Category: Guest

EDITORS NOTE: In 2024, I’m going to try and have a guest post on Saturdays. Today’s guest post is from the first manufactured spender I ever met up with in person and an original manufactured spend whale, Dean. Yes, Dean was really in Lubbock.

I recently had the opportunity to fly to Austin Texas and drive back to my home in Utah. When I reviewed the driving route, it passed directly through Lubbock, TX. MEAB is always talking about how Lubbock is his favorite destination so I thought this would be a great opportunity to see why he loves it so much.

I found the simplest points option for the flight to be Chase Ultimate Rewards to pay for the Delta direct from SLC to AUS through the Ultimate Rewards travel portal. Since it was a direct, morning flight I figured it would work for my tight schedule to pick-up the car before the shop closed and be on my way toward home in the afternoon.

A week before heading out, I reserved an Uber to pick me up at AUS to take me 1 hour and 15 mins away to Temple where the car was located. The flight was to arrive at 2:05PM, and an Uber ride of 1 hour and 15 mins would put me at the shop just in time for my 3:30PM appointment. It was a tight schedule but I figured the worst that could happen is that we would spend a night in Temple, TX and pick-up the car the next day with a couple more Uber rides.

Departing on this long drive at 4PM meant we would need a place to stay about 6 hours away so I wasn’t driving home drowsy. Low and behold, guess what was 6 hours away? Lubbock, TX. It was meant to be! Since Hyatt is still my favorite Hotel Points program, I was very pleased that I could stay at the Hyatt Place, Lubbock that MEAB so fondly refers to.

The Hyatt Place was about $98 per night plus taxes and fees. And this location is so fancy, they add a $7 a night parking fee. I outsmarted them with a Hyatt points reservation for 6,500 points and it apparently included the parking fee. They never charged me anyway.

Travel day came and all was well until, we sat on the runway for over 45 mins waiting for de-icing in SLC. That put us 30 mins late into AUS. I chose AUS hoping that the small size of the airport would make for a quick getaway and it worked quite well to move quickly through the terminal and into the parking garages. The signage for Uber was pretty easy to follow and they have a very organized waiting area in one of the parking garages for Ride Share.

Once off the plane, I checked my Uber app to verify that my ride was ready, they had my flight info so a late arrival shouldn’t be a problem right? Well, all I saw was that I had nothing scheduled in the app (even though the day before, I got a confirmation email from Uber) I dug through the app and didn’t see anything except under “Activity” I saw my destination address and amount paid as “$0 Failed”. I have over $200 in Uber credits in there from the good-old days of buying gift cards at Whole Foods, that somehow generated Uber credits too, so payment shouldn’t have been an issue.

How does Uber send me a confirmation yesterday stating that I’m all set and then today with no notice just leave me hanging? Ugh, don’t trust Uber’s reservation system apparently. I went to the Uber waiting area as I requested another ride. My new ride was there as I walked up to the spot and it cost $20 less than the reservation so that worked nicely. Now to get to Temple as fast as we can and hope they let me pick up the car late.

Driving from AUS to Temple, TX was just one strip mall after another of Applebee’s and Chili’s restaurants separated by rolling hills. Our Uber driver was great. She said that the Ride Share market is very saturated there so she doesn’t get a lot of rides.

My wife thought it would be fun to see the Magnolia “Silos” in downtown Waco that was nearby. We headed up there to see what the hype is about. This place was a little interesting. I think people go there as a tourist destination. We got there 30 mins before closing and there were a lot of workers and very few shoppers. We got a S’more’s cupcake from their bakery that tasted pretty good and walked the shops that had over priced Hobby Lobby items for home decorating. We probably should have gone to the DR Pepper Museum instead.

We hadn’t eaten all day so we stopped into a Torchy’s Tacos to try them since they were highly recommended by our friends who lived in Texas. The $5-6 tacos were pretty good. Two filled me up but I could have easily eaten another, I just didn’t want to wait for another and was eager to get to Lubbock, TX.

The highway went directly NW all the way to Lubbock. It was mostly just two lanes but the speed limit was 75. It was dark so I think it was just more rolling hills with small towns spread far apart the whole way. As we approached Lubbock, it was just like driving into Las Vegas. We could see the glow of lights in the dark sky indicating a city was near. That’s where the similarities ended.

Maps took us through a small town on fancy brick-paver roads that eventually lead to Hyatt Place! Lubbock was a pretty tired town but the Hyatt place and surrounding buildings were modern and clean. I was pleased as I entered the lobby to see that it was a very new and clean facility. The lobby was identical to my all-time favorite Hyatt Place, Moab. It was built in the same 2018 style and had the same Hyatt Place fresh-clean scent.

My wife’s Hyatt credit card gives her status enough that we got 2 free bottles of water! We headed up to the room and found it to be in great shape and very clean too. Everything was standard Hyatt Place quality and comfort. No wonder MEAB likes this place so much! Other amenities include a swimming pool, fitness room, and spacious lobby with computers and work stations.

The location must be near a Police station. We were greeted by sirens when we got out of the car and heard them periodically through the night. Far more sirens than I expected in a small town like that.

The free breakfast was standard for a, post-Covid, Hyatt Place. The shower supplies were the same smell and quality but in bulk large containers on the wall vs. individual containers that we have been used to in other Hyatt Places. The staff was friendly and we really enjoyed our stay overall.

We headed out for the rest of our adventure back to Utah well rested and fed. If I ever find myself near Lubbock, TX again, I would definitely stay at the Hyatt Place, Lubbock again. And so should you.

– Dean

The view from the Hyatt Place Lubbock’s window. Just kidding, the rooms’ windows only have a view of the dumpster.

EDITORS NOTE: In 2024, I’m going to try and have a guest post on Saturdays. Today’s guest post is from prolific miles and points burner and host of the Churn and Burn podcast, James. He’s probably tied in fourth place for the most number of shared Telegram and WhatsApp groups with me too, so you know he’s legit.

Cents per point.  It’s a fallacy that we’ve all fallen victim to.  To feel so desperately that you’re right, only to realize you’ve been led astray.  

All of us have been there: “Well, this is a $1000 restaurant purchase, so obviously, I want to put it on my Amex Gold card for 4x, right?  On paper, it makes sense.  TPG values Membership Rewards at 2 cents per point.  That’s 8% back on every restaurant purchase, right?

If you’re rolling your eyes, you should be.  Even when cashed out via Charles Schwab, it’s a $44 money maker.  Contrast that with throwing the same $1000 spend on a Chase Sapphire Reserve: it’s 3000 points earned, which when transferred to Hyatt, is arguably worth the same in value for many people.

Some of you are probably saying “Wait!  When redeemed via Aeroplan, my Membership Rewards are worth 7 cents per point if I book Lufthansa First Class!”  

There’s two problems with this line of thinking.  1. My guess is that no one currently reading this is going to pay $15,000 for a one way ticket on a seven hour Lufthansa flight.  If you are, I’d seriously consider scheduling a cat scan next week.  And 2. Not everyone wants to fly Lufthansa First Class.  Most of you are already familiar with #1 already, because TRUE cents per point is not based on the actual cash value of the ticket/hotel, but the cash value that you were willing to pay in the first place.  

Think of it this way.  There’s a Hyatt Regency in Jersey City that currently goes for an average of 15,000 Hyatt points per night or $250.  Alternatively, for 40,000 points or $931, you can book the luxurious Park Hyatt New York City.  Some of you are already doing the table math in your heads.  The Regency gives a cool 1.6 CPP valuation.  Meanwhile, the Park Hyatt is a whopping 2.3 CPP.  Easy decision, right?  Of course, not.  Because many people in the game (myself included) would never pay $931 for a night at the Park Hyatt.  Alternatively, I probably would spend $250 a night for the Regency, especially if I was getting free breakfast and Hyatt Globalist benefits on top of that.  In reality, I might be comfortable paying $450 for the Park Hyatt, which amounts to a measly 1.12 CPP value.  Yikers!

We can use the same logic on an Air France fare.  I just booked my father in law on a flight from RDU to CDG for 12,000 Virgin miles + $155 in taxes.  The actual cash price of the fare was $1668.  So, subtracting the taxes from the ticket, the CPP is 12.6 cents per point.  Some might even say that I saved my father in law over $1500.  But I didn’t, because there is no world where he would have paid $1500 for that flight.  “As cheap as humanly possible” were the words he said to me.  Myself?  I’d have ponied up an extra 36,500 points + $127 and splurged for business class.  Of course, I offered up this option to him, and he scoffed at it.  What I saw as a no brainer, he saw as unthinkable.  

The point is: all the blogs and trip reports have us using inflated fat cat valuations for our treasure troves of points. In reality, it’s the price you would pay for the experience you want that matters. Don’t fall victim to the same logic that leads people to list their Pokemon memorabilia on Ebay for the price of their mortgage because they saw an episode of Pawn Stars once where the “expert” told Chumlee that a 1st edition Charizard card was worth $300,000 at auction.

– James

Yes, you earned 4,124 Membership Rewards, but would you really have tipped $1,000 if you didn’t? Don’t answer.

EDITORS NOTE: In 2024, I’m going to try and have a guest post on Saturdays. Today’s guest post is from the strong analytical mind of MattD (maybe the D stands for doppelgänger? Probably not).

Alaska plans to introduce their new award chart in March. Since joining OneWorld this was expected to happen as Alaska tries to become a global airline without any routes leaving the Americas. 

Still, I have been keen on earning Alaska miles when an opportunity or safe way presents itself. I looked back on previous Alaska award bookings and all but one were flights to Asia. I will show below why I’m still earning Alaska miles and for this example, I chose Bangkok, Thailand as my comparison point. 

Below in Table 1, we will examine the old price of routes along with the new pricing with percentage increase. At first glance, the numbers look gnarly and all hope should be abandoned.

Table 1: Old Alaska Award Chart vs New with Percent Difference for a Business Class Flight to Bangkok

AirlineOld PriceNew Price
SEA/YVRLAXDFWORDJFK
Cathay50,00085,000 (+70%)85,000 (+70%)85,000 (+70%)85,000 (+70%)
Hainan50,00085,000 (+70%)
JAL60,00085,000 (42%)85,000 (42%)85,000 (42%)85,000 (42%)85,000 (42%)
Emirates105,000130,000 (24%)130,000 (24%)130,000 (24%)130,000 (24%)85,000 (-19%)
Singapore100,00085,000 (-15%)85,000 (-15%)13,0000 (30%)13,0000 (30%)13,0000 (30%)

Alaska’s old award chart can still be viewed here:

https://web.archive.org/web/20210216105643/https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mileage-plan/use-miles/award-charts

40,000 was used as the old standard credit card sign-up bonus and 65,000 was used as the new standard credit card sign-up bonus, which is a 62.5% increase in miles earned.

Obviously, the Cathay sweet spot is dead and will rest in its forever home with 100,000 Emirates First Class. 

Alaska awards are only getting more expensive if the miles are earned from flying/organic credit card spend. But, the inflation in Alaska credit card bonuses since 2020 means most of these routes increased less than 10%. In fact many have become cheaper if you’ve earned your miles from well-timed sign up bonuses. Table 2 shows the old and new award chart looking at how many sign up bonuses it would take to buy a business class ticket to Bangkok. 

Table 2: Alaska Sign Up Bonuses Needed for a Business Class Ticket

AirlineOld PriceNew Price
SEA/YVRLAXDFWORDJFK
Cathay1.251.311.311.311.31
Hainan1.251.31
JAL1.501.311.311.311.311.31
Emirates2.632.002.002.002.001.31
Singapore2.501.311.312.002.002.00

Color coded to show which award increased vs decreased measured in sign up bonuses

While the new award chart has closed some sweet spots, new ones have opened up, like flying a beach towel in business class can now be had for 50,000 miles or 80% of a sign up bonus. 

This won’t last forever as Alaska will keep devaluing enhancing their program faster than the credit card bonus increases. In the meantime though I will keep earning and burning Alaska miles.

– MattD

80% of a sign-up bonus visualized.

EDITORS NOTE: In 2024, I’m going to try and have a guest post on Saturdays. Today’s guest post is from Johnathan, who has gone from zero to heavy hitter over the course of a year. He’s humble and soft spoken, but carries a large manufactured spending stick.

My journey into the world of rewards began last March, kicking off what I’d call my ‘hobby/work’. The challenge? Juggling several American Express Platinum cards, each with its own lofty spending threshold to hit for maxing out rewards. It was my mentor’s encouragement that nudged me to take the plunge. At first glance, the spending requirements seemed crazy, almost impossible. But having a mentor by my side was a game-changer in navigating this financial labyrinth.

As a newbie, churning felt like being pushed off a plane in the middle of a Chinese metropolis without any friends, trying to learn how to live. It quickly turned into the most unusual hobby I’ve ever taken on, packed with moments that had me thinking, “This can’t possibly work,” defying all logic.

A year in, I’ve learned that success in churning isn’t just about the number of transactions; it’s the people you meet along the way that make the difference. It’s the conversations, the stories shared, and the personal connections that really matter. And, boy, does it save time! When I was just starting, the thought of buying money orders made me anxious, and I’d be driving all over town. But by bringing a personal touch to each interaction and really getting to know the people I met, I could easily handle 15-20 money orders while engaging in genuine conversations. That changed everything, saving me an invaluable amount of time.

I owe so much to my mentor for their guidance and support. Going it alone on this journey is something I can’t even imagine. Having someone in your corner to discuss all the churning escapades is a godsend. They’re the ones you can call up to vent about every hiccup—the roadblocks, claw backs, sketchy gift cards, dealing with Incomm’s customer service—you name it. And if you’re pushing the limits, you can bet things will go sideways. Like Matt says, “If you haven’t been shut down, you’re not pushing hard enough.” I had my first shutdown this year with the GM card. How on earth does a company that produces Buicks cut you off?

What’s more, having a churning confidant is priceless. Trying to explain this world to anyone else is like an alcoholic attempting to explain to a casual drinker the reasons behind their long-term
drinking. You’re met with confusion and questions like, “I don’t get it, why don’t you just stop?” or “Why put yourself through all this effort?” But it’s the collective experiences and all the comical
mishaps that have happened along the way that make it so enjoyable.

– Jonathan

EDITORS NOTE: In 2024, I’m going to try and have a guest post on Saturdays. Today’s guest post is from the always helpful and funny SideShowBob233, who can apparently be reached at SideShowBob233.com.

The Amex financial review team (henceforth referred to as the FR team because I am lazy but you knew that already because of the private investigator you hired to follow me) is one of the most feared teams at everyone’s favorite points and miles cash cows, probably more than the RAT team since the FR can actually shut you down (I’m not clear if the RAT team gets involved in shutdowns although it’s possible they do for blatant abuse such as obviously paying Amex with Amex). 

Generally, to get noticed by the FR team (and their Top Notch Never WrongTM algorithms – note I trademarked that because how gullible are you anyway) the easiest way is to spend a lot of money (more than you usually spend) and not pay right away.  The TNNW algorithm flags you as a bust-out risk and sends your name, phone, card portfolio, and stool sample to the FR team for the preferential – bordering on gentle – possibly even lover-like treatment only they can provide (sue me Marvel). 

Once the FR team gets involved, they will generally suspend all your cards (block new charges on them) and call you, causing you to need to change your underwear – please tell me you wear it – actually don’t tell me I don’t want to know).   They sometimes will want bank statements, sometimes tax transcripts, occasionally a urine sample but in most cases despite scaring the life out of you the result is not the worst case (shutdown or card closure).  Generally, the worst-case outcome is limits on your cards – barring any major lies on your part like a declared income of $1M and you are making minimum wage working at McDonald’s AND eating their food 3 times a day while wearing the Grimace costume and ONLY the Grimace costume. 

This is generally common knowledge SideShowBob233 you say (once again you say the 233 out loud as only you can, which is different than how everyone else says it because face it, you’re weird) so why are you wasting our time with this besides shamelessly stealing quotes from Deadpool? 

The reason is there is a different kind of FR which has been showing up more frequently of late and I want to warn you about it.  Also because sometimes I tuck my knees into my chest and lean forward, that’s just how I roll.

This new type of FR can be triggered the same way as I boringly detailed above (this is your cue to go back and re-read and actually pay attention this time) but sometimes it can be triggered by a returned payment or possibly by linking a new payment account to Amex.  In this new type of FR they are concerned about the ownership of the account(s) you are paying them with.  This is a variation on the fear you can’t pay them as payments from an account you don’t own could be fraudulent and eventually returned.  They will ask you for proof of ownership of the accounts you’ve been paying them with.   If you cannot provide the requested proof, they will close your cards (they want actual PDF statements from the bank).   If you can provide the documentation but your name is not on the accounts there are several outcomes – one is they will ask you for a third party authorization form filled out by the account owner, sometimes they will let you add a new account in your name and pay from it then provide a statement, but sometimes you get a jerk and (s)he says no to all of that and you have to provide a statement on an account (from the past) with that name on it. 

So you’re all saying to yourselves thanks SideShowBob233 (this time you skipped saying the 233 out loud because my laziness is contagious) you’ve scared me a little, but what can I do?  The answer is always have at least one account in the cardholder’s name linked to at least one card.  Ideally every cardholder should be paid from an account they are an authorized signer on to avoid any issues.  Is there a guarantee they will find you?  No, nothing in life is guaranteed except death, taxes, and rakes.  But why mess around with the potential to get the FR team involved. 

Finally, I know you’re thinking “I’m not lazy like you SideShowBob233 so I am going to use my photoshop skills and give Amex a fake bank statement and go on my way” but let me overcome my innate laziness and explain why that is a terrible idea.  First, that is basically financial fraud, and unless you’re a billionaire you can go to jail doing things like that.   Churning has a lot of gray lines and I’d like to stay on the safer side of that one.    

Second, there are systems like ChexSystems and EWS (see my other post) that track ownership (ever wonder why some banks can instantly verify account ownership?) and if Amex sees a document saying SideShowMel is an owner but pulls a Chex report or EWS and sees the account is actually owned by SideShowBob233, they are not stupid and will not take kindly to being lied to (plus they will obviously know it’s a lie and won’t accept that doctored statement/artwork as proof).   And to be honest when they are asking you for proof they generally already know the answer in most cases – but it’s possible Chex/EWS is wrong so they are asking you to verify, but don’t FAFO with the FR team.  

As a final sendoff here’s an animation of me setting up all my family members to make sure they pay their cards from accounts in their name to avoid this risk in the future:

As a final, final sendoff, here’s me on vacation because you didn’t really want to keep your breakfast down anyway:

– SideShowBob233

EDITORS NOTE: In 2024, I’m going to try and have a guest post on Saturdays, and today marks the first ever Saturday post at MEAB 🎉. Today’s post is from John at Miles Mastery. John produces great travel hacking reference content and a weekly news roundup, and we’re lucky to have him for the first ever Saturday post!

The start of the new year always brings in new opportunities to spend those hard earned churned points that you’ve been accumulating! However, before you jump in guns blazing and transfer all your points for a unicorn 20 cpp redemption, let’s talk about one of the worst things that can happen to churners besides a shutdown: phantom availability.

What Is Phantom Availability?

It’s basically the award travel equivalent of getting catfished.

In all seriousness, it’s when an airline program shows a certain flight award available to be booked but that award in reality does not exist. This is commonly seen when booking partner awards through an airline program. A notorious example of this is when trying to book ANA awards through Air Canada Aeroplan.

How Do I Avoid Phantom Availability?

Glad you asked. It’s quite simple actually. You just need to cross reference with different airline partners to verify that the award is available to other partners as well. Usually if at least 2 partners can see the exact flight you want, there’s a high chance that the program is showing real award space.

You cannot use the award airline’s own program to verify space because there is no guarantee that partner airlines will have access to the same availability. So if you’re trying to book United Polaris via Air Canada Aeroplan, you cannot go to United’s website to verify this award space.

So let’s get into the best ways to verify award availability for each alliance.

Star Alliance

United is usually not the best way to book Star Alliance awards but it ironically is one of the best ways to verify partner award space. The other two good airline programs to use are Air Canada Aeroplan and Avianca Lifemiles. You can use a combination of the 3 to check if coveted awards like ANA business class, Eva business class, or Lufthansa first class awards are real.

BONUS TIP: Air Canada has a strange partnership with Singapore Airlines where Aeroplan will sometimes have more access to Singapore Airlines award space than Singapore Airlines’ own program. There may be instances where Singapore Airlines award flights don’t show up on United and show up as waitlisted on Singapore’s website but are actually bookable with no waitlist via Aeroplan. However, this is definitely the exception and not the norm.

OneWorld

British Airways and Cathay Pacific are the two best ways of verifying OneWorld partner award space. While Alaska Airlines and American Airlines are two of the best programs to book OneWorld award flights they unfortunately also often show phantom availability and shouldn’t be trusted without additional verification.

SkyTeam

Delta is the best program to verify SkyTeam award space. Air France Flying Blue and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club are good programs to use as well but they often don’t show all of the partner space. Delta is the most reliable in showing the partner availability online.

In general, you can always call the program you’re trying to book through and ask the agent to see if they can find the award space you’re looking at. If they do, you can then transfer over your points to complete the booking since almost all programs except for a few (ahem looking at you Singapore Airlines and Chase), will have the points immediately transferred.

– John at Miles Mastery

Be careful out there and don’t get catfished by the airlines

EDITOR’S NOTE: I’m on an annual blogging vacation for the last two weeks of the year. To make sure you still have content, some of the smartest members of the community have stepped up with guest posts in my absence. Special thanks to today’s author, the always helpful and funny SideShowBob233, for writing this post while I’m on vacation. I’ll see you on January 1!

It seems like these days everyone hates on Uber, from drivers who Uber screws out of wages, to people who are sexually assaulted by Uber, drivers who failed their background check but are somehow working with Uber anyway, to people like me, who find themselves shadow-banned from Uber for an unknown reason and have their loaded gift card balances locked in Uber-purgatory™ while Uber support tells you there’s nothing wrong with your account and you should continue using it.

Since I’m a selfish type of guy (hands off my rake!) I’m going to focus on the last one of those reasons to hate Uber.  Sometime in October I found myself unable to place orders on Uber.  Thinking it was a glitch, I reached out to their support.  Uber support is very responsive, kind of like a car with an almost dead battery.  You turn the key, it makes lots noises, but in the end you’re still screwed. 

I went back and forth with Uber support as they “investigated” (if you can call ignoring my support ticket while they approved serial killers as drivers as investigating) and told me it was escalated to a higher team.  What I thought (and was proved right) is that the “higher team” is a description of the team.  They literally smoke weed all day and do nothing else.  So my case is still sitting with that team while they drive around in the Magic Mystery Machine eating Scooby snacks and I am still unable to use my Uber account (likely forever). 

I’m still not clear WTF caused my ban, but there are several possibilities.  One, I added a bunch of promo codes to Postmates (also owned by Uber) about a week before my ban.  However, by itself I don’t think that was the issue – but rather it was coupled with a cancelled order a few weeks earlier.  I ordered food on Uber eats, and about 2 minutes before it was due to be delivered, I was notified the order was cancelled by Uber support.   I reached out to their support to ask about it, and they told me I cancelled it.  I explained I absolutely did not cancel it and they said they’d give me a credit for the order (I actually just wanted the damn food not a credit, but I settled for a credit).  I think this put me on a suspected abuser list (when my best guess is their terrible customer service cancelled my order by mistake trying to cancel a different order) and then when I added some promo codes that sealed my fate.  But I’m just guessing, because their support is so bad they can’t even tell me if I’m banned.  Uber gonna Uber. 

While I know people normally want to be like me (as shown here):

In this case you actually don’t want to be like me, here are some tips to avoid my rake fate:

  • Do not use the same Uber account on multiple devices
  • Do not add more than one new credit card to your account every 3 days (72 rolling hours)
  • Do not go nuts adding promo codes (this usually will only lead to a promo code ban)
  • Do not have your order accidentally cancelled by Uber support (let me know if you figure out how to do this)
  • Do not complain after Uber cancels your order and leaves you hungry
  • Do not pass go, do not collect $200 (now I’m just seeing if you’re still here – shouldn’t you be out probing or something?)

I’ll end my rant here, but let me just say I will dance on their grave when Uber goes bankrupt, leaving us with memories of the Amex Uber credits and leaving Amex with a different coupon they will need to come up with.

– SideShowBob233

Pictured: What SideShowBob233 is missing by not having Uber Eats.

EDITOR’S NOTE: I’m on an annual blogging vacation for the last two weeks of the year. To make sure you still have content, some of the smartest members of the community have stepped up with guest posts in my absence. Special thanks to today’s author, my good friend Nathan, for writing this post while I’m on vacation. I’ll see you on January 1!

Spend any decent amount of time purchasing physical VISA/MasterCard prepaid or 3rd party gift cards and you’re bound to come across at least one that has been compromised. Purchasing a tampered gift card (GC) and dealing with the fallout is a seeming right of passage into the physical world of manufactured spend. 

For the same reason GCs are useful to manufactured spenders in that they are available in high denominations and easy to liquidate, they are particularly attractive to scammers as they provide the added benefit of anonymity because all that is needed for redemption are the card details itself.

The process of compromising a GC will generally involve the scammer obtaining unactivated cards, bringing the cards to a location where they can record and/or remove essential card details, then placing the cards back on the shelves at retailers. A fraudster’s window of opportunity starts the moment after the GCs are loaded but before you or the recipient has the ability to use the funds or report the card as compromised to the card issuer.

Depending on the extent of the tampering, it may physically impossible for you to redeem / use the card since the magnetic stripe itself was tampered or the pertinent information was defaced. Other times, they will record the information and although you still have the ability to access the funds, they are hoping that they can drain the funds before you do.

Retailers and card issuers usually add hurdles to replace compromised cards and recover stolen funds. The best thing you can do is catch anomalies in the pre-activation phase, as sorting it out after can be a huge headache.

Common Card Features / Attack Vectors

  • Activation Barcode
  • Card Number / Redemption Code
  • PIN (for some brands, synonymous with the redemption code)

Pre-Activation Inspection

Familiarize yourself carefully with the GC you are purchasing, it’s packaging, and card features. Try to find a safe source for cards (ie. freshly stocked cards or shrink wrapped bundles behind the gift card case). 

If possible, open and inspect the packaging and/or card before activating. In general:

  • Inspect the area over and surrounding the activation barcode carefully. Make sure the activation barcode is the original, nothing foreign is covering it, and if it was covered with a reveal tab or security sticker, it was not previously uncovered and re-applied.
  • Check the card number and PIN to make sure they were not tampered with. Tampering includes details being scratched off altogether or security stickers removed and re-applied. 
  • Warped packaging could suggest that the package was opened and resealed.
  • Most manufacturers use a type of one time use glue. Glue that is too sticky or too hard is usually a giveaway that the package has been tampered with.
  • If the activation barcode is separate from the card number itself (common with popular brands such as Apple and Best Buy), there will often be an identification number on both pieces, make sure these numbers match to indicate the card wasn’t swapped.
  • Check sequence numbers of the card batch.
    • If the brand utilizes sequence numbers, a card out of sequence could indicate that cards were planted.
    • When scaling, examining each card carefully can slow you down. If you determine one card from a batch is fine, the rest of the cards from that batch are more likely to be safe.
  • Generally the register will show the last 4 of the serial number of the GC that will be activated. Make sure this matches with the serial number printed on the packaging as they are scanned in.

Activation Issues

If you discover you have a compromised GC after purchasing, act immediately. If you have access to the card details and/or the mag stripe hasn’t been tampered with, make it a priority to spend or use the funds as soon as you can. If you don’t have a quick liquidation plan in mind, contact the card issuer or the retailer as soon as possible. Usually the retailer will defer to the card issuer, but depending on the retailer and manager, they may be able to help you replace the card.

If a GC was purchased with a swapped barcode, you can use a barcode scanner (in a pinch there’s a free online version at https://online-barcode-reader.inliteresearch.com) to help determine which card the funds were routed to.

If you had activation issues and multiple cards were involved, make sure you leave the store with the correct cards as they can easily be confused.

– Nathan

Not all scam gift cards are easy to spot, watch out for this one before it bites you in the, err, foot.