City attorney of San Francisco is suing InComm Payments over consumer scams. The lawsuit alleges that the insecure cardboard packaging used caused rampant “card draining” and unauthorized transactions . It also alleges that Incomm Payments aware of these problems for over a decade, did nothing to address it and also refused to provide remedies for defrauded consumers.
Hat tip to ADKFlyer
And, what do consumers get in return? Why, raised fees on Mastercard, Visa, and AmEx gift cards, of course!
milesperday.com/2024/11/incomm-replacing-5-95-vgc-with-7-95-ones
Any know if there’s any update on this and the other class action case against these fraudsters?
I recently tried using an Incomm $50 gc that was given to me a couple years ago from a relative. Found out it had been used around the time given to me at Amazon. Opened a dispute with Incomm and was emailed this week that my claim was denied because it was “out of the timeframe of recovery”. Has anyone succeeded in recovering funds after a denial from the company? Can you appeal? What other recourse is available?
That long ago, you’re probably out of luck. Credit card issuers require like 30-60 days from statement date that a dispute has to be filed, assume it’d be the same with a prepaid card.
Sorry that happened to you. I try to use right away but have been guilty of waiting several months and luckily have escaped draining.
Hi Brooke, Did Incomm say what time period is a “timeframe of recovery”?
I bought a $2500 AMEX gift cart for my wife in late-November as a Christmas gift. I gave it to her on Christmas and she attempted to use it in early-January only to have all transactions declined. We subsequently learned the card had been fraudulently drained so I opened a dispute with Incomm. Today (4/21) I was informed my dispute was declined. I am beyond pissed – any suggestions on what to do?
Did they tell you why your dispute was declined? I would try filing a BBB complaint, I know Incomm was pretty active at resolving customer disputes on their BBB page at the time that I filed my disputes. You could also try a CFPB complaint and a complaint with your state attorney general’s office, even against American Express itself. Best of luck.
FDIC Demoncrates .. wheres our security. 💩
I, too, refuse to understand economics!
In 2022, between P1 and P3, I purchased about $2200 worth of virtual Visa gift cards from Sams Club online with a 10% off Cash app debit card offer. Almost all of them were completely drained by the time I went to redeem them straight from email. None of them required activation, you just had to click through the link in the email they sent you to immediately see the gift card numbers. No security at all whatsoever, I don’t recommend anyone to purchase virtual Visa gift cards from Sam’s Club online (although I have purchased physical Visa gift cards from them before with no issues). I had to make/send several phone calls, emails and BBB complaints, but I finally received all original balances via check by mail. I made almost $200 on the deal, and didn’t have to worry about liquidating the cards after all.
HI! Currently dealing with this with physical prepaid visa gift cards purchased from target.com a few years ago that I just opened from sealed packaging recently! Horrible! How long did it take InComm to get you the replacement cards? Thank u in advance if u get the chance to answer my question. I’m glad u got ur replacement cards!
It took about 3 months after the initial phone call and email to get the checks in the mail. I don’t know about replacement cards, I opted for checks in the mail since the cards could have been easily compromised again.
This happened to me when I had purchased Saks Fifth Ave Gift Cards. Over $200 worth of money taken and hours of headache with no solution.
Good, because of their incommpetence. How’s it that my card was drained right after it was loaded? I’ve raised a concern that something automated checks the balance, and nobody even cared to pay attention to what I’m saying. A simple captcha would solve the issue. That was some years ago, IDK if they fixed it or not, but the company couldn’t care less and treated it as a cost of doing business. One of their employees, on another occasion, told me that they do a lot of licensing with banks. I forgot the name of the popular Barclay’s card, it had a redemption portion; that part and many other bank websites’ offer/redemption part were through Barclay’s. They are not consumer-oriented, she told me.
If a card’s balance is checked prior to the card having been purchased, then the card should be blocked from getting money loaded onto it.
Some criminals attempt a small charge at a online merchant to test if the card # is activated. The card issuer is never notified if the card # as never been activated.
The test charge must get linked back to the actual card number in order to check whether there are any funds left. When that happens before the card was purchased, then the card should never be allowed to activate.
Hi,
aram ! Were you able to get ur money back from InComm? Currently going through a DISPUTE with them right now over hundreds of dollars worth of physical Visa gift cards purchased by relatives from Target on 2021. Stayed in their original sealed packaging until I got them and tried to use them this year to help pay some bills and found out that they have been drained :(.
So sad, disappointed and stressed by this situation. I hope InComm does right by us and gives us the funds back! Such a horrible experience.
Probable outcomes from these issues:
1) Retail stores will start placing gift cards in controlled areas where only sales staff have access.
2) More law suits against gift card issuers like INCOMM and retail stores to encourage better tamper-proof packaging.
Bonus: If you do manage to received an untampered with card, there’s a good chance they’ve decided to start blocking the merchant you’d like to use it at under the guide of “security concerns”