Several Costco Digital Gift Card customers are informing that their cards have been mysteriously drained from all their money.
The Big-Box retailer has offered few details about what happened, and some affected customers, such as Shelly Xu de Perth, Ontario, are still struggling to obtain a refund.
Xu says that, at the end of June, he discovered approximately $ 200 that were missing on his Costco gift card, called a store card.
“[I] I checked my balance and I was surprised to discover that there were zero dollars there, “he said.” I was very upset. “
Xu regularly uses store cards, because Big Box retailer does not accept his Visa credit card.
She says she has spent hours on the phone and in person in her local Costco store, trying to solve the problem. But more than a month after his money disappeared, his case remains in Limbo.
“It’s unacceptable,” Xu said. “They have not provided any orientation. The only information that I have been able to dig up has been through online forums where other people have experienced the same problem.”
CBC News found dozens of complaints Posted in Social Networksand in Costco online Purchasing Site of people who said the money on their store cards had disappeared.
CBC interviewed five BC and Ontario clients. They said they discovered in June or July that between $ 150 and $ 1,000 they had been drained from their digital cards.
They also said that they met with frustrating costco, saying that the retailer provided little or no information about what went wrong.
Three reported that Costco finally provided a refund, one said it was denied and that Xu is still waiting for a resolution.
“If it were $ 2.00, I would probably have left this, but at $ 200, it is a good part of money that I am not willing to give up,” Xu said.
What went wrong?
Costco Wholesale Corporation with headquarters in the USA. UU. He did not respond to repeated requests of comments.
The defender of the consumer and professor Daniel Tsai says that he gives the retailer a failed rating for not going out with the problem of the store card.
“Costco has a duty to the public as clients to ensure that they are aware of any commitment to their gift cards,” said Tsai, a professor of laws and business at University Canada West in Vancouver.
“From a commercial perspective, this is a real marketing failure because it will make customers lose confidence in the brand,” he said. “The right thing for Costco at this time is to admit that there is a problem and not let this be festive.”
It seems that scammers can be responsible for thefts.
The three clients who obtained reimbursements shared with CBC News an identical letter that Costco sent them, stating that their “ongoing research indicates that a limited number of workshop digital cards may have been used by unauthorized people.”
Costco also temporarily suspended online sales of digital cards. According to customer complaints Published in the Retail Commerce SiteThe retailer stopped the sales of the cards around July 5 and resumed to sell them near the end of the month.
The scammers are finding new ways to exhaust the money from the gift cards before the holidays. The victims of these scams share their stories as warning stories. While experts offer advice on how to protect themselves from fraud.
Denied refund
Gift card fraud is a big business in Canada. The Canada Retail Council says That in 2021, Canadians reported $ 3.8 million in losses due to crime.
Federal Rules Mandate Canadians are reimbursed in many cases of credit and debit card fraud. But when it comes to gift card scams, victims are often alone to fight the company that issued them.
Cybersecurity and technology analyst Ritesh Kotak says that should change.
“It is important that we believe better mechanisms in place, more protection and also remedies so that people are victims of these scammers.”
Lisa Mannella de Niagara Falls says that, at the beginning of June, she discovered $ 150 missing from her two stores of stores.
She says, where appropriate, Costco denied her a refund, citing Store card terms and conditionswhich states that the retailer is not responsible for stolen cards.
“They are such a big business and earn tons of money,” said Mannella. “So that a large company doesn’t even care, or don’t even offer to help you, that’s quite sad.”
Mannella says that Costco suggested that scammers may have accessed their card from the store pirate their email account, but is not buying it.
“They need to assume responsibility,” he said. “I suggested that [Costco]”Well, maybe your account was pirate.” And they said: ‘Well, that has never happened to us’ “.
The other four Costco interviewees also said that the retailer had suggested that his email could have been compromised. Costco also hinted at the problem in the letter that sent three, including a reminder to keep its secure email accounts.
A theory
Kotak says that they are possible stufferators infiltrated in the email accounts of Costco customers.
But he says that because several people were affected, it is also possible that the scammers discovered the sequence of the numbers in the card codes of the store cards, and those who were already in circulation recreated them.
“It’s really simple to recreate barcodes. There are software available online,” Kotak said. “You just have to put in the numbers chain, the type of bar code you are looking for and, with a click of a mouse, you can generate the bar code that you could use in stores.”
Store card users told CBC News that, to buy products in the store, the cashier only needs to scan a copy of the barcode; The four -digit secret pin of the card is not required.
He The same rules apply to Walmart gift cards. Kotak says that retailers probably renounce the PIN requirement in stores, because it makes the shopping experience more perfect.
“The scammers can take advantage of this gap, this escape, to be able to make fraudulent purchases,” he said.
Costco requires that its customers buy an annual membership but, but, but, but According to your website, Non -members can buy products In the store with a store card.
Kotak says that if it turns out that the problem of the store’s card was not client’s fault, the retailer should compensate all legitimate victims.
“There should be consistency in which people can recover their funds,” he said. “The last thing you really want to do is victim someone who has been a victim.”
