Cannot Use Coles Prepaid MasterCard in Some Places

littlepcat on 16/10/2021 - 15:30
Last edited 16/10/2021 - 16:51 by 1 other user

Hi, everyone,

I've used several Coles Prepaid MasterCards for online purchases without any problem until 2 days ago. I've tried two cards. Both have sufficient fund. One is brand new. One was used in one of the following websites before but is not accepted any more. Here are some websites I am having trouble with now:

Woolworths Insurance
Menulog
Ahm insurance
Rewards gateway

PS : The same cards are still accepted in store and on some online platforms, such as PayPal, McDonald's.

I wonder if anyone has had the same experience recently? Any way to fix it ?

Thanks a lot.

• 

  screensaver on 16/10/2021 - 15:39

  If you have to input your name, try prepaid cardholder

  • 

    littlepcat on 16/10/2021 - 16:55

    Hi,

    Thanks.
    I tried, but it didn't work.

• 

  meowsers on 16/10/2021 - 15:49

  +1

  Not surprising given the massive hack and draining of some of these accounts.

• 

  WookieMonster on 16/10/2021 - 17:14

  +4

  I’ve had the same experience with Reward Gateway in the last couple of days.

  I reached out to them, and the likely reason is that their payment processor was never supposed to process payments from prepaid Visa/MC gift cards in the first place. Apparently, they have always required cards to supported 3D Secure¹, and they suspected what has happened is that their payment processor didn’t correctly check cards to see whether they supported 3D Secure until recently.

  I also contacted Coles Gift Mastercard about this. They also confirmed that there was no evidence of me attempting to make a payment at Reward Gateway in the last couple of days, which further supports the theory that Reward Gateway’s payment processor is now rejecting prepaid gift cards. They also confirmed that they have no way of supporting 3D Secure, as that would require their systems to start recording people’s names and addresses so that there can be verification of billing addresses, as well as recording mobile phone numbers for 2FA purposes. If Indue (the company that issues Coles Gift Mastercards) cannot implement a simple block/unblock button on their Coles Gift Mastercard website to help prevent BIN attacks on Coles Gift Mastercards, what hope do you have for them investing in the systems to support 3D Secure?

  Btw, I actually edited the Discounted Gift Card wiki yesterday to reflect the fact that Reward Gateway (probably) no longer accepts prepaid gift cards.

  If you couldn’t guess by now, there is no way to fix this. You’ll need to use your Coles Gift Mastercards elsewhere.

  I cannot comment on the other businesses you mentioned in your post, but I suspect they share the same payment processor as Reward Gateway.

  ---

  1. The reason for 3D Secure being a minimum requirement is that it allows for increased security for online payments (e.g. allowing payment processors to verify billing addresses or request two-factor authentication (2FA) verification to ensure it is you and not someone else using your card). ↩

  • 

    littlepcat on 16/10/2021 - 23:00

    +4

    Thank you very much. I appreciate your effort and generosity of sharing such valuable information. I've learnt a lot from your reply.

    Sadly, no more using discounted Coles prepaid Master to purchase discounted gift cards from Reward Gateway. With the lack of supporting 3D secure and the recent BIN attack, Coles prepaid Master has become less and less useful. Time to move on. :(

    • 

      WookieMonster on 17/10/2021 - 00:15

      +2

      It was good whilst it lasted, particularly since Reward Gateway didn’t charge any fees for using a Coles Gift Mastercard to pay for their gift cards! I’m like you, I won’t be purchasing as many Coles Gift Mastercards going forward as I used to… unless there’s another “10% off” sale!

      I’ll let you know if I hear anything else from Reward Gateway.

      • 

        Neoika on 17/10/2021 - 09:03

        +1

        Besides what you said, I think the culprit is 10% off sale with no limit. With so many cards activated within a short period, scammers can pull out more cards than before with the same time and efforts spent. Previously, there were a lot of unactivated cards due to the sale limit.

    • 

      JIMB0 on 17/10/2021 - 08:58

      The end of an era.

      • 

        Neoika on 17/10/2021 - 09:07

        +1

        I prefer it to wind back to limit to one bonus per flybuys. The sale occurs once every two months. This can prevent people from hoarding and let people use the cards up in two months. Of course, some people can buy more with more flybuys and it is their choice.

• 

  pharkurnell on 16/10/2021 - 19:03

  -3

  What did they say when you called them and asked?

• 

  imcold on 18/10/2021 - 08:20

  +1

  Yeah, I have problems using a card with balance, online at sites that previously worked, and also instore. Last time I tried using it instore was 2 weeks ago. Maybe they blocked all cards that only started being used online when the bin attacks started or the bin attackers are doing a refund on your card

  Forgot to call them on Saturday. They are useless via email

• 

  littlepcat on 18/10/2021 - 10:42

  After some more reading, apparently prepaid credit cards that support 3D Security are (almost) non existent. Any websites that have 'Verified by VISA', 'MasterCard ID Check' or 'American Express Safe Key' logos won't accept prepaid credit cards if this security feature is really checked properly.

  How could I/we get away with it for so long?….. I am so puzzled.