Gift Card already redeemed Issue

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.

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.

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.

Sorry to hear that, same thing happened to me. My son got a gift card for his graduation and it was sealed. He opened it and tried to redeem and it failed. Apple won't do anything about it. The only solution is to not buy these cards. Apple does not have the security in place to protect against it.

I just tried to use 2x$25 cards that were from a Costco 4x $25 pack. 1 redeemed and 1 says already redeemed. I have a feeling there is some gift card mining going on. Someone has probably developed some software that can enter 16 digit random letter/number combinations continuously. Every combination that has been activated will be redeemed. Don’t sit on your gift card people. Make sure they are redeemed promptly. Better to gift cash.

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.

Same thing happened to me yesterday when I bought an Apple Card worth $50 dollars.Called apple support system and they said they are not held liable for it.Went back to the store where I bought the card( I did not get a refund) to complain, and they said I am a seven person to complain about it within a week, I told them they need to pull out all those apple gift card from the store to prevent it from happening again.I am tired of these big corporations not standing behind their product and getting away with it.

[Edited by Moderator]

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.

Original post is from November 2020, it’s not April 2021. Nothing has been done to fix this problem as I now have 5 of the $50 gcs and they all say they have already been redeemed. Apple says maybe I already redeemed them. If I take the strip off the back of the packaging an hour after I purchase it to redeem it, how could I have possible already redeemed it. I have been an apple user for many years. My husband has always stuck to Samsung. I will no longer be supporting apple, I won’t be upgrading my iPad, iPod, iPhones or ianything. Life is hard enough especially now to be robbed by a supposedly reputable company. That they won’t do anything, just makes me so angry. But then again, they got there money from all of us, why should they care.

Just purchased a $100 at Walgreens and received a message that it had already been redeemed. Is Apple recycling their codes off the cards? Maybe they need to switch to bar scan codes instead of an input of alphanumeric!

Went back to Walgreens and manager gave me a schpiel about a second code off of a receipt which is not the case it turns out. It just proves the card is purchased and has been electronically activated.

I have exactly the same issue. I've purchased a $100 gift card for my wife at either CVS or Target about a year ago. She tried to use it when she tried to purchase her Apple Watch online (through apple.com). Due to connection error or something, she was not able to complete her PO back then. Since the PO didn't gp through, we never imagined that our apple gift card was redeemed or anything. A few months later, we went physically to Apple Store in a near mall to purchase her Apple Watch. Then, we noticed that our $100 card was in the status of 'already redeemed' when the shop clerk tried to redeem it. We have been trying to claim our $100 back since then, but no progress.

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….

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?

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.