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I had $2,200.00 in eBay gift cards stolen from me

67 REPLIES 67

Re: I had $2,200.00 in eBay gift cards stolen from me

To the best of my knowledge, that won't work.  eBay gift cards are entirely non-refundable and untraceable, so when they are gone, they are GONE.

If the OP gave those card numbers to another person, they were redeemed immediately.  Trust me, when I tell you this, there is not one penny left on that card (or cards). 

We have people coming here often who have fallen for this scam, usually to buy a vehicle that they see listed on another site.

Message 31 of 68
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Re: I had $2,200.00 in eBay gift cards stolen from me

I guess you don't understand that eBay is not law enforcement nor do they have the judicial powers to go after a buyer and invalidate their payment.

eBay will never take payments for items back from a buyer. 

They can only return payments back to a buyer. 

 

 

Message 32 of 68
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Re: I had $2,200.00 in eBay gift cards stolen from me


@bonjourami wrote:

"Easy. They know the card number, and they know who used it. Ebay could go after who used it to get more info or shut them down."

 

And you know this...how? As it says on the back of every card, this card is non refundable. The ops cards were not stolen, he voluntarily handed the numbers over to the scammer.

 

https://pages.ebay.com/giftcardscams/


'The card is non-refundable' - that usually means you can't buy it at a store, then return it to that store for your money back.

 

Correct, they were not stolen, just used in a scam. Whoever got the card used it(or sold it), and ebay would know exactly who used that specific card. They can start from there. If these scammers would start getting phone calls from the ebay legal dept, and the ebay legal department actually DOES something about it, maybe it would help slow this down.

 

Message 33 of 68
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Re: I had $2,200.00 in eBay gift cards stolen from me

Why would Ebay get involved in a professed sale from another site? Because a scammer requested their gift cards? That doesnt make sense,Ebay is not the police. The non refundable and untraceable also means non refundable,and untraceable on Ebay. And what about all the other gift cards scammers request, like Itunes, Shopify and Amazon? they should also track down these thousands and thousands of gift cards used in scams? It boggles the mind. this is a $56 billion dollar scam a year.



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“Never pick a fight with an ugly person. They don’t have anything to lose.” ~Robin Williams
Message 34 of 68
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Re: I had $2,200.00 in eBay gift cards stolen from me


@clemowbooks wrote:

 

The only difference is that the original listing was on eBay and not on AutoTrader or Craigslist.


No, the original listing was not on eBay. 

Message 35 of 68
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Re: I had $2,200.00 in eBay gift cards stolen from me

@ra_201044 

     


@ra_201044 wrote:

@bonjourami wrote:

"Easy. They know the card number, and they know who used it. Ebay could go after who used it to get more info or shut them down."

 

And you know this...how? As it says on the back of every card, this card is non refundable. The ops cards were not stolen, he voluntarily handed the numbers over to the scammer.

 

https://pages.ebay.com/giftcardscams/


'The card is non-refundable' - that usually means you can't buy it at a store, then return it to that store for your money back.

 

Correct, they were not stolen, just used in a scam. Whoever got the card used it(or sold it), and ebay would know exactly who used that specific card. They can start from there. If these scammers would start getting phone calls from the ebay legal dept, and the ebay legal department actually DOES something about it, maybe it would help slow this down.

 


You know I agree with what your saying, there has got to be a way to stop this fraud of gift cards and it has to start with the ecommerce sites and their fraud depts.

     Just talking about ebay only, what if every single ebay gift cards came with an exposed 3 digit number on the back. Before anyone could use this card, that 3 digit code must be registered on the site and cannot be used in the 1st 24 hour period after entering this code.

     This code would be linked to the main code that gets scratched off and if these cards were to be used in a scam, alerts would be sent to the ebay fraud divisions where they could trace/ stop the transaction.

     The original purchaser of the gift cards would print out all the 3 digit codes after registering them and be given a special number to call if they suspect fraud.

     Every plan starts with a good idea and I agree that this vehicle/ gift card scam is getting way out of hand. It's time all the big ecommerce sites to take action and NOW!

Thanks for the memories Tropicana you will be missed
Message 36 of 68
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Re: I had $2,200.00 in eBay gift cards stolen from me


@ra_201044 wrote:

Correct, they were not stolen, just used in a scam. Whoever got the card used it(or sold it), and ebay would know exactly who used that specific card. They can start from there. If these scammers would start getting phone calls from the ebay legal dept, and the ebay legal department actually DOES something about it, maybe it would help slow this down.

 


You do realize that the vast majority of these scammers are NOT in the US, and US law can't touch them. They are sitting in an internet cafe somewhere in Armpitisan, and they use disposable VoIP phone numbers. Finding the actual person or persons behind the scam would be next to impossible.

The easier you are to offend the easier you are to control.


We seem to be getting closer and closer to a situation where nobody is responsible for what they did but we are all responsible for what somebody else did. - Thomas Sowell
Message 37 of 68
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Re: I had $2,200.00 in eBay gift cards stolen from me


@silverstatetreasureboxes wrote:

@ra_201044 

     


@ra_201044 wrote:

@bonjourami wrote:

"Easy. They know the card number, and they know who used it. Ebay could go after who used it to get more info or shut them down."

 

And you know this...how? As it says on the back of every card, this card is non refundable. The ops cards were not stolen, he voluntarily handed the numbers over to the scammer.

 

https://pages.ebay.com/giftcardscams/


'The card is non-refundable' - that usually means you can't buy it at a store, then return it to that store for your money back.

 

Correct, they were not stolen, just used in a scam. Whoever got the card used it(or sold it), and ebay would know exactly who used that specific card. They can start from there. If these scammers would start getting phone calls from the ebay legal dept, and the ebay legal department actually DOES something about it, maybe it would help slow this down.

 


You know I agree with what your saying, there has got to be a way to stop this fraud of gift cards and it has to start with the ecommerce sites and their fraud depts.

     Just talking about ebay only, what if every single ebay gift cards came with an exposed 3 digit number on the back. Before anyone could use this card, that 3 digit code must be registered on the site and cannot be used in the 1st 24 hour period after entering this code.

     This code would be linked to the main code that gets scratched off and if these cards were to be used in a scam, alerts would be sent to the ebay fraud divisions where they could trace/ stop the transaction.

     The original purchaser of the gift cards would print out all the 3 digit codes after registering them and be given a special number to call if they suspect fraud.

     Every plan starts with a good idea and I agree that this vehicle/ gift card scam is getting way out of hand. It's time all the big ecommerce sites to take action and NOW!


That would be a great start! Something has to be done, and it's gotta start somewhere.

 

And to @bonjourami  - all ebay needs to deal with are their own gift cards. 

 

to @southern*sweet*tea  - yes, of course I know that. But as @silverstatetreasureboxes says, registering a code for them could block them for 24 hours, in which case the cards can be blocked if found to be fraud or used in a fraudulent manner. So when someone from Scamistan tries to use their ill-gotten gains, they get shut down.

 

It would take some effort(unfortunately, ebay doesn't do 'effort'), but it could be cut down. It will never be eliminated until people start thinking.

 

Message 38 of 68
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Re: I had $2,200.00 in eBay gift cards stolen from me

 


@silverstatetreasureboxes wrote:

@ra_201044 

     


@ra_201044 wrote:

@bonjourami wrote:

"Easy. They know the card number, and they know who used it. Ebay could go after who used it to get more info or shut them down."

 

And you know this...how? As it says on the back of every card, this card is non refundable. The ops cards were not stolen, he voluntarily handed the numbers over to the scammer.

 

https://pages.ebay.com/giftcardscams/


'The card is non-refundable' - that usually means you can't buy it at a store, then return it to that store for your money back.

 

Correct, they were not stolen, just used in a scam. Whoever got the card used it(or sold it), and ebay would know exactly who used that specific card. They can start from there. If these scammers would start getting phone calls from the ebay legal dept, and the ebay legal department actually DOES something about it, maybe it would help slow this down.

 


You know I agree with what your saying, there has got to be a way to stop this fraud of gift cards and it has to start with the ecommerce sites and their fraud depts.

     Just talking about ebay only, what if every single ebay gift cards came with an exposed 3 digit number on the back. Before anyone could use this card, that 3 digit code must be registered on the site and cannot be used in the 1st 24 hour period after entering this code.

     This code would be linked to the main code that gets scratched off and if these cards were to be used in a scam, alerts would be sent to the ebay fraud divisions where they could trace/ stop the transaction.

     The original purchaser of the gift cards would print out all the 3 digit codes after registering them and be given a special number to call if they suspect fraud.

     Every plan starts with a good idea and I agree that this vehicle/ gift card scam is getting way out of hand. It's time all the big ecommerce sites to take action and NOW!


All that would do is cause the scammers to step up their game

Message 39 of 68
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Re: I had $2,200.00 in eBay gift cards stolen from me

Yep...



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“Never pick a fight with an ugly person. They don’t have anything to lose.” ~Robin Williams
Message 40 of 68
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Re: I had $2,200.00 in eBay gift cards stolen from me


@sanle_8449 wrote:



All that would do is cause the scammers to step up their game


...such as to tell the victim, "There is a mandatory 24-hour waiting period before the vehicle can be delivered to you." Or 72 hours. It doesn't much matter, as the main point to understand is that gift cards are not used for payment; they're used for gifts (i.e. to friends or family, people you know).

 

Our local supermarket has recently posted these warning signs on their gift card display: 

20210130_Warning.jpg

 

It doesn't specifically mention purchasing things from strangers, but it's a start.

Message 41 of 68
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Re: I had $2,200.00 in eBay gift cards stolen from me

Live and learn ... and see my signature. 

Harden My Heart - Quarterflash
Message 42 of 68
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Re: I had $2,200.00 in eBay gift cards stolen from me


@ra_201044 wrote:

It [fradulent use of gift cards]  will never be eliminated until people start thinking.

 


Yes.  People should take oh, maybe, 45 whole second to think: 

 

Why is this called a "GIFT Card"?  Why, that's because I can give it as a GIFT to someone I know when I'm not sure what to buy for them.  It is not called a "PAYMENT card," so why would I use it use it to make a PAYMENT to a seller?  There are many forms of PAYMENT the seller can take for that widget I want, but I'm not giving him a GIFT so why does he want a GIFT Card unless he's up to something..."

Message 43 of 68
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Re: I had $2,200.00 in eBay gift cards stolen from me

@a_c_green 

     That sign is a great idea and it's a start. Listen, I agree with all of you that's it's absolutely insane to think you can purchase a car, truck or RV with gift cards and the price is " too good to be true".

     But unfortunately the bottom line is that people are still falling for this old scam. Why? Is common sense really lacking in people? Do they think this will never happen to me? Do they really trust total strangers with a sob story that much to hand over their cash?

     There has got to be something other than warnings because obviously people do not read and comprehend them. This " I want it all and I want it now" culture unfortunately will be passed on to their next generation, and God help us all.

Thanks for the memories Tropicana you will be missed
Message 44 of 68
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Re: I had $2,200.00 in eBay gift cards stolen from me


@maxine*j wrote:

@ra_201044 wrote:

It [fradulent use of gift cards]  will never be eliminated until people start thinking.

 


Yes.  People should take oh, maybe, 45 whole second to think: 

 

Why is this called a "GIFT Card"?  Why, that's because I can give it as a GIFT to someone I know when I'm not sure what to buy for them.  It is not called a "PAYMENT card," so why would I use it use it to make a PAYMENT to a seller?  There are many forms of PAYMENT the seller can take for that widget I want, but I'm not giving him a GIFT so why does he want a GIFT Card unless he's up to something..."


Maybe I'm missing your point, but eBay gift cards are ultimately used to make payments to sellers, ON EBAY, via the checkout page. And not every gift card is bought to give as a gift.

Message 45 of 68
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