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Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

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Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#221

Post by qingcharles »

nottorp wrote: post #220
qingcharles wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't even get into my Google account even though I have the username, password and recovery email, and all the emails are CC'd to the recovery email, because Google turned on 2FA without any notice and it needs a text from a number I no longer own.

I have access to the recovery email for a secondary google account but it didn't have a phone number attached so I lost it when they turned on 2FA.

Normally I resolve these things by buying all the executive phone numbers and working my way through the phonebook, but Google is the one I've had no success on with this so far.

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#222

Post by protimewaster »

mariusor wrote: post #124
ndriscoll wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Another issue is, how do you get your games when you're banned? Most people don't have all their games installed at any given time.

With GOG, there is at least an unofficial, supported way to get an offline installer for each of your games. With Steam, there's no officially supported way to do this, so it's likely to be a bigger PITA to archive all your games ahead of time.

In reality, though, almost nobody is thinking ahead so that they have all their games archived, and, given the size of games and collections, it's a difficult thing to do on the cheap.

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#223

Post by gosub100 »

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…

Rather than crafting a bunch of specific legislation, I say remove the carve out for arbitration. Open the doors to take them to small claims. If they don't show up (maybe because a $500/hr lawyer isn't worth it) you get a default judgement, which you eventually convert to cash. Problem solved, without adding more bloat to existing laws.

I see no reason enormous companies should carve out exceptions to the legal system. You exchange money with them, that's commerce, it's a contract. This is exactly what civil court was designed for.

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#224

Post by daft_pink »

This is such a complicated issue, because on one hand, scammers are bilking people out of a ton of money with gift cards, but on the other hand, should a user be penalized for using a gift card?

Is that the correct way to fix the fraud problem?

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#225

Post by lynndotpy »

charcircuit wrote: post #216
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…

>Not every one has that kind of public reach to get a satisfactory resolution. You can contact an employee. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_degrees_of_separation

This is not a known fact about the world and would not be a solution even if it were.

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#226

Post by xpe »

pixl97 wrote: post #43
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…

Then they are free to stop offering gift cards.

> Then they are free to stop offering gift cards.

That's easy to say. [1] [2] [3] But reality is harder than that; keep in mind:

  - Fraud is complex (many moving parts, many pathways)
  - Fraud is adversarial (whack a mole, but worse)
  - Fraud and revenue are two sides of the same coin [4]
P.S. The commenter doesn't state who "they" refers to: maybe issuers, maybe retailers, maybe both?

[1]: A drive for simplicity is important, in moderation. But here the quote seems to not appreciate the complex reality.

[2]: The response pattern "Then they are free to [foo]" is often part of a rhetorical technique to shift blame and/or responsibility to another party.

[3]: See also the "nirvana fallacy" (i.e. "if you can't do it perfectly, you shouldn't do it at all.") See https://thelogicofscience.com/2016/06/20/the-nirvana-fallacy...

[4]: You can easily imagine a business where lowering customer friction increases both revenue and fraud. What is the ratio between them? How does it change over time?

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#227

Post by pmahoney »

inanepenguin wrote: post #214
rconti wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They covered this a lot on the Accidental Tech Podcast last night. I just don't get why these companies should be in the business of offering gift cards-- at least, not if they can't be redeemed safely. I'm sure people would run other kinds of scams with AppleIDs without the existence of gift cards, but gift card redemption scams have gotta be 99% of the reason people create fake accounts. The support burden would ev…

> I just don't get why these companies should be in the business of offering gift cards If they're anything like Starbucks then they get the benefit of utilizing the unredeemed balances as temporary capital for investments. It's an interest free loan at their scale. Plus they get to keep the balance that people forget to redeem.

> Plus they get to keep the balance that people forget to redeem

I'm not an expert here, but this is not generally true. See "giftcard escheatment laws". I think these vary by state, but see e.g. https://legalclarity.org/when-do-gift-cards-become-subject-t... The value of abandoned cards goes to the state.

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#228

Post by gosub100 »

Workaccount2 wrote: post #65
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…

The real real problem are shameless shitheads that will abuse anything to any length the run scams or malware distributions. " Yes support tech, please understand my child just died of cancer and my wife in a car accident last week and the only pictures I have of them are on my bitcoin4free@gmail.com account! " Google probably also bans thousands of accounts a day. And suddenly every single one of them needs a full h…

I don't call anyone a shithead for stealing from any of the major tech companies. They are stealing from us all the time.

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#229

Post by charcircuit »

hollandheese wrote: post #172
SoftTalker wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That sounds vastly more costly since they'd have to open local branch offices everywhere.

Users can travel themselves.

Re: Are Apple gift cards safe to redeem?

#230

Post by dylan604 »

sceptic123 wrote: post #90
dylan604 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know you're just trying to pull something out of thin air that sounds plausible, but...this would be simple to prove with a request for valid death certificates, marriage license, and a birth certificate to prove you were married, the child is yours, and that both are in fact deceased. Oh, and of course, you'll have to prove who you are as well.

It may be simple enough to prove, but that is an uncomfortable ask if those circumstances are genuine.

If these were truly the only copies of photos as in the example, then you'd probably be willing though.
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