Just in time for the holiday season thieves found a way to steal the remaining balance on store gift cards. They take the information from the gift card, put the card back on the sales rack, and then wait for someone to buy it and activate it. Thieves call the telephone number on the gift card to find out if it has been activated. Once it has, thieves take all of the remaining balance.
As reported by Fox News on December 6, 2006, HSBC merchant Best Buy said they will not do anything if a Best Buy gift card has been compromised. Once the card has a zero balance the consumer is on their own. Other stores have a scratch-off that covers codes on the card, thus making them harder to compromise. This is a consumer alert from Household - HSBC Watch. Only buy gift cards that are kept behind a sales counter, protected by a scratch off covering a pin number, and sold by a reliable merchant that offers some form of recourse.
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