I purchased some gift cards at Michael’s in December and two of them were for $100 each for Macy’s department store. When the recipients tried to use them at Macy’s, they were told the cards had zero balance. I’ve tried to have this resolved at both Michael’s and Macy’s, and so far have gotten nowhere. I’ve been told by both Michael’s and Macy’s that these gift cards are “third-party vendors” and that this matter really isn’t their stores’ liability. Do you have any information regarding gift card fraud? I am out $200 and would like this matter resolved. — Disappointed, Holtville
Gift-card scams take many forms, and this is one of the latest. In fact, from what we’ve been able to find, this particular scam is going on across the country and just as people try to redeem their cards.
We can’t tell if Michael’s has much to do with this, but most of the cards are Macy’s cards. What the letter writer was told about a “third-party vendor” seems to be the standard response coming from Macy’s, although it seems some Macy’s stores are trying to please their customers by giving replacement cards. But that seems to be a local decision rather than a corporate directive.
According to the Los Angeles-based consumer affairs site, “The Consumerist,” the method of draining these cards is pretty tricky, and starts before they even leave the store.
Apparently scammers are somehow getting the number on the card, either by opening the packages and scratching off the stuff covering the numbers or by peeking inside the sleeve to get the number. All of this is done banking on the fact that the purchaser of the card does not notice it has been tampered with, “The Consumerist” writes.
Then, right after the holidays, the scammers will keep calling the number on the card or checking online to monitor whether the card has been activated or activate the cards themselves and drain them dry.
We started calling regional and national Macy’s corporate relations Monday afternoon, but we received no callbacks as of press time.
It probably isn’t fair to hold either Michael’s or Macy’s responsible for these new and increasingly creature avenues of crime. We would just recommend vigilance when buying these cards, checking for package that have been tampered with.
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