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.

[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?

[lk32]

Same thing happened to me today!

[LaurieBT]

Hi @lk32,

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

Best,

Laurie 

[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. 

[mikaylafriesen]

hi! i also have the same problem as well. i had an 100$ gift card and it said it didnt cover the cost in my cart (which is did) so i deleted an item, went back to checkout and it said my gift card had 20 cents left

[melissaarroyo]

this exact thing happened to me today. I went to sephora to use my gift card for the first time today and they said my balance was 0$. I contacted costumer service they said they can’t do anything about it or offer any replacements. This was a graduation present and i’m not even sure what to do now…

[LaurieBT]

Hi @melissaarroyo,

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

Best regards,

Laurie  

[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 

[timh]

Laurie, Can you please send me a PM? This just happened to me.  My dad sent my 8 year old daughter a gift card and it wound up arriving with $0 and customer service told me there were 5 transactions 5 days before the card even arrived me us in the mail.  Thank you!

[LaurieBT]

Hi @timh,

My apologies! I received your message and I'll respond 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).