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Walmart now faces a gift card scam class action alleging that the massive retail company refuses to compensate consumers after criminals use and return gift cards.
Plaintiff Debbie McCoy recently filed a class action lawsuit against Walmart Inc., and other related entities, claiming that the company participates in a widespread gift card scam by refusing to compensate their customers after criminals steal gift card information and use the funds.
This practice reportedly leaves consumers like McCoy with unusable gift cards.
On Dec. 15, 2017, McCoy says she purchased two $25 gift cards for her niece and nephew for Christmas. However, when she gave her niece the gift cards for Christmas, she discovered that the balance had been used on Dec. 17 by a third party.
Her nephew attempted to check the balance after this discovery to find that Walmart had deactivated his card. McCoy claims that the balances were used by criminals who stole the gift card information off of the gift cards while they were hanging on the rack, causing her to sustain financial losses of $50 in addition to emotional distress and embarrassment from giving unusable gift cards as gifts.
The Walmart gift card class action lawsuit argues that criminals can remove the security tape off the back of a gift card, copy the information, and replace the security tape with another product. Security tape is allegedly readily available for purchase at many online retailers including Amazon. Additionally, gift cards on the rack are easy to manipulate, steal, and replace for unsuspecting consumers such as McCoy to purchase.
Despite the ease with which third parties can steal vital gift card information, Walmart allegedly does not compensate consumers when they fall victim to fraudulent behaviors. The Walmart class action claims the company also refuses to take steps to prevent fraud and gift card scams by securing their gift cards and checking for signs of manipulation at the time of purchase.
“Defendant owed a duty to Plaintiff and the putative Class to ensure that the gift cards sold were original, without signs of manipulations, and otherwise were able to be used by those who received them,” the Walmart gift card scam class action claims. “Defendant breached that duty failing to exercise reasonable care and failing to act in a way that revealed the defects, signs of manipulation, and otherwise failing to reasonably inspect the gift cards at time of check out.”
According to plaintiff counsel, Visa and other gift card companies have started selling their products in bundles to avoid fraudulent criminal behavior and gift card scam. “It’s a shame Walmart hasn’t done the same thing,” plaintiff’s counsel told USA Today.
McCoy seeks to represent a Class of consumers who purchased a gift card from Walmart and had the funds stolen by a third party. The Walmart gift card scam class action lawsuit seeks actual damages exceeding $1,000, restitution, punitive damages, court costs, and attorneys’ fees.
The plaintiff is represented by Craig R. Heidemann of Douglas Haun & Heidemann PC.
The Walmart Gift Card Scam Class Action Lawsuit is McCoy v. Wal-Mart Stores East LP, et al., Case No. 6:18-cv-03256, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.
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178 thoughts onWalmart Class Action Lawsuit Alleges Gift Card Scam
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It happened to me too. It was only $60, but it is still frustrating how they don’t care.
Buyer beware! This happened to me. I purchased a $50.00 gift card for my grandson’s birthday on Aug. 5th in Marietta GA, put it in the envelope and put it on my desk at home and didnt mail it until Aug. 13th. When he went to spend it in Brunswick GA. on Aug. 19th there was no money on the card. I went to walmart to sort it out and they were able to pull up the attempted uses of the card. It was spent in Odessa, Texas on Aug. 7th. And Wal-Mart is giving me a big run around telling me they have to “investigate the matter”… time to boycott Wal-Mart.
I’d also like to be added to this. I was give a $100 Walmart gift card by my grandmother for Christmas and it had been stored in the original packaging in my purse in my closet since that day. I checked the balance on Walmart’s website on August 6th and my card was depleted of the entire amount at a Walmart in San Diego at that exact time. I live in TN, where the card was bought. I emailed Walmart and they basically told me tough sh*t, too bad. They don’t care and do nothing about it, which makes it a perfect scam for these jerks. They’ll never get caught.
This happened to me as well in 2018. I was given a $25 gift card for Christmas and I used it once for a purchase of around $5-$6. When I went back shopping a few days later the card declined. I was confused and couldn’t find any information on what happened so the next day I went to customer service and found that apparently someone states away from me used the remaining balance in a Walmart and nobody did anything about it. The manager acted like she didn’t care. They basically said it wasn’t their problem.
I really feel like was definitely a scam and that the company continues to sell the gift cards. They just don’t care. I’m wondering if they even thought to throw away all the gift cards off the shelves and replace them with protected cards in cases?? Probably not. They don’t care because they don’t lose any money. The customers lose money. The people going shopping and then having their card decline and feel embarrassed just to find out someone had stolen the money off of it… It’s just not right.
Walmart is definitely
I purchased Walmart gift cards in the amount of $150 in Albuquerque and they were used at a Walmart in Texas 400 miles away within 4 hours of purchase. Walmart needs to be held accountable.
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Please add me.
Add me too.. My card was depleted on May 26.. I didn’t even use it. It’s been safely stored away at home and today I tried using it and I was declined. I checked the balance and it was $0. I googled and then found this info.
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