eWish Card Compromised, What to Do?

amorphous2111 on 16/05/2022 - 10:26

Hi fellow OZB,

I have several ewish cards I bought from the Qantas Reward store during the 30% point promotion last month. Used about $60 on one card yesterday to find out that the balance is only $66.59 for a $250 cards. Obviously there are a number of transactions made in BigW Werribee and Woolworths Point Cook in May. My cards were purchased in April.

Not sure what my ground is here? I called WW and they said along the line that my email might have been hacked. I told them that if it was the case then all of my cards should have been used, not just one. Also I noticed that this particular card came after an unusually long time (9 days after I placed my order, other cards arrived a few minutes after ordering).

The transactions in Werribee and Point Cooks also look quite legitimate, which made me hope that they accidentally sent the same ecard to two accounts, and the other will dispute my transaction with WW soon. That is when they can compare the two claims and investigate.

Any of you in here experienced this before? and the outcome? There is one thread on similar problem back in 2016 but I don’t see a clear outcome from that.

https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/272059

Thank you and happy bargaining,

Financial Gift Card

Comments

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 16/05/2022 - 10:50

    do you actually live near werribee/point cook?

    • amorphous2111 on 16/05/2022 - 11:36

      No I live in SA.

      • Jimothy Wongingtons on 16/05/2022 - 12:20

        i think thats at lest grounds for w/w to check it out as per trotsky below -see if edr/online orders were associated (probably not though if they figured out how to compromise your email)

  • trotsky on 16/05/2022 - 10:53
    +1

    How lazy are WW. You'd think they would take enough interest in fraud to check the transactions, see if an EDR card was scanned or if it was an online order and contact the other party.

    Clearly this isn't the work of sophisticated fraudsters, they left $120 on your card.

    • amorphous2111 on 20/05/2022 - 18:55

      So I called Qantas, and Woolworths… and they pointed to each other for the blame. But WW at least was able to send me all the receipts for the transactions made in Melbourne that I don’t recognize. They looked normal, typical shoping list with EDR card scanned, and guess what… team member discount.

      I called WW again and said that the transactions were made by a person in your team, and they suggested me to go to the police. I gave this information to Qantas and if they don’t resolve the matter I will file a police report.

      1. I have proof of ownership with this card, e.g. Qantas store invoice, email with card link etc

      2. I do not authorize the transactions in Melbourne, and have no link whatsoever with that person.

      3. As he is a WW staff, the police should be able to request his identity from WW and ask for an explanation.

      3.1. If he can also show the proof of ownership, then either Qantas or WW system messed it up. I guess in that case both of us would be entitled to something.
      3.2. If he can’t, the he is the bad guy or was buying the stolen card some other bad guys. I don’t know what the outcome for me in that case then, sue the guy to get such little money back?

      Would have to think again about all these gift cards in the future.

  • screensaver on 16/05/2022 - 11:15
    -6

    change your emaill password, get Norton security

  • JoeBogan on 16/05/2022 - 12:14
    -1

    It boggles my mind that as so many issues have been cropping up with regards to compromised eGift cards, why do people still buy them?

    I understand it doesn't happen to everyone but Id only buy them if I'm making a purchase very soon after purchase.

    • amorphous2111 on 16/05/2022 - 12:20

      Yeah normally I don’t but the 30% off point deal was very good at the Qantas store last month and I have lots of points due to no flying over the last two years.

    • ATTS on 17/05/2022 - 15:15

      Just curious what proportion of people who buy e gift cards have their e gift card compromised?

  • capslock on 16/05/2022 - 12:47

    I would spend the remaining funds immediately.

    I would also keep calling Woolworths until you get a sympathetic agent that will want to help you. This is assuming the gift card was issued directly by Woolworths. I'm not sure if Qantas uses a third party gift card reseller.

    If that fails I'm not sure what else you can do other than go on all social media channels complaining and ranting and hope that Woolworths will eventually care.

    • amorphous2111 on 16/05/2022 - 14:05

      They have locked the card and said they will look into this, not sure what will come out really.

      Maybe they have a camera at BigW Werribee and Woolworths Point Cook to show who actually used the card.

  • serpserpserp on 16/05/2022 - 15:40

    Panic.

  • orangetrain on 16/05/2022 - 18:40

    Report it to ACORN: https://www.cyber.gov.au/acsc/report

    You may not get it back BUT… if you and enough other people report it then the government may look into this. Which can mean that the company may be forced to reimburse you if it was found that there was systematic issues.

    • amorphous2111 on 16/05/2022 - 22:31

      Yeah I think I would do that. When I called they did offer me a voucher of “50 or something” but I asked for the full amount to be reloaded ob my card.

  • amorphous2111 on 30/05/2022 - 20:06
    Merged from Hacked/Stolen Ewish Card

    I bought a $250 EWish card from Qantas rewards on 10/04. When I started using the card on 15/05 there were already several purchases made with my card in Melbourne on 05/05 and 09/05, totalling about $190.

    I contacted Woolworths, and Qantas… they basically pointed to each other for the blame, and both suggested my email could have been hacked. It is very unlikely because I ordered 9 gift cards in total, and only one was compromised. Also I works in Tech and have a reasonable level or cyber security awareness, very unlikely my Gmail has been hacked.

    When I asked Woolworths for the receipts or the transactions in their store in Melbourne, it turned out that the card was used by one of their staff member as there was a staff discount applied on all the receipts. I mentioned that to them and they just advise me to go to the police, on the ground that they can track that staff member when requested by the police.

    The police refused to take my case even though I said I have proof of ownership and there is a identifiable person that the police can ask why and how he had my card. Maybe Woolworth system f’ked up, maybe he stole it, maybe he bought it from the Dark web… but no it is not police problem. They refer me to the cyber crime reporting.

    Anyone has similar problem? and how you got them resolved? I thought of the media but it is really just not worth the effort for less then $200. Personally I think WW has terrible custommer service as they can always ask the staff member a few questions and make it an in-house matter. Or maybe they think I was doing something fishy here and won’t dare to go to the police…

    Thank you.

    • SF3 on 30/05/2022 - 20:15

      I thought of the media

      Bad publicity motivates them.

      • djones145 on 30/05/2022 - 21:15

        news.com.au

        you have a few examples of it occurring
        and staff discount, can tell them it's fraud occuring under their nose and they don't care

        news.com.au would love it

        don't forget to say u are a kmart mum and big w are releasing a great range of home ugg boots

        • amorphous2111 on 30/05/2022 - 21:35

          Maybe I will try news.com.au, even though I think the police could be a bit more active here. I can show clearly that something belongs to me legally (a purchased gift card) has been consummed by other people that they can immediately requests WW to identify, then unless it is a system glitch within WW that person would either stole my card, or used it as a result from criminal activity.

    • AndyC1 on 30/05/2022 - 20:51
      +1

      There are already a few posts about ewish cards being hacked over the last 3 to 6 months.

    • garetz on 30/05/2022 - 21:24

      What does a gift card got to do with cyber crimes ? Gift cards been around alot longer than the internet has.

    • whatwasherproblem on 30/05/2022 - 21:42

      I thought of the media

      Yeah get Tracy Grimshaw on it.

      but it is really just not worth the effort for less then $200.

      Perhaps not worth the effort for you, but ratings is ratings.

    • USER DC on 30/05/2022 - 22:28

      How can definitely say that your stolen/misused GC was used by a staff member ??

      As far as I know for woolworths staff people they only scan their rewards card to get staff discount

      So how can you say that person who misused your GC, couldn't have figured out a random staff member's reward card number ???
      Rewards card numbers are generally less than numbers on the Woolworths Gift card.
      Anyway that person could even have had been a household/partner of staff who gets staff discount from some other staff member's additional card.

      There is no way you can tell Just from the receipt saying Staff discount that the person who made that transaction was actually a staff member. It is more likely than not for that person to be a staff member but not a 100% certain.

      • amorphous2111 on 30/05/2022 - 22:58

        Yeah, not certain a staff member but must be linked to one I think.

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