(ConservativeHub.com) – With gift card scams increasing over the years, Walmart has come up with a new way to block thieves from being able to use these scams in order to gain free money, according to a Fox Business report.
In 2018, Walmart introduced Redemption, a proprietary technology that aimed to reduce the number of situations of gift-card fraud. The technology was developed following the giant retailer’s law enforcement response team having to take a number of calls from victims who had been tricked into purchasing gift cards and then giving away the gift card numbers.
Victim-assisted gift card fraud is only one of the several gift card scams that have been affecting customers and retailers over the years. In 2023, the number of reported gift card frauds had increased by 50 percent when compared the previous year, according to the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
According to Fox Business, Larry Lundeen, the Chief Security Officer of Walmart, pointed out that particularly in the cases of victim-assisted gift card fraud, the victim would usually receive calls from bad actors who were posing as either a business or government agency. They would then attempt to convince the victim that they needed to provide “immediate payment” through a gift card. The money would then be quickly removed from the gift cards and moved into foreign bank accounts by the thieves. Because gift cards are not protected like debit and credit cards, this money would be completely lost with no recovery method.
However, Redemption can flag these transactions and block them from occurring. The system has reportedly helped return around $4 million to customers since it was first implemented.
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