Whole New Meaning for "Scam Artist"

[TennesseePieman]

There's another angle that I thought of, that hasn't been addressed yet. Our credit card machine at work is capable of making gift cards - we don't have it loaded with the right software, but lots of places that have this same machine do use it for this purpose, as it is a major selling point. I'm sure lots of businesses of all sizes have it, as it is a decent and inexpensive machine.

Seems to me that if a person were to steal one of these units from his favorite store (they wouldn't be hard to steal, as they could conceivably fit into a large coat pocket), then all one would need to do is get blank cards and make your own gift certificates in whatever denomination suits you.

Eh, then again, maybe the guy was just an artist with no concept that things actually cost money.

[Lehk]

Seems to me that if a person were to steal one of these units from his favorite store (they wouldn't be hard to steal, as they could conceivably fit into a large coat pocket), then all one would need to do is get blank cards and make your own gift certificates in whatever denomination suits you.

SHOULD never work, not to say some idiot somewhere doesn't have a system where that would be possible

the card should be a numerical code linked to an account in a database which holds the $ info

also having the cards hold the value would mean the card needs to be swiped ywice each transaction, once to read it then again to write back the new value.

and card writers aren't that hard to get, and can be improvised with cassette recorders in a pinch

[TennesseePieman]

the card should be a numerical code linked to an account in a database which holds the $ info

Exactly. That was my point as to why it would be necessary to steal the CC machine.

If it were merely a matter of turning the card into a $10 or $100 card just by encoding the value on the card, you're right, you could go buy your own CC machine or, as you suggested, use the parts off of a cassette recorder. It has to hook into a particular database with the value info. The only (likely) way to do that is with a machine that can not only validate the cards, but has the dialup numbers already preprogrammed to connect to the database in question.

I'm pretty certain these CC machines either have a battery backup or utilize some variation of a RAM card, too - otherwise, every time there was a power or phone outage you'd have to call your CC rep to come out and reprogram the machine, or break out the manual and figure out how to do it yourself.

[Dragon_Dreamer]

Here's the thing, which I think a couple people are getting confused by: I work for a pharmacy.

NONE of the cards this guy wanted were for our chain. I saw a couple Marriots, at least 3 spa cards, a couple golf course cards, that sort of thing in his pile. He was deliberately going for the pricey places' cards.

[novicecrafter]

*sigh*

I wouldnt be surprised if he was a scam artist- like selling Xbox "boxes" on ebay he probably sells the "cards" themselves with a denomination of "X" (but says nothing about them being activated). Or of course he may just dump the whole load and disappear after making a quick buck... the internet is still like the wild west in some ways lol. Rob a train and disappear guns lazing into the sunset

[Dips]

Perhaps he wants to give out 72 Christmas gifts and appear generous without spending any money...

"Gee, Mom, it was for $100. They said it was never activated? I'll go down there tomor...um...next week and look into it. But I spent $100 on you, I swear!"