E-gift cards from Employer Hacked

[Pooh2]

Does anyone know if it's safer to check the Disney gift card balances on the phone rather than on their website?

 

[gottalovepluto]

Does anyone know if it's safer to check the Disney gift card balances on the phone rather than on their website?

It is safe either way. Make sure you go to https://www.disneygiftcard.com/ and that you see that s after the http.

If you are not comfortable with the website you can call the number on the back of the card.

 

[AlohaNow]

Per the advice here on the DIS, I have always been very careful to add gift cards to my account, combine the balances, and then immediately delete all cards from the GC website. I was just thinking about our upcoming trip and how much I currently have in gift cards. I checked my spreadsheet amount and then logged in to check the balance to ensure that they matched. The day after I combined the latest two cards, the full $230 balance was spent in a single transaction simply marked ‘Disneyland’. I of course sent a message to the GC people through the website, but know that those funds will never be recovered. I am fully done with Disney GCs now. I am convinced it is an inside job.

 

[Nala83]

This is a bit of a tangent, but this makes me nervous about the discounted cards I bought through Costco. They are electronic. I printed them but have no immediate plans to use them. Should I (or is there even a way to) consolidate them into an account? Or is there some way to protect them?

 

[Danicat77]

This is a bit of a tangent, but this makes me nervous about the discounted cards I bought through Costco. They are electronic. I printed them but have no immediate plans to use them. Should I (or is there even a way to) consolidate them into an account? Or is there some way to protect them?

You can still transfer them to a physical card; I also got DisneyGCs from Costco and that’s what I did. I’ve also bought e-cards from target when there’s been coupons/specials and then immediately transferred them as well to a physical card and then I immediately delete all the cards from my account again. However, the response above yours makes me nervous that maybe that’s not enough? I guess I’ll have to hope for the best!

 

[gottalovepluto]

Per the advice here on the DIS, I have always been very careful to add gift cards to my account, combine the balances, and then immediately delete all cards from the GC website. I was just thinking about our upcoming trip and how much I currently have in gift cards. I checked my spreadsheet amount and then logged in to check the balance to ensure that they matched. The day after I combined the latest two cards, the full $230 balance was spent in a single transaction simply marked ‘Disneyland’. I of course sent a message to the GC people through the website, but know that those funds will never be recovered. I am fully done with Disney GCs now. I am convinced it is an inside job.

For the sake of a full DP, where did you buy the gc that was hacked (this would be the one spent at Disneyland)?

 

[Anthony1971]

Hate to say it but the employee/credit card rewards gift cards losing value has been going on forever. If you need to get a gift card this way use it immediately or transfer it to a physical gift card in Disney's case. Best to get a restaurant or not popular store for rewards steer clear of Disney, Home Depot, Lowes, Apple and Target which are main ones I have heard and personally had issues with a few. Thier is no obligation for the store to replace them however if you bought it by credit card you can start a chargeback but expect a fight on large value ones. Smaller values should not be an issue. The only store I know that would replace them in the past was Home Depot the rest just as the OP said you can report to your local Police station which is doubtful anything will be done. You can use theft as part of itemized deductions on your taxes so long as you have the police report but most people take a standard deduction and a gift card loss will just not come close to tipping the scales for an itemized deduction.

 

[AlohaNow]

For the sake of a full DP, where did you buy the gc that was hacked (this would be the one spent at Disneyland)?

So I had two e-gift cards that DH received from participating in focus groups. The focus group company awards a code to be ‘spent’ through a third party gift card website. Just as I always have, I chose Disney gift cards from that site and received the e-mail with the virtual card number and the EAN. The gift card that I loaded these two amounts onto through the Disney GC site I have had for a while. It was not a ‘fresh’ hard card, but one that I had utilized before. (Probably my downfall here.) I combined them on April 2 and then the funds were spent on April 3. So something was triggered by me logging into my Disney GC account.

This is just my little PSA that funds continue to be drained from cards. I read about it for years on here but it never happened to me until now. Churning gift cards sure was lucrative while it lasted, especially during the Shopkick/Rakuten/Target years!

 

[gottalovepluto]

…The gift card that I loaded these two amounts onto through the Disney GC site I have had for a while. It was not a ‘fresh’ hard card, but one that I had utilized before. (Probably my downfall here.) I combined them on April 2 and then the funds were spent on April 3. So something was triggered by me logging into my Disney GC account.

Aha, yeah I think you nailed. Very important to get fresh cards after every trip when using physical cards, never know who could swipe your gc data as all it takes is a quick pic of the back of the card. As for the website that wasn’t it in the way you think it was. Your logging on did nothing, your loading the compromised card most likely did. There are scripts thieves run to continuously check their codes and as soon as it registers a load it notifies them. Same way it works with all those hacked VGCs and other gc’s.

 

[AlohaNow]

Yep, I agree Pluto. Some mystery bad person already had the deets on the card and was happy to be notified that funds had been loaded on to it. I just received an e-mail response back from Disney today that the $230 was spent on 'the purchase of Disneyland Resort theme park tickets'. Awesome to hear Disney. I hope whoever stole my funds has the best day ever in the parks.