Gift Card already redeemed Issue

I ran into the same issue where I have purchased three $50 from Walmart Market that were redeemed. and unusable. I called Apple Support and the best advice they had was if the cards were purchased with a Debit/Credit card then reach out to the card merchant and report fraud and stolen card value and hopefully they'll refund the cost back to the card. I asked if they could tell me the date it was used, what software was purchased, iOS App, subscription charged against it or to which Apple iTunes email/acct it was applied to and she told me they had NO WAY OF SEEING WHAT the cards were used for which I find extremely odd since these would have a high likelihood of being added to someone's iTunes Acct in which requires a login and then the card info added to the iTunes acct to be charged against. We know there are instances that this information could be provided & the amt could be charged back against that thief's iTunes acct or debited from the card connected to their Apple ID etc and covered in the terms and conditions a disclaimer ref stolen APPLE Gift Cards applied to their accounts, especially when the rightful owner can provide the card, the card envelope, the sales receipt, verify the card used to purchase belongs to the person making the claim etc. There are many ways the purchaser who had no control over the theft but seeing the big picture, why should APPLE care, they're getting their money regardless so no loss to them, just tell the consumer to go buy another one and good luck next time. It's a poor and greedy business practice. Home Depot requires the purchaser to scan their DL or ID card and add their mobile number at the time of issue which automatically registers it to that person and upon redeeming the card you must provide the same information to prevent this kind of fraud and theft. The technology has been developed & implemented for at least 2 years now & the POS software is available and ready to be used by much smaller companies outside of the tech industry. If APPLE was on the losing end then they'd have implemented a cure for the disease long ago but Gift Card Fraud only hurts their consumers and increases their profits with additional sales with us buying more cards when needed. APPLE, you need to do better than this.

This just happened to me as well. I bought 2x $100 Apple gift cards from Target and they were already redeemed. I contacted Apple Support and they said they could do nothing and that I should contact Target. Seeing as this is an ongoing issue, I feel like Apple isn’t bothering to even do anything against the people that are stealing from people who are using Apple’s products.

If I saw this sooner I would’ve stop trying to get my 50 bucks back. As someone who doesn’t work and is a teen it’s a lot of money. I went back to target 3 times already which sucks and called apple multiple times saying that target has to replace them is a joke. I do not blame target because it’s a third party item apple is the one that needs to fix this **** error.

That's not entirely accurate KiltedTim. Yes the cashier has to activate it, if not activated properly, the gift card won't function as intended. However, that isnt was this discussion is about; people didn't buy gift cards only to get them home and discover they were never activated; they got them home and discovered the balances were stolen and registered to a different account, all while being properly sealed, with a trail to prove it; why would another user go to the trouble to put a used gift card back on the shelf and who would buy a man opened iTunes gift card. Your whole argument is kinda invalid. Scammers are getting more clever. In some cases, these scammers steal unactivated gift cards, copy the code that is exposed on the back without opening the gift card , put it back on the shelf and then once it's activated they are notified (how? I don't know, I'm a productive member of society and don't partake in such activities) at which point they are able to take the balance.

Should the retailer refund the stolen funds? In my opinion, yes. They sold the product. If I bought a defective electronic or a boxed furniture piece from target, they would refund my money. Ultimately, they are selling a product they can't guarantee and then won't stand behind. Apple gives you the illusion their gift cards are safe by being packaged when if fact they're not. If consumers are having a problem with a product, in this case Apple gift cards, then a retailer shouldn't offer them for sale, keep them locked up available by request only, or guarantee their effectiveness.

I don’t understand is how Apple is able to tell you the Apple ID that did redeem it or at least they tell you that , but even if you show proof of purchase with the gift card and the receipt and tell them that it’s suppose to be for this Apple ID instead. Why they can’t refund the amount from the Apple ID that it was redeemed and transfer it to the correct Apple ID.

Because it’s plain BS if people can’t even buy gift cards now and give them as “gifts” if they have the chance of being used with out you knowing.

Their has to be some way that Apple isn’t telling us to be able to get our purchase to the right owner. It’s clear as simple fraud and stealing by the other Apple ID honestly I’m sure one day this will turn into a huge lawsuit against Apple or someone because it’s just against the law to steal period

I have bought 5x$100 iTunes gift card from target and when I tried to redeem them the message “already redeemed” appeared on all 5 cards. when I took it back to target they said it’s not their responsibility and I should take it up with Apple. I did speak with three different technicians at apple and they said there is nothing they can do for me. I just can’t believe big companies like apple and target would sell something like this to their customers. I would warn all consumers (or anybody who is reading this) not to purchase apple gift cards. It is truly a gamble to buy them.

I too purchsed a SEALED $50 Apple gift card at Target for my daughter's birthday. When she went to redeem it the following day, it showed this card had already been redeemed. Went to the Target store where I purchased the Gift card. They told me this has been happening since the holidays and they referred me to corporate where I spoke to a "Gift Card Specialist" who said they could do nothing since the card was successfully activated. Yet no mention from the "specialist" as to this being a problem. I told the "specialist" if this is an obvious problem, then you should stop selling Apple Gift Cards. They referred me to Apple. Apple was able to track the scammers account that redeemed the gift card and said they could do nothing since I did not purchased the card directly from them. The scammers account would be flagged. Thanks, but that doesn't help me! Apple said I should contact Target, who sold me the Gift Card. Essentially got no where!!!! I wasted two hours of my time.

I just bought a gift card for $25 and I scan it and it says already been use or redeem and my balance is still the same and five dollars and something what do I do when this happens I refreshed my screen or account and it still says the same

I'm a little late to the party here, but Target won't do anything. I'm going through this right now. Essentially, they are saying it shows it was successfully activated when I purchased it, so the fact that it was already redeemed when I tried to redeem it is irrelevant since it was successfully purchased. Makes no sense. Consequently Target, and most retailers, are selling gift cards but can't guarantee them in any way; Target told me to call my police department or the FTC. Apple support pretty much said sorry, we can't help you either. At the end of the day, there's no one who is liable for gift cards and it's becoming a gamble when you buy them.

This exact same thing happened to me. I bought four $100 gift cards for my girlfriend to buy an iPad for Valentine’s Day. Bought the gift cards a few weeks ago and didn’t open them until feb 14. All say the were already redeemed so I called Apple and they said they were used 30 mins after I purchased them. This is unacceptable in so many ways. Apple and target kept going back and forth pointing fingers at each other until they started telling me to contact the police. This is clearly happening to a large number of people and the fact that Apple will not take accountability for a huge problem with THEIR system is embarrassing.

I so agree on this and I thought of it too. They kept telling me it’s target responsible because they sold it to me which is BS. Apple the one that should be responsible and I can see that it happens to regularly to everyone.

This just happened to me too. I had my high school graduation party a few weeks ago, and today I was going through all my presents and went to redeem my $50 Apple gift card, and it said redeemed. I tried multiple times and just got off the phone with Apple. They were very helpful, don’t get me wrong, but they didn’t fix my problem at all. They basically told me to go tell the person who gifted it to me to go to the store where they got it and talk with them. That’s such an awkward situation to put my neighbors in. Also, not to mention that it is unfair to me. They put me on the line with a supervisor, and I feel like they can 100% see it wasn’t me who redeemed it, and probably wasn’t redeemed anywhere near me either. Apple is literally one of the biggest companies in the world and the fact that they can’t refund cards that have literally been stolen is beyond me. And after reading all of these replies with their experiences at the stores where they purchased the cards, it seems I am out $50 on a completely new and sealed gift card.

I had purchased two $100 apple gift card from Target store, I got it in the morning on 25th, tried to redeem at night, one of them it’s gone. I just unseal it and scanned. It showed redeemed. I called apple to have them pay attention to it. Since I heard it from other people who lost $800 or more. I’m still considered as lucky only lost $100. I believe Apple has to setup other second security like text a code to purchaser’s cell phone in order to activate the gift card. But anyway, apple didn’t lost any money, they MAKE all these money?

Nope. When a gift card is sold, any gift card... Apple, Amazon, restaurant, etc., it is activated at checkout by the cashier. If they fail to activate it correctly, it has no value. This is to ensure that someone can't just pocket a gift card at the big display and walk out with thousands of dollars worth of gift cards...

You have to take this up with the store where you purchased it. Someone at the retailer had to activate the card, then use the value and return it to the display where you picked it up, or you had to leave it somewhere where someone could steal the code from it and use it before you attempted to redeem it.

1. I have had a similar issue in Canada. I bought a $50 card at a co-op store and my receipt showed it was approved / activated. The card was properly sealed in the enveloped with no signs of tampering. I opened the package and removed the card with the redemption code. I scanned it and it said the code was not valid. I called Apple and spoke to support. I sent them pictures of the package including the bar code, the receipt which reflected the bar code and the redemption card. They told me the card was activated, based on the bar code, but that the redemption code did not come from the sealed package and was an invalid $25 card. I returned to the store and was told that they could not help as they did correctly activate the card. They provided me with a contact number for the company who provided the card. I contacted them and, based on the bar code number, they confirmed it was activated and even gave me the date and time. However, they could not speak to redemption as they do not get that information from Apple. I believe Apple should be able to associate the bar code to a redemption code and offer some insight into my problem. The card I purchased does not show as “redeemed” but simply that it is not valid. That’s my rant. I’m confident that I am out $50 and confident that my gift card days are done. At least I did not gift this card to someone….