Missing CVV on Some Visa Gift Cards from Kroger
We have covered gift card scams at Kroger in the past here at Miles to Memories. Mark wrote about one last year, where scammers place a paper bar code where the gift cards are scanned to be activated. This bar code activated a card they have themselves and not the one in the package.
Today I came across a post on reddit by bplturner, who reported a new type of scam that I hadn’t heard of before. Some of you might have come across this, but I don’t have Kroger around here.
He noticed that four of the Visa Gift Cards that he purchased didn’t have a CVV number at all. He was able to drain three of them. You can see the image of the cards without a CVV below.
If a gift card doesn’t have a CVV number, it doesn’t mean that it is useless. You can still use it for in-store purchases. But it does limit you from using it at most online merchants. Scammers sometime mess with the magnetic strip as well, which makes it even more difficult to use the card anywhere. If you get hit with both on the same card, it might spell big trouble.
This is actually similar to what Benjy mentioned in his article recently. But in this case the number was completely removed.
Conclusion
I am guessing the goal for scammers here is to delay the use of fund on the gift card. If they tampered with the packaging, they probably have the card information and they will use the funds once they figure out that it is activated.
This is yet another reminder to thoroughly check gift cards as soon as you purchase them and also to drain them as quickly as possible.
Let us know if you have noticed a missing CVV on any or the gift cards you have purchased.
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This just happened to me at a Walgreens in KC. The CVV has been rubbed off and the card functions as though it was never activated. I was on vacation when I realized there was an issue and am not trying to track down receipts, etc.
Is there any type of credit card protection for these fraud situations? I’m sure the store is going to tell me to contact the VGC Bank, and the VGC Bank is going to tell me to contact the store or send me running in circles.
Happened to me at a safeway in bellevue WA
Happened to me. Called right away and a replacement sent before it could be drained.
How long did it take before you got it?
I have 2 of these cards with no cvv
How do I use them ? Can I use them to buy another gift cards.
How long did it take ?
I purchased a Mcdonalds gift card at Kroger and was then told at McD that it is not activated. Definitely being scammed!
Additional thing to do, even though a pain in the butt, is call in as soon as you can and change the PIN. I usually do it from the car as soon as I leave the store. Yes, time consuming but I think it might help.
Hope this isn’t the case with ones from Staples. I’ve bought a thousand in vgc’s from them.
Moral of this is NEVER buy a gift card. There are way too many other ways to transfer funds today.
there been some 500 visa been tamper in safeway in calif also where the bar code has a strip that falls out when open