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.

[MikeCarol]

Yep - same thing happened to us.  Bought a $50 gift card for our niece om 12/20/2024 and it had 0 balances when she tried to use it today.  Sephora was no help.  Any chance we can get our money back?

[bme774]

This happened to me as well.  My family bought a GC for me on 10/23 at CVS in Bedford, NY for $40. But when I went to the Sephora store, it had a zero balance. Sephora customer service tells me it was drained with three separate purchases on 10/25 (while the card was in the mail to me from NY to MA). Sephora customer service could only read me a script about how it was like cash, and if the card was lost or stolen, it would not be replaced. I should call the bank connected to the credit card that was used to purchase the GC. BUT - I have the card - it was not lost or stolen - the number was hacked, and it seems this is a huge issue for Sephora. When I escalated to a manager on the call, she just ready me another script about how it's a known issue but they will still not replace the card and essentially said "ok, so bye." Infuriating - and disappointing. I and my family members are long time customers of Sephora, and I expect more. Please empower your customer service reps to do something for customers experiencing this - or you will lose a lot of customers. It's truly a missed opp to surprise and delight those that support the company - esp at the holidays! 

[rich2079]

DEC 26TH my daughters attempted to use their $50 gift cards the recievd for Christmas in store only to be told their balance was at $0 dollars. Upon calling Sephora customer service we recieved a very scripted response from both the call center agent as well as their manager. The cards were brand new the pins not scratched nor was the packaging opened. Yet we were told to contact our financial institution to report that we had been a victim of online fraud. I tried explaing to both the agent as well as the manager  I used cash to purchase the gift cards and assured them of the fact no one else aside from my daughters on Christmas had access to these gift cards. Again the response was we treat gift cards the same as cash nothing we can do. However they knew when the cards were used where the items were shipped to etc... Sephora your customer service is unbelievable and I hope everyone who reads this chooses to not support a store who realltly could care less about their customers.  

[jtalbot1113]

This same this just happened to me. I was gifted a $50 gift card yesterday for Christmas and when I went to use it in store today the balance was $0. Is there a way to get the money back on the card ever or is it just a loss?

[nikki2398]

Same thing happened to me. This seems to be an ongoing issue in which Sephoras customer service is absolute trash. They don’t even take down the gift card information to even start investigating fraud. They don’t care, they got their money. Now my daughter is out a gift. I will never spend a dime at Sephora in the future. Each customer service rep was completely useless. File a claim with the FTC. Ok did that but don’t you want to help your customers, don’t you have a fraud team to investigate all of these fraudulent claims? The worst customer service I have ever interacted with. Not one representative tried to help me. 

[devy03]

this just happened to me, after speaking with several customer service representatives they told me the same thing

[BriKd]

Sephora truly has the worst customer service I've seen and they have completely lost me as a customer. Ukta would neeeverrrr.

[knwyne20]

Just became a part of this scam that Sephora is pulling off of its loyal customers!! I had been saving a giftcard of $100 from may 12th 2024 for the sale that is happening as of right now and apparently it got used on may 16th 2024 WHEN I JUST SCRATCHED THE CARD RIGHT NOW! i called the customer service and the person on phone AGREED that the card could have a same hard number somewhere else! I MEAN WHAT IS MY FAULT HERE if someone else hold the same card as this?? They gave me little to no information about the transaction where its 2024 and they should have all information about the trasaction!

I bet sephora is snagging money from this scam that is totally internal now that i am reading the conversation here as i am not the only one! its about time Sephora is going to get sued for pulling off this scam and pay off millions of dollars to settle! 

[nikki2398]

Submit your claim to the FTC!!! I did. Not letting this go after reading all of these same stories. 

[dksumm]

OMG, something similar happened to me today! I was given a $75 gift card last month for my birthday and I actually went to a store like a week after to verify the amount since it wasn't written on the card. I had not touched that card until today when I went to purchase an item but was told there was $0 on the card!!! So bummed because I really needed the money 😞 

[nikki2398]

Happened to me today too, a gift from August and I have had the card with nothing scratched off. File a claim with the FTC. I hope they get sued. 

[radiaad]

Same thing happened to me today and no one can help me . They steal 200$ 

[DaneeBT]

@radiaad oh no! It looks like your private messages are currently turned off. You can adjust your preferences in your settings on a browser, not the app. Please send me a private message with your registered email address and gift card number or you may contact us via phone at 1-877-737-4672 or via our live chat for assistance. 

[lexynina]

This exact issue happened to me. It's such a bummer that Sephora is just letting their customers be scammed like this. All I wanted was to use my birthday gift card and now I have to tell the person that gave it to me that their gift needs to be refunded, total drag. Their customer service was disappointing too. 😞

[Dee904]

OMG! Same thing happened to me. Went to use my $100 birthday gift card and had a $0 balance. I called the number on the back and they said it was purchased on the 9/6 which was my birthday party and used the exact  day for 4 $25 purchases.   I DIDNT EVEN RECEIVE THE CARD YET!!! And some other person used it. The person on the phone from Sephora said they can’t do anything about it.  THIS IS RIDICULOUS!!! $100 birthday gift out the door.  I WANT HELP WITH THIS MATTER!!!!!  

[LaurieBT]

Hi @Dee904,

I'm sorry about this! It looks like your private messages are turned off, and you can adjust your preferences in your Community settings (on the browser only, not the app). If you would like to send me a private message with more information, I'll be happy to look into this. Alternatively, you may contact our live chat at https://www.sephora.com/beauty/contact-us or call 1-877-SEPHORA (1-877-737-4672). If the chat is unavailable, please keep the page open until the next agent becomes available. Thank you!

Best regards,

Laurie

[nikki2398]

Your customer service is ABSOLUTELY no help. You are doing nothing to help your customers. 

[Dee904]

Hi Laurie

i turned on private messages.  O look forward to hearing from you 

[Pancakes16]

same thing happened to me was gifted a gift card of 150$ tried using it the other day and the lady said it has 0 balance when it was never used and scratched off. unfortunate this happens to many. I called Sephora gift card tech and they looked at the history saying it was used the same time they added the money with multiple purchases made. unfortunately they can't do nothing about it they should really take better care into there customers and the way gift cards are being purchased . 

[KimberyKM]

Same thing happened to us.  Bought the card for our daughter for Christmas, went to use it at the store and was told it had a zero balance.  Found this forum and ended up calling the number on the card.  They told me there were 2 online transactions in April, 3 mins apart that used all of the funds.  The time of day was during the school day, so my daughter could not make an online purchase.  Got transferred to fraud prevention and was told that they are looking into this, but gift cards must be treated as cash and there are no refunds.  It's awful that they have known for a while they have an issue, but seem to refuse to fix the issue.  Thanks for letting me vent.