additional hassle of talking with a cashier that is keeping this scam from being disrupted, and that just... sucks. It's so unfortunate that it's come to this.
Now I assume that InComm are the people who provide the racks of gift cards, though I could just be wrong and am blaming the wrong company. Whatever company is truly at fault, I hope you have your worst financial quarter yet ❤️.
...and as for the actual scammer who physically tampered with the card? Go fuck yourself.
