There was one confusing thing about the story. She says she went to use the cards, and found that they were already empty.
THEN, it says she scratched off the codes to enter them.
How did she attempt to use them without scratching off the code?
If the code can be read by the computer without scratching off the back, that is a clear security hole, as anybody with a scanner could pre-read the cards. So I don’t think it works that way.
If I were using a card, I would turn it over unscratched, and have a picture of it unscratched, and point out to the cashier that I have not scratched it, so that if when they scratch it they find it empty, I have an employee who will testify that I had not scratched it.
This seems to happen a lot, so if I were designing these cards, I would have a pin built into the process, that the card purchaser would enter when buying the card. That way, there would be a number associated with the card that nobody could possibly have guessed ahead of time.
Walmart probably generates the PIN using the visible card number and someone has reverse engineered the code.
Yep, sounds fishy, but she did pull it off, since she got another $550 out of them. With stories like this one, Walmart will find a lot more people ‘claiming’ to have empty gift cards.
THEN, it says she scratched off the codes to enter them.
How did she attempt to use them without scratching off the code?
You only need the code for on line, telephonic and mail order purchases. In person purchases only require you to swipe the card.
The cards also have either a magnetic strip or a bar code that the clerk scans in at the register. I have never had to scratch off a gift card to use it. Not at any store.
I found out the hard way... I have bought phone cards that were brand new and not scratched yet that had already been used up. but apparently there is a way to do it from just the bar code by scanning it with a smart phone app. Not sure how it works but I got nailed twice and the manager explained they are using this technology somehow. So I pull out a deep stack off the hanger and grab from deeper back rather than the ones in the front.