The latest Gift Card scam involves people going to grocery stores, pharmacies, and other retail outlets, finding the Gift Card section, peeling the packaging aside and writing down the card number, the security code, and expiration date to use once they find out that card has been activated. Here we will explain how this scam works.
Gift Cards work in a manner similar to regular Credit Cards. These gift Credit Cards have a 16-digit card number, an expiration date, and a 3-digit security code (CVN). The balance of the card is maintained by the credit card company’s authorization system and referenced by the card number which is printed on the card and stored on the magnetic strip.
Therefore you can make purchases using these Gift Cards either by swiping the card’s magnetic strip through a checkout machine or by providing the card number, expiration date, and security code directly to a retailer either on online or over the phone.
Since there is no name associated with a gift card they could be used by anyone with the card number, expiration date, and security code. There is no way of validating a Gift Card transaction against a person’s name or identity.
Now imagine that a scam artist walks into your local grocery store, grabs a stack of gift cards off the rack, and then one-by-one peels the packaging aside to reveal the gift card number, expiration date, and security code. He writes this information down and leaves with a list containing info on over 30 Gift Cards.
Most gift cards are worthless and contain no value until they are sold. Some Gift Cards require activation which involves scratching off an activation code from the back of the Gift Card and calling a 1-800 number to activate the card using this code.
Since this code needs to be scratched off it is relatively protected from people getting the number before the card is purchased.
However, this scam artist can simply wait a few days after writing down the card information and then go to a website like GiftCards.com and use their Gift Card Balance Checker to see if the card has been activated yet.
Once they see that this card has an active balance. They are able to use the card to make online or over the phone purchases using this card information. They will also be able to know the balance on the card and are able to return to this site to check the balance in the future.
Since most gift cards aren’t given to the recipients until their birthday or Christmas, the scam artist will have plenty of time to use these cards. Most gift cards are not used until at least 30 days after they are purchased. This gives the scam artist a large window of opportunity to spend the money before the recipient.
There is no name associated with the gift card so the credit card companies cannot treat this type of theft in the same manner as they would treat regular Credit Card theft. The receipient usually is not the same person as the one who purchased the card so there is no way of associating an identity to the card and the receipient (since they didn’t purchase this card) is also less likely to complain about their balance disappearing.
To protect yourself from this kind of theft, you may want to purchase your card from a customer service person, where they do not have the gift cards viewable to the public and always keep track of your gift card balances.
This one actually works. The trick here is to write the number down without damaging the packaging and then diligently waiting and checking for the person to activate the card. Once the card is activated, presto! you can now use their card.
This works well because (a) no one particular person can claim ownership of a relatively anonymous gift card and (b) as you have mentioned the person who receives the card is not the one who bought it, so they won’t care so much when the card turns out to have a zero balance. They might even blame the person who gave it to them.
Wow! I am amazed that I never thought of this! I will have to be careful when buying gift cards. This is the type of skimming that goes unnoticed.
People have gave me gift cards many times that I have never used. Wikipedia says that around $500 million dollars of gift cards are never redemed and that’s why it is so valuable for companies to offer them. To these retailers unused gift cards are like getting free money.
I am sure that most people who receive a gift card with a zero balance on it won’t question anything. I wouldn’t. I would assume that the person who gave it to me forgot to activate or something. But I wouldn’t demand a refund.
These gift cards pass through too many hands for them to make a big deal about the balance disappearing.
great idea daeg. i can def see how this would work and people could get away with this makin some made lute!
i went to albertson’s tonight and checked out the gift card section. i was easily able to write down the num, exp date, and sec code on 3 diff gift cards. i will try this out and report back soon on how well it works.
Thanks for the heads up.
I always get amazed at the lengths people will go to in order to steal and be a thief.
And Paul, you are no exception :-P.
Wow! The things scammers will go through so they do not have to get off their own behinds and work for a living like everyone else. I will now only buy those gift card you get from the bank directly for gifts, solves this problem 100%.
i have tried this before and it really does work. the only downside is that you have to order the stuff over the phone or internet and then have it sent to your house. even with this there is virtually no chance of getting into trouble because it’s impossible to prove the ownership of a giftcard like these.
thanks for spreading such sensitive info on how to rip other people off… now more people can do that! you didn’t have to put in so many details, there…
and on the other hand though, who would buy a gift card if it looked like the packaging had been tampered with?
i have been able to see the numbers on the gift cards simply by pulling the packaging aside. i never damaged the packaging and it did not appeared tampered with.
there was no way of telling that anyone messed with the packaging.
This site has been dead-on so many times with sharing tricks that actually work. Post more! More, more, more! I love these ideas!!!!
this works, one of the cards whose number i wrote down last week is now active and i just used this number to gain access to a paid website service.
i wonder if you could write this info using a card reader to a black credit card stock and then have an actual physical credit card that could be used to purchase gas.
hmmmm,crooks can easily go online, search for card reader/writer. buy a very very tiny card reader that works with batteries and buy a card reader/writer encoder to write card info onto a blank card taken from the tiny card reader. the tiny card reader is so small you can close your hand around it…swipe gift cards all day long, info stored, wait till numbers are activated, write active info onto blank card…or any card with a magnetic strip..hint, even your drivers license! presto…shop shop shop!
hiya raycon! so where can you buy a small battery powered card reader? I have a card reader/writer encoder, but it’s not battery powered.
i want to find a small battery powered one that fits into the palm of my hand. where can i buy this?
oh, i forgot, you could get up to 20 years for access device fraud, but of course you wont get the whole 20, that depends on your record and the loss amount you caused. no record plus 100,000 loss equals probation, or 6 to 12 months fed time. let’s say you get 12 months, under federal bop policy you’ll get 54 days chopped off that 12 instantly. basically it’s 54 credit days knocked off for every year you get. however, those days can be lost for bad behavior in the joint…sorta like losing funds on ah gift card. but here’s the good part, you’ll be eligible for atleast 90 days halfway house…after buggin your case manager with kites, aka notes, for months. sorta kinda like poor john emailing walmart for months trying to get his money back after somebody stole it off his gift card. is it worth a few months in a joint? i did 13 months for causing 294,000 in losses. before that i was unemployed after 14 years on the job….now i’m an employer/ex-con with nine employees. thanks to gift cards.
so how did you get caught? how would you redeam the funds off the gift cards that you obtained?
so how did you get caught? i only do small time ops… i might take $1500-3000 a month using these methods. i never do mail order, because it’s too risky… i frequently use the cards to get free gas and at stores like the supermarket, pharmacy, or other stores where you can swipe your card yourself. also to book hotels rooms under an assumed name, i show up at 8 or 9 pm and then leave early in the morning, so by the time they find out, it’s already too late.
never let your right hand know what your left hand is doing. that old saying rings a bell of truth so loud it’s akin to the ringing of church bells at high noon. my girlfriend. she suspected i was cheating on her…..which i was, but obviously not as careful as i was with scamming. women possess a sixth sense that can detect an unfaithful lover no matter how well the cheater tries to cover up his trail of deceit. i came home late…4:50..one weekend night and there she was sitting in the dark waiting as i tried to tippy toe upstairs. “where da fuck you been!”, she had shouted from the dark. well, she was fed up with my “tippy toeing”, words were exchanged, emotions were high…so was i, been drinking cranberry and grey goose and smoking kush with three local freaks who likes to do whatever they like to eachother. a nosey neighbor called the police and when they did their signature knock i knew i was going to jail just by looking at the victorious smirk creeping across my girlfriend’s tear stained face. she told them everything. fbi,secret service, and local detectives filled my crib up for about five hours while i sat on a plush sofa wearing new bling…handcuffs! the sad part about this is my “ex” tried to tell the feds she changed her mind and wanted them to leave, after the feds said they were going to seize all of the vehicles…including her 2006 range rover. thank god she didn’t know i had a storage unit full of “funds”. and thank god for condoms, without those i would’ve been seeing that snitch bitch for many years! here’s a kibble, go to a grocery store, buy a can of easyoff oven cleaner with the yellow cap, spray a bill, wait 20 minutes….presto! or go to home depot, buy zep professional strength driveway cleaner concentrate, do the same thing with a bill, get a soft toothbrush to help. b careful.
wow, that’s a crazy story! if it wasn’t for her then you would have never been caught. i guess you need to run your operations outside your house. that way if someone like her does snitch then the police won’t be able to prove anything since the operations take place at a different location. so what other types of scams were you running?
is there anyway you can just steal the cards from the store and get it actiavted by calling a number or something??
no, these cards are activated when you check out at the cashier. the cards contain no cash value until they are activated.
it would only work if the store cashier was in on the scam. they could activate the cards without you paying for them, however this would also cause their change drawer to come up short.
they have worked out a fairly good system to prevent people from being able to steal these cards. when they first came out with gift cards they were all kept locked in cases behind the counter, now with this new system they are kept all over the place, because if you steal them then you have nothing more than a plastic coaster with no cash value.
thanks megan i just had to know…did you try this scam yet and if so how was it?? i would like to try it
yes, i have done this scam but only on a small scale. i made around $900 one month and now i use this trick to create giftcards that i only use to purchase gas. all my gas is purchased using these giftcards.
i normally get the info off of 7-8 $50 cards and usually within 2 weeks 1-3 of them have already been activated. i use each card once to fill up my gas tank (~30$) and then i toss the card. i only use each card once and only for gas. 2 weeks after the first set of cards has been used, i move onto the next. if one card doesn’t work i use the next card because i have several of them.
oooo really is this scam that easy?? how do you make yourself gift cards because i would like gift cards that i can use to shop in stores instead of just on the internet or over phone
yes, it is this easy. all you need is a magnetic strip reader and encoder which can be bought on ebay. you either scan the card or use your computer to write the information to a blank card. it’s that easy.
oooo but the regular gift cards you can just walk into the store pick out cards and copy the 16 digit number?? you dont need a magnetic strip reader for that right??
you are correct! you can just copy down the 16 digit number, the exp date, and the security code and use them in the same way. however with the card reader you can (a) scan more cards quickly and easily without suspiciously wasting time copying down numbers and (b) get the info off a card which has packaging around the numbers.
i used to use your handwritten method at my local supermarket. i would take the gift cards to the in store bank branch and write the info on the deposit slips at the self-service counter. it looked like i was filling out the deposit slips when infact i was copying down the card info off the gift cards.
okay i went to a pathmark last night and i seen that there was no way i can get to the card. The package was SEALED no way of getting in there. Now let me ask if you have to scratch off the back of the $50 card in order to get the 3 digit code how could this scam work because once somebody seen it is scratched off they are going to bring it back. Please tell me what to do because i really want to do this and people keep saying it easy lol
you don’t need the activation code that needs to be scratched off the back of the card. that code is to activate the card, but once its activated it is no longer needed. that is why you wait for the purchaser to activate the card before you can use it.
if the package is sealed you will either (a) have to open it -risky or (b) use a card reader -easy. they are changing the packaging to make this trick more difficult to pull off without a card reader. they are onto us!
Hey Megan, ive been reading your posts and replys and want your take on this:
What I did was go into a few diff stores and grab a handfull of 100$ visas and amex’s. With the Visas, the back has a slit showing the card bar code, i would take the card out, scan the barcode and put the copy inside for the cashier to scan along with a diff visa card to cover up. It looks untouched after im all said and done. With the Amex, the whole package is sealed and they scan the package so what i did was just take cards and swap them. its been about 4 days, and none of my 8 cards are active yet. i know i covered everything and it should work, how long does it usually take before they are active you think?
this totally depends on where you were getting the cards.
at my local safeway (in San Diego) there are lots of people and traffic, it’s always packed, so the shelves get sold fast… even here it usually takes 2 weeks for the first card to be activated.
at this one rite aide which is huge, but out in the suburbs and gets few shoppers the cards may sit on the shelves for months before they are even sold.
just think about it, in order for a gift card to be activated, it must first:
a) be sold
b) given as a gift to the receipent
c) activated by the receipent
each of these steps could take weeks (or even months) for various reasons. some people hold onto the cards for a while before activating them.
it’s a numbers game the more cards you get numbers off of the more return you will get. i once had a list of info on over 300 cards.
if you want a fast turn around… go to your local supermarket which is really busy with lots of traffic. get the numbers off the gift cards from the gift card section. carry the gift cards up to the checkout line and put the gift cards on the racks with the other gift cards near the cashier in the check out line. the gift cards in the check out lines are always sell faster than the gift cards in the main gift card section.
okay so megan your telling me that all i need is a card reader and i dont even have to take off the packaging or nothing??how much would a card reader cost me and where can i get one at??
on ebay for about 300 bucks or go to www.tyner.com, there you will find all you need to swipe gift cards with exposed mag strips on the back and using a card reader/writer(another 300bucks)to write, a.k.a. encode, another card. they have tiny battery powered card readers so small it’s unbelievable. use it to gather the card info, then encode that info onto any card with a mag strip…preferably an identical card to the one original card. this is called card cloning. you can even encode the info on your drivers license! however, all prior info on the DL will be erased which is no problem because it can be rewritten back onto the DL with the reader/writer. i have amazed friends by using my DL at the pump or withdrawing cash-i encoded my real checkcard number on my DL-from an atm. megan is correct on every topic, however, i dont believe she has advanced to cloning yet since all she has done is gas up her hooptie lol. with a cloned card you can use it at the register, or self checkout if your nervous. remember, no identification is required when using a gift card! save every card, used ones that’s been thrown away can be reused by encoding new info. this is a time consuming plan that pays off in the long run. start now because the upcoming holidays will be a booming profit for gift card companies…..all you have to do is clone them.
Awesome info! I am totally checking out tyner.com right now. That mini battery powered card reader rocks!!! I am buying one right now. I gotta get into cloning and plan on being ready for the holiday season and the rush of gift card sales!
damnnnnnn is there anything i can do less expensive….i didnt know trying to do this scam would be so much work
you don’t need the barcode scanner or encoder to do this scam on a smaller scale.
the barcode scanner or encoder just helps you to do this on a larger scale by being able to scan hundreds of cards and the provides you with the ability to write the info to another card which you can use to make purchases more easily.
the basics of this process do not require much work. start out small and then once you bring in some cash and learn how the process works by writing down the numbers by hand, invest in the barcode scanner to make even more money.
can i just get a bar code scanner???by having that i can just steal the cards from the store and scan them myself therefore i can use the cards in stores rather then do everything over internet and phone
i don’t understand what you are trying to say here.
yes, you can just get the barcode scanner and scan the cards in the store, go home and load hundreds of card number info onto your computer, and then use them to make purchases online. that’s what i do now.
it doesn’t make sense to steal the cards and then try to use them because you actually need to purchase the cards before any value is added to them.
the key is this: get the card info and allow someone else to purchase the card and activate it. then make your purchases.
how can i figure out credit card pin numbers?
you can’t figure out credit card pin numbers unless you somehow watch or record the person entering in their pin number.
with these gift cards there is an activation code on the back of the card, but you don’t need that… they key is to write down the number, let the person who purchases the card activate it, and then use that card number once it’s activated.
0k im sorry for the misunderstanding..I need to get that card reader asap
definitely do it! it’s money well spent!
you will make the money back tenfold within a month.
and from what raycon said i would have to put in 600 bucks all together rite??
if you want to do simple carding, the handheld reader for $300 will suffice, but if you want to do the card cloning, then you will also need to get the writer which is another $300.
trust me you will make this $600 back ten-fold. if you only want to invest $300 for now then buy the reader and use it to make your money back, plus another $300 or so to buy the writer.
All You people who had tried this are fucking assholes! innocent people have been ripped off! just be aware that you are technically stealing, and you bitches should burn in hell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
tell me about the rabbits george!
hey megan. I have been reading the comments you joshua and raycon have been posting and i must say i am impressed. It seems like you and raycon really know your stuff. I never tried this scam before. Now about the magnetic strip reader how does that exactly work??? I understand i walk into the store grab a shit load of cards and start scanning but my whole thing is how do i scan them if the cards are sealed in the package thats the only thing i dont understand. Please help me out because i am so ready to buy the reader but i dont want to buy it and i dont know what the hell i am doing!
i *think* that if you buy the right magnetic strip scanner that you can actually scan them through the packaging itself.
i am not completely sure.
thanks susan that would be cool if you can actually do that
i really wanna get my business off the ground. i have some questions for you about this scam so please reply as soon as possible.
ok i went in walgreens the other day and i seen the card packages but there were no cards in them however i was able to see the 16 digit number i want to know if i shudve took the number down?
you should have totally wrote down those 16 digit numbers and expiration dates because once those cards are purchased and activated you can use those numbers to make purchases.
thanks alot rick im going to do that 2morrow i never knew it was that easy….did u ever try this scam? if so how was it for u
yes, i have made thousands of dollars of this. it’s that easy. just be patient and it will def pay off!
Thank you i will start tommorrow
Before I decide on whether to get a magnetic stripe reader I am curious as to how the reader is supposed to work. I noticed all the cards I looked at had the magnetic stripe to where I’d have to bend the package in order to scan the card, is there some trick to this I’m not understanding?
it depends on the card reader, you want to try and get one without a channel, but a direct swipe and with this one you won’t have to bend the packaging to read the card.
where would I find one without a channel? Sorry for my ignorance, I just searched and could not find any that didn’t have a channel. Any chance you could point me in the right direction?
try tyner.com, they should have the card reader that you are looking for!
I checked Tyner, as well as a couple other sites. Maybe I’m not understanding something about the readers as far as what a channel is. Someone just give me a specific model name or two to search for since all the ones I saw have a channel, which I assume is the area on magnetic stripe readers that you run a card in between.
Sorry for being such a nuisance about this, basically whoever can just tell me a model number or something they’d suggest, because I’m just worried that due to how they’re packaged now, I won’t be able to scan them. Sorry for being difficult, I have the money just want to make sure what I’m spending it on works.
Damn, I missed this by a mile. Is this still working for anyone? Does anyone ever get store specific gift cards or just the credit card ones?
This still works, but they have put a few measures in place with the packaging to prevent this, but there are always ways around that.
The credit card gift cards are much better than the store ones because they can be used millions of places as opposed to just one place. This makes them much harder to track, so stick with the credit card ones.
Any chance I could get a few pointers as far as any new techniques? should I just go ahead and snag an MSR? I saw they go for around 300-350 or so, so I can afford one.
try to snag one of the newer card readers where you do not have to swipe it in a slot and it will actually read the card if you place the card on top of the reader. this is a new craze at the checkout lines where you just need to place the card over the reader and lights will light up as opposed to swiping it thru a slot.
which ones are those ones? I saw the guy above me ask about it and he never got an answer. I checked Tyner and some other places and they seem to only have the slot ones. If you can, please help me out with model numbers or site names where they can be purchased. Thanks.
Are the new devices portable data collectors or pocket memory scanners?
I have the models of two of these if anyone is familiar with them.
OPL 9725 Portable Data Collector
OPN 2001 Pocket Memory Scanner
Can portable barcode scanners do the same thing as MSRs?
Try checking both eBay.com and iOffer.com, they sell the best card readers go for the portable type so you won’t have to lug around a huge device into the store which requires to be plugged in.
I often pretend like I work at the store when I am scanning these barcodes. People just assume that I am putting price tags on the gift cards and don’t think anything of it.
Thank you guys, I know where to look for all this stuff. Just want to make sure that portable barcode scanners can do the same as the MSRs. If not, I just want to know what the new devices are called that can read cards without a slot. Thanks.
what do you mean by MSR? i was just wonderin?
NO!!! The barcode scanners can only scan barcodes like lined sku barcodes, they CANNOT SCAN MAGNETIC STRIPS like on the back of credit cards!
Thanks Ronald. With all these questions I’m really only trying to get at what erin and brian were referring to. They mentioned devices without slots that can scan cards without saying what the devices are. My only problem with all the MSRs I’ve seen is that they have slots that make it impossible to use on gift cards due to the shape of the packages.
then open the packages and put them back together.
Vicky: That’s the problem I’ve been trying to figure out. I don’t know if over the past year or so that this scam has been mentioned on here the packaging has gotten more difficult to crack, but I don’t see how the packaging can be tampered with without leaving noticeable evidence that they’ve been opened. Even in the original description it doesn’t really go into any detail on how packages might be opened without showing signs of tampering. Shit, guess I found out about this too late.
Tracy: I was referring to magnetic stripe readers, sorry for not clarifying that.