Google gift card scams class action overview:
- Who: Google is facing a class action lawsuit over Google Play Store gift cards involved in scams.
- Why: Google is accused of profiting from scams involving Google Play Store gift cards and refusing to reimburse individuals who were scammed into purchasing the gift cards.
- Where: The Google gift card scams lawsuit was filed in federal court in California.
A new class action lawsuit accuses Google of profiting from Google Play Store gift card scams and refusing to reimburse victims of those scams.
Google kept millions of dollars from those involved in Google gift card scams despite being contacted directly by those scam victims and receiving information to identify and return the stolen funds, the Google class action says.
Google deposits a percentage of the money into Google Play Developer accounts and keeps approximately 15% to 30% of the face value of the gift card as commission, the lawsuit says.
“Google plays a direct and vital role in the gift card scams by allowing gift cards which it knows were involved in fraud to be redeemed and spent on digital currency and/or digital products which scammers can resell for currency,” the Google class action says.
Scammers demand gift cards to avoid arrest for taxes, bail, debts, lawsuit says
Lead plaintiff Judy May says she was scammed into purchasing $1,000 in Google Play gift cards and later contacted Google to inform the company what happened.
“Google informed her that there was nothing it could do and that it would not refund the monies she had paid for the Google Play gift cards,” the class action says.
May’s experience is similar to that of other scam victims, who say they received calls from criminals claiming they owe money for things like taxes, bail or debts, and that they need to pay up with gift cards and provide a Social Security number to avoid arrest, the lawsuit says.
Google also faced a 2021 class action lawsuit claiming its Google Play gift cards violate California law by being too difficult to redeem.
Have you been scammed into purchasing a Google gift card? Let us know in the comments.
The plaintiff is represented by Hal D. Cunningham of Scott and Scott Attorneys at Law LLP.
The Google gift card class action lawsuit is May v. Google LLC, et al., Case No. 5:24-cv-01314-SVK, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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101 thoughts onGoogle keeps profits from gift card scams, class action claims
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You can add me in as well. I paid around almost 30 dollars on my Google play cards and the company has refused to help me or refund my money they have stolen. The cards were clearly damaged as I’ve shown them pictures of my cards and the receipts, but they still refused to help me.
Yes I’m going through it with them now I purchased a $110 Google play gift card went to use and could not I sent the copy of receipt and the card several times now the receipt has lost the ink this started july2023 they refuse to respond to FTC I’m sick of these corporate company’s ripping consumers off so I got a card I can’t use a company that won’t respond and I’m just screwed out of my money I hate google Google should be closed down
I was also scammed from Google’s play cards. I paid for two different ones but they were both damaged where the redeem code was. And no matter how many times or how much proof I showed to Google support, the have refused to refund it and have not helped me at all on fixing the problem.
Please add me