After finding out that I ran into a fraudulent gift card, I have been spooked. Churning gift cards used to be my niche while chasing the points.
I still have to follow-up with both Raise and Cabela’s on the issue. The idea of having my funds frozen, thankfully it’s not a large amount, at $250 is inconvenient. Obviously, this is one risk factor to churning gift cards.
Reader, Al, has mentioned that he’s had fraud issues as well – with Starbucks, another vendor that I churn. The more I think about it, the less I want to churn gift cards unless I am the one that is the initial buyer.
For instance, a couple of months ago GiftCardMall ran a special on eBay for Marriott gift cards for 20% off. I was able to max out with $150 gift cards. I have no problems churning a card like that because I know when I sell it to Cardpool it would be a good card.
There was always an inkling in the back of my mind buying all these random Walmart gift cards that someone might use up the funds before I could sell them. Therefore, I would round up to the nearest dollar and pay with my Chase Freedom card. Firstly, for the extra 10 points per transaction before it ends, but secondly, to ensure a new gift card number is generated. I never thought that of the drastic measure like ending all cards would happen like what Cabela’s has done.
I work for a large retailer and should have seen that this would happen if I mixed gift cards and churned the cards like I did, it is akin to throwing blood into shark infested waters, drawing attention churning cards with the same amount of money.
As I put more thought into the gift card churning and fraudulently obtained cards, I don’t want to be on the radar of any law enforcement agency thinking that I am part of some multi-state fraud ring where a slew of charges could potentially be levied. Have I become too cautious? Is that even the right word? Or would it be that I have become paranoid?
Either way, I am retiring from the large amounts of gift card churning that I used to do. I hope I could still hit $30,000 in spending at the end of this year for Starwood Gold.
