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.

[JessLau12]

Same thing happened to me today. $50 gift card GIFTED to me from my employer. I pulled the card off of the cardboard it comes on at the store to use it, and was told it had $0. The card number and pin hadn’t been scratched off, and wasn’t scratched off until I called the number on the back of the gift card to see what was going on, to give the number to them. They were able to see MULTIPLE transactions made yesterday with the gift card, when I told them something weird was going on and that the database that holds all the gift card information had to have been hacked into, because there’s no way possible for anyone to have gotten the numbers that I didn’t even know until 2 minutes ago, I was told that “their system can’t be hacked” LOL. Well there’s no other explanation for it. Then I was told nothing can be done, gift cards are treated as cash and can’t be replaced if lost or stolen. Even though I didn’t lose it and it was stolen/hacked from issues on SEPHORAS end; that has obviously been brought to their attention multiple times based on these reviews. I was then told to call my bank. For what? The gift card was valid when it was purchased and then was virtually STOLEN. Should I call my bank when I pull $50 out of the ATM and drop it on the ground without noticing? Why should my bank pay for their fraudulent/shady transactions? Furthermore, I didn’t purchase the gift card and it might be hard to get ahold of the CEO of the large company I work for to let him know the gift card I was given was hacked after purchase and ask for another one since Sephora wont hold themselves accountable. It sounds insane to even have to explain that, and for them to stand by that solution is even worse. THEN when I thought it couldn’t get worse, I asked them if they can see the order that was placed with MY gift card, then can they cancel it? And then credit my account the $50? No, it’s a security issue. But my stolen gift card wasn’t. 

I basically felt like they thought I was the one trying to get $50 out of them and that I was in the wrong for wanting reimbursed. They KNOW this is a problem, so maybe until they can rectify the issue, they should happily credit the customers account and take the loss on the small amount of money they’re losing. I was actually baffled by the way this was handled and never in my life have I stopped shopping somewhere over terrible policies and customer service, until today. I’ll take my thousands spent there a year and go to the actual brands website to purchase. Even reimbursing me the $50 wouldn’t make me go back there at this point. Get it together Sephora, it’s embarrassing. 

[ShannSleeze]

This just happened to me as well. My husband bought me a $75 GC for my birthday, and a $25 one for a promotion. I went to use them today. Both of them are now $0. So freaking upsetting. 

[keelybt]

@ShannSleeze I'm sorry to hear that! I will send you a PM. 

[GwenJE]

This just happened to me.  I was unaware of the problems that people were having.  I bought 2 gift cards on the same day at my local CVS and then mailed them to family in different states.  NEITHER card worked.  Sephora could tell us that the cards were used after I bought them but that's it.  How are people doing this without scratching off the pin?

[hneels]

UGH YES. This just happened to me today! My bridesmaids bought me a $30 gift card last week, we we went in store today to buy makeup for my wedding. Great experience instore, but when we went to check out and scratched off the pin (instore!!) it said it had $0! Apparently there had been a transaction on May 3rd that used the  $30….I just received gift card and scratched off today, May 4th!  So that’s impossible. Totally dampened the joy of buying makeup for my wedding. We left disappointed and received pushback from both the gift card department and the fraud center. Makes me NOT want to continue business with Sephora. 

[ccn27]

Wow I can't believe how often this is happening. I spent over an hour in a Sephora store in NYC with this same problem. My mom gave me a $50 gift card for Christmas and when I tried to use it yesterday, I was told it had a zero balance after a charge on Dec. 13. I hadn't even received the card on Dec. 13! 

The location employees were very kind and tried to help by calling customer service but we were told this was a fraud case and out of their hands. I'm a Rouge member and frequent customer and this makes me want to reconsider my loyalty. It's disappointing. 

[KNSantos]

I cannot believe that this is a such a common thing. This was my first birthday I asked for a Sephora gift card and was excited to use it for the sale. As soon as I was checking out my card balance was only $2! 

[LaurieBT]

Hi @KNSantos,

I'm sorry to hear this! I'll send you a private message shortly.

Best,

Laurie

[DiiGood]

Agreed! And they use within a couple of days of activation. They know it's an issue and refuse to do anything. I reported to FTC as well. 

[Lizbethriveera]

This is so frustrating currently going through the same thing I  bought a 50$ gift card that I was originally going to gift but ended up keeping it and when I tried using it yesterday balance was 0 

[keelybt]

@Lizbethriveera I'm sorry to hear that! I will send you a PM. 

[daniiiaug]

This just happened to me… received gift card as gift on 12/28 and rep told me it was used online 12/23.. the day the card was bought….. I also don’t have 16 digits only 13 please help 

[keelybt]

@daniiiaug I will send you a PM. 

[geearch]

Can you please help me as well. I purchased a gift card and all they say is go to the store you purchased it from since you bought it from a third party there is nothing we can do. They made 4 purchases ONLINE and they still can’t help me 

[Fanofjj]

current situation, wack sephora couldn't even tell me any information.

I had fraud with a target gift card and they were able to tell me what day and what it was used for.

What ended up happening?

[DianeD77]

I am going through the same thing.  I bought a $50 gift card for my niece, and she went to use it and they said it was depleted already.  The last 4 digits of the card are missing. I am calling the 800# on the back of the card and they are acting very sketchy and unhelpful.    

[LaurieBT]

Hi @DianeD77,

My apologies! I'll send you a message for more information shortly.

Best regards,

Laurie 

[Caelleai]

I had the same situation happen today. I bought the card on 12/8, it was drained to -0- on 12/13 but I still have the card and the package and stickers are untouched. A manager at Sephora's help line told me there is a known scam running but wouldn't do anything.

With the number of complaints easily found online, this smells like an inside job for sure...

Is there any resolution here?

[keelybt]

@Caelleai I'm sorry to hear that! I will send you a PM. 

[keelybt]

@TriHan I'm sorry to hear about this experience. I will send you a PM.