Stolen funds!!

[Mle8308]

I am freaking out. Someone stole the funds from my gift card. I had it linked in the Disney gift card website where I would transfer funds from smaller cards onto this main card. I had $785 on it and now it’s gone!! The only help I got was to email guest services. Then as I pressed the girl on the phone to give me more assistance she transferred me to shop Disney where they sent an alert to the gift card department to get in touch with me.
Transaction history shows the bulk of the money was spent at Disneyland resort. I’ve never been to Disneyland in my life. I’m really worried I won’t get this money back. I can’t believe this happened and now I just have to sit and wait for someone to get in touch with me!

I hope this gets resolved! What an awful experience. Fingers crossed for you, keep us updated!

 

[jujubiee4]

This is similar to what I wrote on page 1 about cards being used to pay at on site restaurants. Waiters will take my entire phone with the screenshot that includes the PIN number to the back to pay or they’ll take an actual gift card back there. Technically once you’ve called in or given the gift card number and pin code to a CM of any sort - that card is no longer secure. I’ve never experienced any funny business with the CMs, but a PP did make a good point that there’s bad apples here and there.

For that reason I don’t re-use the same card over and over to load new $ on it. Once it’s spent I retire it. It’s still not Fort Knox but it’s at least something.

So then how do you transfer an e card? Many are posting to immediately transfer funds to a
zero card. I have only bought physical cards before and never had problem but lately i have
some orders in for ecards. Starting to worry now how prevalent "draining" is and want to safeguard.

 

[McCrae]

I am freaking out. Someone stole the funds from my gift card. I had it linked in the Disney gift card website where I would transfer funds from smaller cards onto this main card. I had $785 on it and now it’s gone!! The only help I got was to email guest services. Then as I pressed the girl on the phone to give me more assistance she transferred me to shop Disney where they sent an alert to the gift card department to get in touch with me.
Transaction history shows the bulk of the money was spent at Disneyland resort. I’ve never been to Disneyland in my life. I’m really worried I won’t get this money back. I can’t believe this happened and now I just have to sit and wait for someone to get in touch with me!

If you can prove you have not been to Disneyland you will get your money back.

 

[nw6675]

What I'm wondering is when you make a payment to Disney....cruise...hotel...after party
tickets ....DVC..etc if you pay over the phone I'm pretty positive I was asked for the pincode.

Well if that card is zero'ed out now from the payment should you transfer from another
card to "reload"? Isn't there danger in that since you gave the pin code previously? Even
consolidating don't you have to put in pincode? So is it stored even after deletion?

I was not asked for the PIN when I paid my package deposit by phone recently via gift card. I remember because I thought that was odd.

 

[lockets]

So then how do you transfer an e card? Many are posting to immediately transfer funds to a
zero card. I have only bought physical cards before and never had problem but lately i have
some orders in for ecards. Starting to worry now how prevalent "draining" is and want to safeguard.

I think the key is - it doesn’t necessarily need to be a zero card. Just maybe a “fresh” card that hasn’t been used anywhere yet so the pin code is not “out in the world” already. Whether that be a new actual card purchased at a store with a low starting amount and then you transfer money that you have on old/used cards to that one, or an e-card purchased online from a reputable source and you do the same (use Disney gift card site to consolidate to the newer fresh card). Then you safekeep that new card’s information elsewhere. You don’t keep any cards “showing” on Disney site. Delete everything from the site after you’ve made the transfers. Makes sense?

 

[RUDisney]

No homeowners/renters insurance policy would cover this loss. It's considered cash. You can't file a claim for stolen cash. Plus, this was done online. No one actually stole the giftcard from the person's house.

I was just trying to think of every method of getting the money back. I wasn't hopeful about the insurance company, but thought it might be worth mentioning.

 

[focusondisney]

I don’t think anyone uses it to “store” gift cards. It says to always keep the physical card and to treat it like cash. This website is supposed to be a tool to track, consolidate and keep your cards on file. It even has a drop down tab titled “my cards”. If there was risk of security breech they shouldn’t allow you to keep your cards on file…PERIOD!

Yes, people actually do leave the cards on the site. At least one poster on this thread said she had cards there & just deleted them after reading this thread.

If there was no card still listed on the site, there is no way for someone to drain the funds. Once you transfer funds to/ from a card, you need to delete the card from the site. So there is nothing on the site unless you’re actively transferring funds. In all the other instances people have reported of funds being stolen, the cards were still listed on the site. If the OP did indeed have no cards listed, I apologize. But that would be the first time I’ve heard that it happened with nothing on the site.

Edit: your “keep your cards on file” comment is exactly what a digital wallet does. And Disney specifically says it is NOT a digital wallet.

 

[iwannabdduck]

I too just logged on and deleted my only gift card on Disney's gift card website after seeing this post. And as another poster mentioned, I was unable to log on using Mozilla, but went right thru using Safari on my iPhone. Received confirming emails of the log on and card deletion to my email address as soon as all that was completed. Still, this is all very unsettling to say the least.

With respect to the comments about unscrupulous waiters (which I've heard of before), I always take a photo of the back of my card & its account number with my iPhone once I start using it as a precaution. And call me crazy, but I also put a small nick in the edge of the card that I can feel with my finger nail so I can tell if I'm getting back the original card once it is handed to me. As they say, an ounce of prevention ....

 

[afan]

With respect to the comments about unscrupulous waiters (which I've heard of before), I always take a photo of the back of my card & its account number with my iPhone once I start using it as a precaution. And call me crazy, but I also put a small nick in the edge of the card that I can feel with my finger nail so I can tell if I'm getting back the original card once it is handed to me. As they say, an ounce of prevention

I get cards off shop Disney with different designs so this isn't an issue. Plus it lets me keep things separate on cards if I need to.

 

[AlohaNow]

Yes, people actually do leave the cards on the site. At least one poster on this thread said she had cards there & just deleted them after reading this thread.

OP, I'm so sorry to hear that this happened to you. But thank you for posting about your situation.
I left a single consolidated card on there and this was a reminder to go in and delete it. I already decided I wasn't going to churn anymore towards my fall trip so I pulled it. I received two e-mails, the log in one and the deleted card one. I would feel better in the future if they instituted a two-step verification process.

 

[js]

So sorry OP. This is awful!

I have an electronic Disney GC purchased from my dd from the Disney site. I need to put this electronic paper GC on an actual card I guess that I purchase at a store lime Target or somewhere.

After I do that what site do I go to to do this that you are all transferring funds.

Thank you.

 

[lockets]

Edit: your “keep your cards on file” comment is exactly what a digital wallet does. And Disney specifically says it is NOT a digital wallet.

Correct. That’s where I think people are getting tripped up. The site appears as if it’s a good place to keep cards on file for tracking purposes and Disney’s statement not to do that might not be fully understood by everyone. There’s some room for interpretation. People might think of wallet more literally like they can log into the site to pay at point of service (like the Starbucks app for instance) or it’s a place that will list all the numerical info about each card. Since it cannot do that - some people may think that it’s simply a tracking device not a wallet so it’s fine. It sounds like the PP (not the OP) was interpreting it this way - a tracker not a wallet. But of course it’s best to not leave anything there even for tracking.

At any rate what the PP was also saying is that if Disney doesn’t want cards stored there long term then they shouldn’t allow it. Which perhaps is a good idea. Or, at least after a certain time limit, there’s an email reminder sent that cards have been sitting in the site to remind people it’s not the best practice?

 

[lockets]

what site do I go to to do this that you are all transferring funds.

https://www.disneygiftcard.com/ then scroll down to My Cards.

 

[js]

https://www.disneygiftcard.com/ then scroll down to My Cards.

Thank you. Ill purchase the card and do this tomorrow or Monday.

Thank you.

 

[Lewisc]

If you can prove you have not been to Disneyland you will get your money back.

Maybe, goodwill.

I don't know how Disney could differentiate between an honest customer who got hacked, OP for example, and a crook who sold the card and hopes Disney will reimburse them.

 

[McCrae]

Maybe, goodwill.

I don't know how Disney could differentiate between an honest customer who got hacked, OP for example, and a crook who sold the card and hopes Disney will reimburse them.

If the person still has the card that would suggest some form of security breach/fraud if you are able to prove they did not go to the store or if goods were sent to an unrelated address. Disney will want to avoid a loss of confidence in their cards… if you don’t have faith that the funds are secure no one will buy them. A potential court case seeking replayment is something Disney would want to avoid.

 

[RUDisney]

You know, @McCrae made me think of something. Does your local news station have one of those consumer helpers? Contact the station and explain that you lost money that you held on these cards and that Disney is doing nothing to help you. I bet you'll find a good advocate there... especially since you never went to DL to use them.

 

[kranzaldua]

I read through all of this and may have missed it, but can the website track the transaction between the original card the funds were stolen from and find what card they were transferred, too? Sorry if this has been answered.

I'm incredibly sorry this happened. What a scary and sad experience. I was one of those who kept an active card on the website, so thank you for sharing this awful story to help others. I deleted all my cards listed there. I hope there's a happy ending to your story soon.

 

[gottalovepluto]

...if Disney doesn’t want cards stored there long term then they shouldn’t allow it...

Well hold onto your seat because I'm gonna give you a whole other perspective!

The website is designed to store your cards. *DIS World Shatters* Straight from the Mouse's mouth (the FAQs on the disney gift card website):

Why should I create a DisneyGiftCard.com account?

Creating a Disney account enables you to manage up to 6 cards under My Cards on DisneyGiftCard.com. You will be able to check your balance, view recent transaction history and transfer balances between eligible cards.
​

The website is made for you to manage your cards in one place, see what's happening with your gift cards, see transactions, see your current balances, etc. Otherwise THEY WOULDN'T ALLOW YOU TO STORE CARDS ON IT They would just have a check balance and transfer feature, storing your cards takes effort on Disney's part in both storage space and IT management.

DisneyGiftCard.com is not a mobile wallet and should not be considered as such. Be sure to keep your physical and digital Disney Gift Cards with you as they will be required to make any purchases.​

What is a "mobile wallet"? Apparently THAT is what we need to review here. A mobile wallet literally processes a payment, or at a minimum shows a code that will allow a transaction to conclude (like an airplane boarding pass). The warning about it not being a mobile wallet is exactly what it says. You cannot use the website to complete a transaction. It won't give you a code to scan, it won't process a payment. If you upload your balance and then destroy your card you will not be able to pay with disneygiftcard.com. Disney is just pointing out the obvious because you know someone uploaded to the website and then stood there in the store saying "but I don't have the card anymore, I put in on the website".

Personally I think the actual takeaway here should be

• make sure your passwords are secure (meaning don't use the same pw anywhere- learn to love pw managers folks!)
• make sure 2 factor authentication is enabled on your email (it should be enabled everywhere but if that's too much and you are using a different pw for everything that's your business- but please still use it on your email!

 

[gottalovepluto]

I read through all of this and may have missed it, but can the website track the transaction between the original card the funds were stolen from and find what card they were transferred, too?

Idk if the website can but we know Disney can track funds from card to card.

There was a coupon a couple years back that worked on shop disney for disney gift cards and people were buying disney gift cards at a crazy discount rate and then transferring the funds as soon as they came in to another disney gift card in case disney tried to cancel the transactions. When Disney cancelled all the transactions a few hours late they clawed back the funds from where ever they had landed, even when the funds had been transferred to a different gift card.