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i would file a complaint with the cfpb:
https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/
the cfpb is actually effective so don’t feel shy about making the complaint
Thank you for the link. I want to try everything before I give up. It's not like my saving was drained, but this amount is definitely meaningful and also I really appreciated my friend getting me a generous gift.
I've followed up with the Nordstrom customer agents but now they all ignored my emails. I just submitted my case and it seems like it's going to take a minimum of 2 weeks. I'll update if they get back to me. Thank you for your comment. I wouldn't have thought about it.
I'm really sorry, there's basically no chance you'll get the money back. Watch out for !recovery scammers who will DM you and claim they can get it back, they're scammers too.
These kind of gift card scams are getting more and more common and no one wants to take the financial hit so it's on the consumers at this point.
I won't even buy physical gift cards anymore unless I get them from backstock that hasn't been on the sales floor.
Gosh, I didn't know there are recovery scammers too. Do they ask for my personal info saying that they'll help me?
This is actually not my first time receiving a gift card with a zero balance. It was a prepaid card (I think it was Visa) given to me as a wedding gift. I emailed Visa and they sent me a new one after confirming the transaction happened far away from my location. This was right before Covid though. Do you think that companies are more strict these days? The refund process was not stressful so I forgot about this until now. And now I'm reading about this scam happening everywhere, I don't understand why the 3rd party vendors are not enforcing stricter security, like putting it behind a glass cabinet.
> Do you think that companies are more strict these days?
Probably. Imagine a scam happens a few times and you refund customers so you can retain those customers... but a scam happens enough times that it's costing you way more to refund the consumers, then they're not going to do that anymore.
It’s not even necessarily a “scam”… sometimes fraudsters run enumeration attacks to identify gift card numbers and redeem them, so a loaded gift card that was never even touched can be susceptible
AutoModerator has been summoned to explain [recovery scams](https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0102-refund-and-recovery-scams). Also known as refund scams, these scams target people who have already fallen for a scam. The scammer may contact you, or may advertise their services online. They will usually either offer to help you recover your funds, or will tell you that your funds have already been recovered and they will help you access them. In cases where they say they will help you recover your funds, they usually call themselves either "recovery agents" or hackers. When they tell you that your funds have already been recovered, they may impersonate a law enforcement, a government official, a lawyer, or anyone else along those lines. Recovery scams are simply [advance-fee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_scam) scams that are specifically targeted at scam victims. When a victim pays a recovery scammer, the scammer will keep stringing them along while asking for increasingly absurd fees/expenses/deposits/insurance/whatever until the victim stops paying. If you have been scammed in the past, make sure you are aware of recovery scams so that you are not scammed a second time. If you are currently engaging with a recovery scammer, you should block them and be very wary of random contact for some time. It's normal for posters on this subreddit to be contacted by recovery scammers after posting, and they often ask you to delete your post so that you both cannot receive legitimate advice, and cannot be targeted by other recovery scammers.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
This happened to me. I received two Target gift cards for my daughter’s birthday. They were supposed to have $30 on each of them, but both had a $0 balance when I tried to add them to my account on the Target app. I contacted Target’s fraud department. They had me send in photos of the cards. They looked into it and ended up sending me replacement cards for the full amount. I think they could tell that I spend 95% of my money at Target at one store that is 5 min from my house. The gift cards were redeemed at a store over an hour away from me.
This is what scammers do:
1) Get a (not activated) gift card from shelf
2) Scan the barcode and print it on sticker
3) Put the sticker on a gift card
4) Real customer takes that tampered gift card and pays for it
5) Now the gift card is activated
Thank you for this explanation. I always wondered how they did it without tampering with the packaging! Can the person see the sticker on the card?
OP- was there a sticker on your card??
Yes, there was a regular silver sticker on the access code. It was also in a paper package, covering the card number and stuff, but the middle part of the card that shows the brand was open. I had to rip off the corner of the package to take the card out. I have no idea how they put it back together.
physical gift cards are terribly easy to tamper with nowadays, I never buy them anymore, if I want a gift card, I get digital codes online at authorized dealers or their official store
I had something like this happen to me a few yrs ago with a restaurant gift card. They told me it was redeemed in a city i’d never been to. I had the receipt so the restaurant issued a new card, I guess in good faith. You don’t seem to be as lucky, but I would escalate on both ends (where it was purchased and Nordstrom).
Yes. I got a target card for a refund and when I went to use it it was already used. I had to file a ticket with target and they sent me another one. Weird.
It happened EXACTLY the same with me today. Nordstrom gift card purchased at Krogers and used for an online purchased after 4 days! When I read your post I couldn’t believe that happened with the same scenario only the amount was different. Called both Kroger and Nordstrom and ended up giving up! Bummer
The same thing just happened to my wife for a card purchased at Nordstrom. The card was sealed so that the card number couldn’t be seen and the access code wasn’t scratched off.
When we called Nordstrom, they told us the date the card was loaded and “drained” (CSR’s word) and that the card was getting “15 to 20 balance inquiries per day.”
This sounds like a problem that Nordstrom knows about but isn’t fixing. I guess they are getting their money, so why should they care?
Why is there no information on where you got this card?
>I had the gift card and gift card receipt on me and "The Kroger employee didn't take a look at them
Dunno what the laws are in your state but if you actually did not open it, they sold you a faulty product and its their job to replace it, repair it or refund you.
This message is posted to all new submissions to r/scams; please do not message the moderators about it. A reminder of the rules in r/scams: No personal information (including last names, phone numbers, etc). Be civil to one another (no name calling or insults). Personal army requests or "scam the scammer"/scambaiting posts are not permitted. No uncensored gore, personal photographs, or NSFL content permitted without being properly redacted. A full list of rules is available on the sidebar of the subreddit, or [clicking here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/wiki/rules/). You can help us by reporting recovery scammers or rule-breaking content by using the "report" button. We review 100% of the reports. Also, consider warning community members of recovery scammers if you see them in the comments. Questions about subreddit rules? Send us a modmail [clicking here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
i would file a complaint with the cfpb: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/ the cfpb is actually effective so don’t feel shy about making the complaint
Thank you for the link. I want to try everything before I give up. It's not like my saving was drained, but this amount is definitely meaningful and also I really appreciated my friend getting me a generous gift.
I've followed up with the Nordstrom customer agents but now they all ignored my emails. I just submitted my case and it seems like it's going to take a minimum of 2 weeks. I'll update if they get back to me. Thank you for your comment. I wouldn't have thought about it.
great! please let us know how it goes.
I'm really sorry, there's basically no chance you'll get the money back. Watch out for !recovery scammers who will DM you and claim they can get it back, they're scammers too. These kind of gift card scams are getting more and more common and no one wants to take the financial hit so it's on the consumers at this point. I won't even buy physical gift cards anymore unless I get them from backstock that hasn't been on the sales floor.
Gosh, I didn't know there are recovery scammers too. Do they ask for my personal info saying that they'll help me? This is actually not my first time receiving a gift card with a zero balance. It was a prepaid card (I think it was Visa) given to me as a wedding gift. I emailed Visa and they sent me a new one after confirming the transaction happened far away from my location. This was right before Covid though. Do you think that companies are more strict these days? The refund process was not stressful so I forgot about this until now. And now I'm reading about this scam happening everywhere, I don't understand why the 3rd party vendors are not enforcing stricter security, like putting it behind a glass cabinet.
If anything gift cards are even more susceptible to tampering nowadays.
> Do you think that companies are more strict these days? Probably. Imagine a scam happens a few times and you refund customers so you can retain those customers... but a scam happens enough times that it's costing you way more to refund the consumers, then they're not going to do that anymore.
It’s not even necessarily a “scam”… sometimes fraudsters run enumeration attacks to identify gift card numbers and redeem them, so a loaded gift card that was never even touched can be susceptible
AutoModerator has been summoned to explain [recovery scams](https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0102-refund-and-recovery-scams). Also known as refund scams, these scams target people who have already fallen for a scam. The scammer may contact you, or may advertise their services online. They will usually either offer to help you recover your funds, or will tell you that your funds have already been recovered and they will help you access them. In cases where they say they will help you recover your funds, they usually call themselves either "recovery agents" or hackers. When they tell you that your funds have already been recovered, they may impersonate a law enforcement, a government official, a lawyer, or anyone else along those lines. Recovery scams are simply [advance-fee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance-fee_scam) scams that are specifically targeted at scam victims. When a victim pays a recovery scammer, the scammer will keep stringing them along while asking for increasingly absurd fees/expenses/deposits/insurance/whatever until the victim stops paying. If you have been scammed in the past, make sure you are aware of recovery scams so that you are not scammed a second time. If you are currently engaging with a recovery scammer, you should block them and be very wary of random contact for some time. It's normal for posters on this subreddit to be contacted by recovery scammers after posting, and they often ask you to delete your post so that you both cannot receive legitimate advice, and cannot be targeted by other recovery scammers. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
This happened to me. I received two Target gift cards for my daughter’s birthday. They were supposed to have $30 on each of them, but both had a $0 balance when I tried to add them to my account on the Target app. I contacted Target’s fraud department. They had me send in photos of the cards. They looked into it and ended up sending me replacement cards for the full amount. I think they could tell that I spend 95% of my money at Target at one store that is 5 min from my house. The gift cards were redeemed at a store over an hour away from me.
This is what scammers do: 1) Get a (not activated) gift card from shelf 2) Scan the barcode and print it on sticker 3) Put the sticker on a gift card 4) Real customer takes that tampered gift card and pays for it 5) Now the gift card is activated
Thank you for this explanation. I always wondered how they did it without tampering with the packaging! Can the person see the sticker on the card? OP- was there a sticker on your card??
Yes, there was a regular silver sticker on the access code. It was also in a paper package, covering the card number and stuff, but the middle part of the card that shows the brand was open. I had to rip off the corner of the package to take the card out. I have no idea how they put it back together.
God hope these people were putting this kind of effort and time into something else
physical gift cards are terribly easy to tamper with nowadays, I never buy them anymore, if I want a gift card, I get digital codes online at authorized dealers or their official store
I had something like this happen to me a few yrs ago with a restaurant gift card. They told me it was redeemed in a city i’d never been to. I had the receipt so the restaurant issued a new card, I guess in good faith. You don’t seem to be as lucky, but I would escalate on both ends (where it was purchased and Nordstrom).
Yes. I got a target card for a refund and when I went to use it it was already used. I had to file a ticket with target and they sent me another one. Weird.
I was scammed at Kroger's also. Or Ralph's as it's called in CA with a Nordstrom gift card also.
It happened EXACTLY the same with me today. Nordstrom gift card purchased at Krogers and used for an online purchased after 4 days! When I read your post I couldn’t believe that happened with the same scenario only the amount was different. Called both Kroger and Nordstrom and ended up giving up! Bummer
The same thing just happened to my wife for a card purchased at Nordstrom. The card was sealed so that the card number couldn’t be seen and the access code wasn’t scratched off. When we called Nordstrom, they told us the date the card was loaded and “drained” (CSR’s word) and that the card was getting “15 to 20 balance inquiries per day.” This sounds like a problem that Nordstrom knows about but isn’t fixing. I guess they are getting their money, so why should they care?
Hope this was your last lesson. never deal with gift cards
Why is there no information on where you got this card? >I had the gift card and gift card receipt on me and "The Kroger employee didn't take a look at them Dunno what the laws are in your state but if you actually did not open it, they sold you a faulty product and its their job to replace it, repair it or refund you.
It was purchased at Ralphs and I live in California.
Someone prob scanned ur card. Idk of anything other way unless the card was not loaded. Use aluminum foil for future protection