Gift cards have caused quite a headache for retailers in the last month, exposing another way that fraudulent activity can eat into razor-thin profit margins. Gift card fraud can range from physical theft to cloning to exploiting programming errors on the merchant side. The methods of attack are very similar to what is seen with credit card fraud, but gift card fraud is less widely reported in the news. The reason is that, unlike data breaches that involve credit cards, personally identifiable information (PII) is rarely disclosed. Regardless, it is important for both merchants and customers to know how gift card fraud occurs, so they can recognize the behavior and protect themselves. On June 1 st, Australian retailer Woolworth’s that led to AUS $1.3 million worth of gift card numbers being leaked online. Several weeks prior, Starbucks had two high-profile gift card incidents – one involved a security researcher that that allowed him to transfer card balances between cards without deducting any value, and the other involved the auto-load feature on cards that allowed fraudsters to quickly drain attached bank accounts. According to by Brian Krebs, Starbucks itself was not hacked – the customers were. The article goes on to explain that customers often use the same username/password combination across multiple sites and when a website is hacked, cyber criminals will often take the password dumps and try them on multiple sites. This is what most likely happened to the Starbucks customers; it’s very inconvenient and costly to the victim but avoidable, if good password habits are used. There are many ways to commit fraud using gift cards and they are very alluring, for many reasons. ![]() First, and foremost, there’s a low chance of being prosecuted. The dollar amounts on each individual transaction are relatively small and not enough to garner the attention of large law enforcement agencies that have the ability to catch the perpetrators. Second, it’s very easy to commit fraud. Lastly, it’s easy to convert gift card value into money or merchandise. How is gift card fraud commonly committed? ![]() There are three primary categories of fraud: Hacking accounts As described earlier with the, thieves can hack into gift card accounts and quickly drain them of money. If the auto-load feature is turned on, within seconds, a cybercriminal can quickly rack up charges and start the process of moving money off the compromised gift card account. Another common route is using gift cards to quickly monetize the value in other hacked accounts, such as credit card rewards programs or hotel points. This is how it works: • A cybercriminal will obtain the username and password to a person’s credit card rewards program, usually through reused credentials or malware. • They will log in and check the value of the account. For example, let’s say it’s $5,000. • Credit card redemption programs offer many different items they can redeem in exchange for points. Nov 15, 2017. Safeway/Albertson's/Randall's/Tom Thumb/Acme & Shaw's is having a gift card promotion where you can get an instant $10 discount off your $150 Visa or Mastercard gift card purchase from today through November 28, 2017. This offer is limited 1 per customer, and you'll need to save the offer to your. Issuing Statement. Your Visa ® Gift Card is issued by either MetaBank TM or Sunrise Banks, N.A., 200 University Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55103, Member FDIC, pursuant to. Woolworths Money VISA Prepaid Gift Card Terms and Conditions The Card is issued by Macquarie Bank Limited ABN 46 008 583 542 (AFSL and Australian. For a limited time only, Safeway is offering a great gift card promotion where you can purchase $150 Visa or MasterCard gift cards and get $10 off at Von’s, Randall.
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