TikTok’s Million-View Scandal: Target’s $100 Apple Gift Card Barcode Tampering
Hey everyone, let’s dive into something that’s probably hit your feed recently: that wild TikTok video about a $100 Apple gift card purchased at Target where the barcode was totally whited out, rendering it useless. User @tommyxlin shared her frustrating experience, and honestly, it instantly grabbed attention, racking up 1.5 million views pretty fast. It’s the kind of story that makes you pause and check your own gift cards, right?
@tommyxlin’s video takes us right into a Target store, showing her standing by that familiar wall of gift cards. She explains how she and her husband picked up a $100 Apple card, lured by a deal. But here’s the kicker: after opening it, they found the barcode completely obscured by what looked like white-out. Naturally, they headed back to Target, hoping for a quick fix. Unfortunately, she says the company refused a refund and told them they had to contact customer service. Talk about a frustrating runaround!
Driven to understand what was going on, @tommyxlin didn’t stop there. In her clip, she opens several other $100 Apple gift cards right in the store, revealing that their access codes were also not visible. However, when she grabbed a $25 gift card and opened it, guess what? The barcode was perfectly visible. This led her to warn viewers specifically about the $100 Apple cards, especially since, she claims, Target wasn’t helping them get their money back.
The video clearly struck a nerve, with many viewers chiming in. Some defended Target, pointing out that the store might just be the middleman and advising her to contact Apple customer service directly and keep her receipt, citing that gift card issues aren’t something Target can fix. Others shared that during the holidays, gift card scams are sadly at an all-time high, and that retail workers often can’t help due to store policy, with one alleged Target employee confirming they can’t return gift cards. An alleged employee from a gift card company even commented, saying they were going to look into the quality measures.
The Gift Card Draining Supply Chain: From Barcode Tampering to Transnational Crime
Alarmingly, others claimed to have had the exact same experience with those $100 cards. People commented things like, “i got scammed from the hundred dollar one,” “I have got scammed by them too,” and “Happened to me too.” In a follow-up video, @tommyxlin showed a close-up of the faulty card, noting they tried desperately to scratch off the material covering the code, but it was impossible. As she put it, “Whatever they use is so strong, you cannot remove it.” It really highlights how deliberate and difficult this tampering is to spot and fix.
While @tommyxlin’s video shines a light on a specific instance, this isn’t just an isolated incident. The issue of unusable gift cards – particularly those drained of funds before the intended user can spend them – is part of a much larger, more concerning trend known as “card draining.” And guess what? Federal authorities, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, are actively investigating this! They’ve even launched a task force, dubbed “Project Red Hook,” specifically to combat these schemes.
It turns out that these card-draining operations are often linked to Chinese organized crime rings. This marks the first time federal authorities have zeroed in on this connection and devoted resources to fighting it. Over the past 18 months, law enforcement across the country has arrested about 100 people for card draining, with a significant majority (80 to 90) being Chinese nationals or Chinese Americans. The task force leader estimates another 1,000 people could be involved in the U.S., mostly acting as runners for these gangs. We’re talking about potential losses reaching hundreds of millions, maybe even billions of dollars, posing a substantial risk to our economy and public confidence in shopping.
So, how does this card draining actually work? Criminals will remove gift cards from store displays, often located on those convenient “J-hooks.” They take them somewhere else, open them up, and either write down the card numbers and PINs or, like in @tommyxlin’s case, replace the original barcode or cover the access code with something else. Then, they meticulously repair the packaging and put the tampered cards back on the racks. A customer unknowingly buys and loads money onto one of these altered cards, and because the criminals already have the original info or have altered the card, they can then access and steal the balance online before the customer even gets a chance to use it. It’s incredibly sneaky.
The Billion-Dollar Scam: Dual Losses for Retailers and Consumers
Federal investigators suspect that multiple Chinese criminal organizations are involved, using the massive amounts of money stolen through card draining to finance other illicit activities, including narcotics and human trafficking. This shows just how interconnected and serious this type of fraud is. The DHS team has been actively working on this, convening a summit with top retailers and gift card suppliers last November and issuing a bulletin to law enforcement about the tactics used. They stress that this isn’t just a problem for one store or one agency; it’s an industry-wide challenge that needs a united front.
The scale of card draining has truly skyrocketed in recent years. Retailers love gift cards – Americans are expected to spend over $200 billion on them this year – because they boost sales and profits. But this convenience has been exploited. Target alone has reportedly seen $300 million stolen from customers due to card draining. A survey by AARP found that nearly a quarter of Americans have encountered unusable gift cards, and frustratingly, over half of those victims couldn’t get a credit or refund. Between 2019 and 2023, Americans lost nearly $1 billion to gift card scams, according to the FTC. It’s a massive problem impacting everyday shoppers like you and me.
It’s no surprise then that companies like Target and Walmart have faced class-action lawsuits from consumers who bought tampered cards. Plaintiffs alleged that the companies failed to secure packaging and monitor displays, with the complaint in the Target case stating that tampering is “rampant and widespread and Target is well-aware of the problem, yet Target continues to sell unsecure Gift Cards susceptible to tampering without warning consumers of this fact.” While Walmart’s case settled, Target is in settlement talks, and Apple settled a similar case for $1.8 million, though none admitted liability. Apple has even suggested the fraud might be due to a retailer’s security protocols when cards are purchased there.
These sophisticated operations rely on low-level “runners” in the U.S., mostly Chinese nationals or Chinese Americans, who handle the physical tasks of tampering and restocking. These runners can hit thousands of stores quickly, driving from place to place. For example, court documents mention an alleged runner who visited 14 Walmarts in Ohio in just 24 hours before being arrested with over 2,200 tampered cards. Some runners are believed to be smuggled into the U.S., while others are reportedly hired online, sometimes paid just cents for each card they return to the rack. It’s clear these are not petty criminals operating alone, but rather part of highly organized networks.
Beyond just the money being stolen, these criminals are also exporting goods purchased with the stolen balances. Investigations have found apartments used by alleged runners containing large quantities of electronics like iPhones, cash, and even software used to check gift card balances in real-time so they know exactly when a card is loaded. These electronics are often sent back to China for resale. Federal authorities are working with retailers and local law enforcement to encourage closer scrutiny of displays and to ensure that these runners are arrested and prosecuted, not just told to leave the store. As one agent put it, “It’s important for us to start delivering consequences.”
Scam Prevention Guide: Four Steps to Avoid Gift Card Draining Traps
So, what can you do to protect yourself from ending up with a useless piece of plastic? The advice is simple but crucial. When buying gift cards from a store display, *always* inspect the packaging carefully for any signs of tampering – rips, peeling layers, or stickers covering barcodes or numbers. Try to pick a card from the middle or back of the rack, as tampered ones are often placed at the front. When checking a balance, use the official website or app of the retailer, not a random site found via search. And if you ever receive a suspicious request to pay someone with a gift card – whether it’s someone claiming to be from the government, a family member in distress, or a company – know that it’s a scam. No legitimate entity will ever demand payment this way.
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The viral video about the whited-out Apple card was a powerful wake-up call, but it’s just one tiny window into a massive, ongoing criminal enterprise costing consumers and retailers billions. While the fight against these sophisticated crime rings is complex and requires coordinated efforts from law enforcement and the retail industry, staying informed and being vigilant about inspecting gift cards before you buy is a vital first line of defense for all of us. Let’s stay sharp out there!
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