Gift card Fraud?

[KS05]

Anyone ever experience gift card fraud from an actual PHYSICAL gift card?  Never in my life have I ever had an issue with a Sephora gift card until now. My mother purchased one in store December 9th 2024 and gifted to me December 24th, 2024.  However, today when I scratched off the card and PIN # i had a rude awakening that there was zero balance on the card.  Called Customer Support and they told me the balance was used. I told them impossible, I'm holding the physical card and just scratched off the card and pin # today.  They told me it was used online December 23.....HOW?!?!?  it was sitting wrapped up in a box under my tree from December 10 to the 24th until I opened it!  I thought maybe my mother didn't have the card scanned in store/activated somehow but checked her card statement and lo and behold, she was charged by Sephora for a gift card that was used!  Customer service could not give me any other details other than the full balance was used online on Dec 23rd.....only conclusion I have is either the Sephora system was hacked and gift cards comprised (which if the case, not good on Sephora to alert customers to check their balances) or worse......store/employee fraud (which I would hope is not the case).  Either way, I am left without a gift, my mother has paid for an item/service that was not provided and we will never purchase a Sephora gift card again.  Side note, credit card company will not do a charge back on gift cards so basically we have been victims of Sephora Fraud.   Be warned if you purchase a gift card in store to check the balance WHILE IN THE STORE in FRONT OF THE EMPLOYEES TO VALIDATE IT!   Makes me think twice about making purchases.....

[AnnaMarie228]

Same exact scenario here. I purchased two $100 gift cards for my daughters for Christmas. When they went to use them recently, both had zero balances.  Shame on Sephora for knowing that when gift cards are purchased thru a 3rd party, the consumer has no act of recourse. The banks won't help and the store we purchase from won't help. I'm left to believe they are possibly producing bogus gift cards and sending them to the stores knowing that once that authorization takes place at the register, they collect their funds and wipe the gift card clean at time of purchase.  Customer service told me that one of the cards I purchased was used for an on-line purchase from their website - REALLY? How do you figure? They didn't scan a barcode online, and you would have to have scratched off the card & pin numbers in order to use it. Do they really believe we are that ignorant? I told my kids no more Sephora gift cards. They will get cash and/or Ulta gift cards from here on out.  All of these posts on this site and I've yet to see anyone respond that Sephora assisted them and/or resolved their complaint.  Disgusting.

[MichelleMP]

This same thing just happened to me. My fiance purchased a giftcard for me from CVS for mothers day & I finally went to use it yesterday & when they scratched off the account number it was missing 3 digits at the end (per the store manager). The pin was there but account number was only 13 digits long & they said it wasn't swiping. They told me to call the number on the back so I did, then they directed me to a different Sephora help desk to read them my barcode. They told me they had no access to the missing numbers and transferred me back to the giftcard company. Then they were able to look it up with the first 13 digits & they said the card was used on 6/5/25 online.. I tried peeling up the clear piece on the back of the card and there wasn't 3 numbers at the end showing, it was like they had been destroyed off or never printed on the card.. so how did someone use my gift card online if the numbers were missing? Unless they peeled up the clear scratcher piece from the back of the card & wrote down those numbers and just kept checking daily to see if that gift card had any balance!!! So now I'm out the gift. Someone has to be removing the scratch off sticker and writing down these giftcard numbers and then checking daily to see if a balance was loaded and then using them before we do!!!