Ultimate HIM Gift Card - Balance Disappeared

proudwanderer on 01/08/2025 - 11:29

I purchased $300 worth of Ultimate HIM Gift Cards last week - 1x $100, 4x $50

After I bought them, I checked all of their balances via "My Prepaid Centre" - all were showing with correct balance.

Today, I tried to use one of the cards, and it didn't work. So I hopped on "My Prepaid Centre" again to check the balance of all 5 cards - now they are all showing as ZERO. I have not used any of the cards.

When I check "Transaction History" - it shows "Balance Adjustment" and the total amount of the card was deducted.

What's going on here?

Initially I thought maybe fraud - but when I purchased the cards, I made sure it was tampered. The flap was not ripped off and was only ripped off by the checkout person when the scanned the card to activate it at checkout.

Also, if it was fraud and someone exchanged the card for an eGift card - the transaction history would show the name of the retailer eGift card it was exchanged for wouldn't it - and not just simply "Balance Adjustment"?

Anyone experienced this?

Financial Blackhawk Network (Australia) Gift Card

Comments

  • jv on 01/08/2025 - 11:31
    -6

    I have not used any of the cards.

    Then someone else did…

    • proudwanderer on 01/08/2025 - 11:32

      But how would that have been possible?

      • jv on 01/08/2025 - 11:33
        -4

        Inside job?

        • proudwanderer on 01/08/2025 - 11:35

          But as I said, the card wasn't tampered with. The PIN was not scratched and the tab at the back was not ripped off.

          • jv on 01/08/2025 - 11:40
            -1

            @proudwanderer: That is why it could be an inside job…

            • proudwanderer on 01/08/2025 - 11:45

              @jv: As in someone working for Ultimate Gift Card? As in they stole the numbers before the card was packed and then waited for it to be activated?

              I just called up 1800 862 126 - and they confirmed for me that the cards were exchanged for GOOD GUYS gift cards - even though it just shows as "Balance Adjustment" when I check.

              The $100 gift card was exchanged on 30 July and the 4x $50 ones were exchanged on 31 July.

              Gosh - how do I protect myself from that? - I mean, I made sure the package was not tampered with when I bought the cards and the tab at the back wasn't ripped off. Then when I got home, I checked the balance on all cards, and all were good.

              • jv on 01/08/2025 - 11:51
                -2

                @proudwanderer:

                As in someone working for Ultimate Gift Card? As in they stole the numbers before the card was packed and then waited for it to be activated?

                It's possible.

              • Neoika on 01/08/2025 - 11:53

                @proudwanderer: Yes, it shows balance adjustment coz exchange is done on the Ultimate owned site, not on TGG.

                I think due to the lack of cashcard sale, scammers have put their hands on the restricted card now. It looks like these cards were tampered and repacked.

                • proudwanderer on 01/08/2025 - 12:04

                  @Neoika: I'm aware of scammers tampering and repacking - from other stories of OZB users, and have always checked the packaging when I buy gift cards.

                  And as I said earlier, the packaging didn't appear to be tampered with. The card barcodes was not visible, and only the checkout chick ripped off the tab at the back to scan the barcode to activate the card at checkout. Also the PIN scratchie was not scratched and I scratched it off when I got home to reveal the PIN after confirming the balances of all these cards via the "My Prepaid Centre" website.

                  Thought I was doing my due diligence - first time I've experienced this type of fraud.

  • proudwanderer on 01/08/2025 - 11:59

    Anyway, they said it has been escalated to be "investigated" and I need to wait 72hrs. What happens now? Are they going to reissue $300 worth of gift cards to me? Or can I just kiss my $300 good bye.

    This is just a terrible experience. What can I do to protect myself from fraud when I buy these Ultimate Gift Cards in future?

    • Jaduqimon on 01/08/2025 - 12:18
      +4

      just dont buy gift cards… use cash. you're saving negligible amounts and risking the capital to fraud… if you have to buy then buy from online, cant be tampered with at least..

      • topherboi on 02/08/2025 - 08:43
        +1

        I wouldn't call up to 10% savings 'negligible'.

    • 7ekn00 on 01/08/2025 - 13:20
      +1

      Cheap lesson on why Gift Cards are a bad idea, even when it saves you 3c :/

      There is a saying around here, it goes something like:
      ADAGCHS

      People wouldn't have invested any time in coming up with these sort of things if gift cards were a great idea :P

    • Poor Ass on 01/08/2025 - 17:12

      they will take longer than that and hope you will forget about it

  • foodsnob on 01/08/2025 - 13:44
    +1

    where did you buy them? (so i can avoid). Been getting these from woolies for the 20x everyday rewards bonus which is a killer deal. Haven't had any problems and I also check the packaging but knowing that happens even when the PIN is not scratched is scary.
    As a precaution, you can probably exchange the gift cards to a vendor's gift card straight away after you purchase it.
    That doesn't really work for me because for the vendors I use the cards for, they don't do gift card exchange and you gotta swipe the ultimate card at the POS.

    • proudwanderer on 01/08/2025 - 14:25

      Bought from woolies Forest Hill Chase on 24 July - 20x everyday rewards was exactly the reason I got them.

      Not only was the PIN not scratched, but the packaging was not open and the tab behind was not ripped off - no barcode was visible.

  • proudwanderer on 01/08/2025 - 14:58

    Has anyone been a subject of gift card fraud from one of these Ultimate gift cards?

    What was your experience with the investigation, and in getting the gift cards reissued?

    Is there any hope for me, or can I just kiss my $300 good bye.

    I mean - they could easily say, tough luck - treat it like cash.

    Also in terms of "fraud" - there's nothing stopping them saying that "I" am the one committing the fraud - there's no way for me to prove that "I" am not the one who redeemed the gift cards.

    ADAGCHS!!! —- sigh.

    • surfingedge on 01/08/2025 - 15:47

      The whole system seems set up to fail.

      Ideally the PIN would only be set when you activate the card and be printed on the receipt or something

      • proudwanderer on 01/08/2025 - 15:57

        Yes - that would be good. However, as I mentioned before - the grey scratchie over the PIN and CVV was not tampered with, nor was the packaging appear to be tampered with. The glue was not undone and the tab to rip off to reveal the barcode was only ripped off by the checkout chick when I went to pay —— and even then, it is only the PCN that is revealed after you rip off the tab. The actual "card number" is still blocked and the CVV is not revealed because of the scratchie.

        How was the fraud possible? - Some things I can think of include:

        1) An inside job as someone mentioned - perhaps someone working for the Blackhawk company took down the numbers BEFORE it was packaged up and BEFORE the grey scratchie was put on over the PIN/CVV.

        I think this is very unlikely.

        2) A scammer used a UV light or some other device to "SHINE THROUGH" the packaging and the grey scratchie to reveal the card number and CVV while it is still on the shelf in woolies/coles ——— and then just wait until a customer purchases the card and activates it - then the scammer uses the card (maybe check every day to see if it is activated).

        Does such a device even exist though?

        Other than that - I can't think of how this fraud would have been accomplished.

        • tenpercent on 01/08/2025 - 16:41

          In the USA there are organised Chinese crime gangs who steal the cards, take them away to their base, use some means to peek inside the packaging to get the card number, remove the grey scratchie stuff, record all the details, replace the grey scratchie stuff (if the card manufacturers can do it, a determined crime gang can do it too), then other gang members put them back on the shelves of the stores they first stole them from. Then they monitor the card numbers until they get activated and then they spend the money.

  • Merish4U on 01/08/2025 - 16:27
    +1

    OP,

    Firstly, this all stinks….sounds like you've tken all viable and reasonable steps to avoid issues and still ended up with them.

    The issuer of the cards should be aware if this is happening - as you are incredibly unlikely to be the first party affected by this. SO I would push them to explain how this happened and if others have had similar issues. Obviously from their side it's completely arguable that you might be faking this and they will point to their T&C to say they're not responsible for any number of things.

    If you get a dead end or (profanity)-ery from them I would go to the Financial Services Ombudsman or tell them you are going to do this. A lot of PITA for you, the lesson? Not sure perhaps only buy electronic GC's but in theory they could be compromised as well - I suppose as with everything it's risk vs reward. Be fair but firm with the issuers, you're the victim here so keep records and push for a fair outcome. Saying you're putting it all on social media and OzB can help.

    • proudwanderer on 01/08/2025 - 17:46
      +1

      Thanks. I’ll just have to wait to see what happens with the “investigation”.

  • Poor Ass on 01/08/2025 - 17:10

    Balance Adjustment is when they go on https://exchangeyourcard.com.au/ here and then swap it for an e-gift card and no it doesn't show the retailer or store it was redeemed for

    "After I bought them, I checked all of their balances via "My Prepaid Centre" - all were showing with correct balance."

    So you opened the physical card yourself and then added on your my prepaid centre?

    1. Is it possible someone took the physical card and swapped it for an e-gift card that you are no aware of? Family, friend, shifty people around you?
    2. Did you swap it and forgot e.g. swap for JB Hi-Fi or Good guys
    3. Tampering is possible but usually they would scratch off some numbers and put it back and very unlikely they would open the package, record the numbers and then put it back intact because this would risk them not redeeming the card before you do

    When redeeming the digital card it will be sent to an email address…. not sure if that would help with your case but if you already added the cards to your profile then it's technically registered and they should give you that email address as long as you still have the physical card

    • proudwanderer on 01/08/2025 - 17:40

      Yes I opened the gift cards and scratched off the grey bit the day I bought it (24 July). I used prepaid centre to check the balance but did not “register” the card to my address nor “added” it to my account - just checked balance.

      1. Absolutely not.

      2. No I did not swap and forgot.

      3. No - packaging did not appear tampered with. Glue was still on and nothing scratched off. Bar code is hidden until check out chick ripped off the tab at the back to reveal bar code for scanning and activating. I can’t see how it was tampered with - other than possibly the sophisticated scheme from a Chinese scam group described above.

      The dates of when the cards were used were 30 July for the $100 gift card and 31 July for the $50 gift cards. I’m sure I would remember if I did it in the last day or 2 and no one in my family uses gift cards.

      They told me it was exchanged for good guys gift cards. I have no intention of shopping at good guys at all.

    • proudwanderer on 01/08/2025 - 17:44
      +1

      Do you mean if it was registered to my profile - I could retrieve the email address of the thief?

      Note to self to immediately register gift cards to my profile in future.

      • Poor Ass on 01/08/2025 - 20:53

        https://myprepaidcentre.com.au/sign-in

        Once it's added you can track better and officially register the card… I'm sure blackhawk can see who the egiftcard was emailed to. Whether they would disclose or not is another matter. Could even be a burner email.

        Cops could even trace redeemed gift card at good guys and see the invoice / address or in-store footage .. but they won't allocate their resources for this kind of thing

  • Drj55 on 02/08/2025 - 08:27

    Wow that sucks! Hopefully they get to the bottom of it.

  • jimmyzt on 02/08/2025 - 12:19

    Just an absurd thought but have you checked your computer for viruses? That moment when you entered the card barcode and PIN could be when they stole your card details.

    • proudwanderer on 03/08/2025 - 10:36

      No i don’t have viruses.

      Also - when checking balance all I’m entering is the PCN and not the card number or CVV or PIN

  • 1d0ntkn0w on 04/08/2025 - 18:49

    Hey same thing just happened to me, OP any update from the ultimate team?

    • 1d0ntkn0w on 04/08/2025 - 18:56

      Also where did you attempt to buy from?

      • proudwanderer on 05/08/2025 - 21:00

        No update. Got a case number and have to “wait for investigation”.

        I attempted to use them to buy something from JB Online, it failed, so then I checked the balance of all 5 of my cards and balance all appeared zero. Ultimate then told me they were already redeemed for Good Guys e-gift cards 1-2 days prior.

  • WebSurfer on 05/08/2025 - 10:18
    +1

    same thing happened to me. Cards purchased from Woolworths Blackburn South (26/07/25) & Ashwood (27/05/25) - 10 in total - all showing $0 balance and "Balance Adjustment" as debit transactions - all on same day 30/07/25.

    Coincidence (?) that OP bought from the store which close-by or insider job?

    I raised it with Ultimate cards and they said 5-7 working days to resolve it.

    OP did you get any update yet? TIA

    • 1d0ntkn0w on 05/08/2025 - 11:07

      Where did you attempt to use the gift cards?

      • WebSurfer on 05/08/2025 - 15:06

        Ikea.

        • 1d0ntkn0w on 05/08/2025 - 16:39

          Okay same… I think the actual issue is that Ikea's machines don't recognise some types of Ultimate gift cards. I tried using 3 Ultimate Home gift cards there on the 30th, all rejected and balance is now $0. But I was able to use the Ultimate Everyone cards without issues. I have some additional Home gift cards - bought at the same time, that I didn't scan at Ikea and they all still have a $100 balance.

        • 1d0ntkn0w on 05/08/2025 - 16:42

          It's quite possible that the balance is returned to the cards after some time (5-10 business days). The automated voice when I called them up mentioned that if you use a card at an "ineligible" store it may take upto that long for the balance to be returned.

          • WebSurfer on 05/08/2025 - 21:04

            @1d0ntkn0w: Thanks. I checked the balance on the cards that I did not use at Ikea, they also have $0 balance with "Balance Adjustment" on same day as other cards that I did try to use.

          • proudwanderer on 05/08/2025 - 21:06

            @1d0ntkn0w: Well in my case - I attempted to use ONE of the cards at JB, and then discovered ALL cards have balance of zero on the day or 2 prior to me attempting to use one of them.

            Ultimate told me they were redeemed for Good Guys gift cards - which obviously wasn’t me and it was a scammer that stole the card numbers from the store and then waited for an unsuspecting customer to activate the cards and then emptied them by exchanging for an e-gift card.

    • proudwanderer on 05/08/2025 - 21:01

      Still waiting

      • WebSurfer on 05/08/2025 - 21:05

        Oh. I wish you get a positive outcome soon.

        • proudwanderer on 05/08/2025 - 21:07

          Thanks. Please let me know if/when you get an outcome too.

  • proudwanderer on 05/08/2025 - 21:20
    +2

    @WebSurfer - I actually don’t think it is an inside job.

    I think it is genuine theft/scam.

    There’s someone or group of people in/around our area who most likely took the cards off the shelf, then took the cards out of the packaging and then sophisticatedly resealed the packaging so that you can’t tell it’s been opened.

    To swap for an e-gift card - you need 3 bits of info - the card number, the expiry date, and the CVV. The first 2 they will have when they take the card out of the packaging. The CVV is behind a grey scratch panel but it’s only 3 digits. They can easily use software to brute-force it.

    When swapping for e-gift cards, there’s no limit on attempts. It’s not like it locks up the card on 3 erroneous attempts, so they can just keep trying for those 3 digits.

    In my view, both the card issuer and the retailer have a duty of care:
    - The issuer should implement more secure systems to prevent unauthorised redemption.
    - The retailer should ensure that gift cards are stored and displayed securely to prevent tampering.

    While it is often stated that gift cards should be “treated like cash,” this analogy fails in cases such as ours, where the cards were compromised before we even had the opportunity to use them. Had the cards been physically stolen from us, I would accept responsibility for my negligence. However, the theft appears to have occurred while the cards were still in-store, leaving us with no recourse to prevent the fraudulent transactions.

    If you do a search on the key words “card drain fraud” - you will see that this type of scam/fraud is rampant, and it’s not just a problem with Ultimate gift cards.

    On another note - I had bought $400 of Ultimate EVERYONE cards - 4x $100 cards - from Camberwell Woolies a day before I bought the $300 worth from Forest Hill - and none of these have any problem.

    It’s obviously someone or a group of people within this area that has been stealing the card numbers from the stores and waiting to pounce as soon as an unsuspecting customer has purchased and activated them.

    • WebSurfer on 05/08/2025 - 21:37

      You (probably) are right - but it may take time for someone to take the cards out or rip-off the strip that covers PCN and put it back - without the help from someone instore or during supply-chain it would be hard going unnoticed.

      I totally agree with duty of care - lot more needs to done in this area to stop/reduce the gift card fraud & scams.

      I also purchased some cards from Camberwell Store and they all are ok. Also noticed the issue is with the specific card type with "One4All" branding.

      • proudwanderer on 05/08/2025 - 22:20
        +1

        Oh I thought you meant “inside job” as in someone working for Ultimate at the time the cards were produced.

        But if you mean “insider” as in someone working for Woolworths - totally that is a possibility.

        Much easier for an employee to do the “careful” work of taking the cards out and copying down the numbers out back in the employees room and then “carefully” resealing before placing on shelf …. Rather than a random stranger coming into store and taking off the shelf and doing their surgical work while pretending to shop for groceries.

      • proudwanderer on 05/08/2025 - 22:22

        I don’t think they need to rip off the strip to show PCN.

        When I bought my cards none of them had the strip ripped off.

        I reckon they would use a hair dryer or some sort of thermal machine to loosen the glue enough so you can squeeze the card out of the side without ripping anything and then put the card back after taking down the numbers and then pressing the cardboard together again. Maybe add a little bit of additional glue so that it sticks back

  • 1d0ntkn0w on 08/08/2025 - 18:35
    +1

    Just thought I'd share an update. I just received a replacement gift card from the Ultimate team for the $300 worth of cards that I had issues with. Relieved it didn't take months like I know is the case for some people.

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