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Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

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Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#121

Post by kube-system »

citrin_ru wrote: post #40
tiffanyh wrote: post #34

I don’t want to minimize the pain people experience here, but it’s worth calling out just how hard this problem is for retailers and issuers. Gift cards are the #1 fraud vector in payments ... because it lets stolen cards be converted into a cash-like equivalent with zero traceability. So fraud/risk system are highly sensitive to gift cards. It's not an excuse, but I see in this thread people minimizing the problem a…

How it's zero traceability if Apple can see: 1. credit card used to by a gift card 2. who exactly redeemed a gift card. It can be traced, the problem that they block accounts (probably using on FP prone algorithm) even if a gift card was not purchased using a stolen credit card.

1. Apple can't see the credit card of anyone who bought a gift card from any third-party retailer

2. The normal use case for a gift card is that it is transferred to a person different than the original purchaser. Launderers also do this.

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#122

Post by [deleted] »

SoftTalker wrote: post #114
estimator7292 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Banks frequently completely freeze accounts for no discernable reason and with zero communication, support, or recourse. You're just lucky that it hasn't happened to you. That does not mean it doesn't happen to anyone.

A bank might freeze an account for suspicious activity but you can walk in to a any local branch and talk to someone about it.

[deleted]

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#123

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

SoftTalker wrote: post #97
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> as they are both in the advertisement business Apple isn't. Just sayin'. They are trying to do it, but they aren't really anywhere near the scale of Google and Facebook. They make money ( lots of money) by selling high-margin hardware, and, to some extent, digital media, on that hardware. Currently, Apple is genuinely serious about preserving user privacy. I realize that can change, in the future, but it's the way…

Apple makes money on hardware and a 30% tax on developers. They might have some goodwill but are not making any money on privacy.

Yup. But not on advertising.

I wasn't defending Apple. I was merely pointing out that one of these, is not like the other.

Like I said, it seems that we have a hard time understanding business models other than "Harvest and sell data." Posts like the GP, seem to reinforce this appearance.

Upton Sinclair is known for a quote, referencing this kind of thing.

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#124

Post by mariusor »

ndriscoll wrote: post #99
dylan604 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not an avid gamer, so maybe this is a naive question, but how do you know these things before you buy the game?

You could buy from a provider that advertises non-use of DRM like GOG, or on Steam, it lists third party DRM, so you can know whether you have the tools to remove it (and whether you have the tools to remove Steam's DRM, or whether the game appears on a web list of games that don't use any DRM). You could also refund it if you can't verify you're able to successfully back it up and run the backup on a computer or use…

Why do you think it's different with GOG?

Both GOG and Steam allow you to use local copies of games, and both would deny you access to your account to download more games once banned. Steam allows you to install games without DRM from their platform.

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#125

Post by kmfrk »

sigseg1v wrote: post #22
oidar wrote: post #7

I'm glad that got resolved for Paris, but what the hell is a normal person supposed to do. Not every one has that kind of public reach to get a satisfactory resolution. First he had understand what happened technically, then he needed a public platform to tell people about it, then that writing needed to get reposted by others, than PR needed to get involved. Not something that's going to happen for a normal user. Ap…

Agreed. A situation similar to this happened to me with Steam over a payment issue with their service. They banned me even though I had thousands of dollars of games and an account since Sept 2003. I had to go to my bank and escalate multiple times to get letters providing the info steam wanted about my account and credit card to prove it was legitimate. Eventually after contacting them enough times they said they wo…

There's also grey areas with Steam like when you buy a Steam key for a game outside of Steam through places like GreenManGaming and get your reviews discounted or otherwise flagged arbitrarily based on an opaque authenticity heuristic.

https://www.greenmangaming.com

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#126

Post by hamdingers »

Aurornis wrote: post #110
csomar wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but what the hell is a normal person supposed to do. Not store their data in their iPhones. Period. I only store temporary data and photos I wouldn't care about.

The data in his iPhone was not impacted. His Apple cloud account was locked until the account representative unlocked it. The physical device was not locked, bricked, or wiped. The situation was bad, but let’s stick to the facts

His iPhone could not sync, update, install new software, or send messages, nor could he sign out and use a new apple ID with it to restore that functionality. For a phone, this is effectively bricked.

Paris uses the term "bricked" in the original post: https://hey.paris/posts/appleid/

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#127

Post by xp84 »

srmatto wrote: post #10

This fiasco stirs up a lot of different topics for me, none of which seem like they are likely to be resolved anytime soon. First, with so much importance placed on an Apple/iCloud account in our current era it's not good that they can be shutdown so trivially. Someone can be shut out from using Messages, Apple Wallet, Digital Identification (depending on where they live) and all their subscriptions and media purchas…

Absolutely. The current level of service these companies provide is functionally identical to what would have existed 25 years ago. Losing your Apple account would have been a minor annoyance - the relationship involved trivial amounts of money, and wasn’t deeply integrated into anyone’s lives. Even if you lost an email address, losing access to it wouldn’t have locked you out of hundreds of important accounts, and any important accounts would probably be easily updated to a new address with a phone call, and likewise for a few friends. If you got fully locked out forever, it really wasn’t important.

So, we now have the same “who cares, it’s just some dumb online account” level of service with much more critical accounts. Because big tech has scaled users to the 9-10 figure range, while not investing almost anything in customer service. Instead of having thousands of CSRs like the phone company, tech employs a few disempowered call center operators overseas, whose only job is to read FAQ answers at callers and ask them to try restarting their computers.

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#128

Post by SoftTalker »

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #116
Apreche wrote: post #18

The real problem is that companies do not offer any accessible, powerful, and intelligent customer support. Even if they have real humans to talk to, they simply follow a script. Those agents do not have the ability to investigate a situation or the power to use their discretion to take meaningful action. We should impose, by law, the following rules on all companies that offer accounts to their customers. 1. If they…

#2 doesn't scale. If you guarantee access to a human, the system will absolutely be effectively DoS'd by scammers trying to social engineer their way into access to someone's account.

Not if you require physical presence. If you have to turn up in person at a local branch office with identifying documents, then you've greatly limited opportunities for scams. Fraud is still possible but it doesn't scale.

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#129

Post by criddell »

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #116
Apreche wrote: post #18

The real problem is that companies do not offer any accessible, powerful, and intelligent customer support. Even if they have real humans to talk to, they simply follow a script. Those agents do not have the ability to investigate a situation or the power to use their discretion to take meaningful action. We should impose, by law, the following rules on all companies that offer accounts to their customers. 1. If they…

#2 doesn't scale. If you guarantee access to a human, the system will absolutely be effectively DoS'd by scammers trying to social engineer their way into access to someone's account.

If the companies are too big to provide reasonable levels of support for their users, then the companies are simply too big.

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#130

Post by glitchc »

inejge wrote: post #105
Apreche wrote: post #18

The real problem is that companies do not offer any accessible, powerful, and intelligent customer support. Even if they have real humans to talk to, they simply follow a script. Those agents do not have the ability to investigate a situation or the power to use their discretion to take meaningful action. We should impose, by law, the following rules on all companies that offer accounts to their customers. 1. If they…

> If they block/ban/close/suspend a customer account they must provide habeas corpus. * evidence "Habeas corpus" is not a lofty expression for evidence, although people sometimes use it as such. It's a procedure for challenging one's detention before a court.

Agreed with the intent, but it's more narrow than that. Habeas corpus specifically means "there is a body." It's purpose is to set a high bar for homicide convictions i.e. a body must be present before a suspect can be convicted of murder/manslaughter by a court of law.
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