BEWARE! Sephora Gift Card Fraud

[TriHan]

Bought $50 Sephora gift card for a friend on Dec 10, 2023. My friend tried to buy Sephora products using the card for the first time on Dec 17, 2023. However, the cashier said that the balance on the card was $0, which was strange.

I called the number on the back of the card and apparently this exact same card was used in an online purchase on Dec 14, 2023. When I asked for more information on who that person was, customer service reps pushed back and said the didn't have access to that information. I asked if I can help report this fraud so that Sephora is aware and can look into it. The customer rep told me to go talk to the FTC. 

Reading online, this is a common issue with Sephora gift cards:

https://community.sephora.com/t5/Customer-Support/Gift-Card-FRAUD/m-p/6737910#M287735

https://community.sephora.com/t5/Customer-Support/Gift-card-fraud/m-p/6700729#M284278

https://community.sephora.com/t5/Customer-Support/Fraud-gift-card/m-p/6739669#M287924

https://community.sephora.com/t5/Customer-Support/Gift-Card-Fraud/m-p/6606392#M278621

This smells of internal fraud. why? because the back of the card was not even scratched off when i purchased it. how would anyone have access to the card number.

[LaurieBT]

Hi @mikaylafriesen,

I'm sorry to hear this and I'm happy to take a look further. I'll send you a message shortly.

Best,

Laurie 

[ellakastan]

same thing happened to me. my grandma bought me a 150 dollar gift card for my birthday. balance is 0 dollars. still have the receipt and everything. 

[StaceyVance]

I would like a reply as well. This is crazy. $100!!  Gone. 

[TriHan]

plus, there is countless other posts on here about gift card fraud. i don't understand how Sephora is not taking this seriously (maybe they are and i am not aware) and why Sephora is looking into this

[TriHan]

Thank you keelybt. That said, what I wanted to hear when I talked to customer service was that they would file this report with an internal fraud team who can investigate and understand who committed the fraud and how it was even done in the first place (how did they get my card number and pin number when the scratchable section at the back of the card wasn't even scratched off yet).

instead, i was essentially told to f off and go talk to the FTC. (not blaming you at all. however, just pointing out how odd the customer service over the phone was).