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Purchasing Amazon Gift Vouchers? Beware of This Serious Fraud 🚨

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RAMESH BABU N said:
For me :

No travel CCs.
No miles.
No miles redemptions.
No GC purchases.
No GC storages.
No GC burnings.

No headaches.
No tensions.
No fraud(ster)s.

Life is simple.
Why make it complicated n stressful ?
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Me too sir.

Only Life Time Free cash back credit cards.

No need to track or worry about Waiver of Annual fee of Paid Credit Cards as well.
 
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Trio said:
Faced same issue with Croma Vouchers bought on Gyftr Infinia platform.Even the offline vouchers worth 20K (10K each) showed used within 5 minutes of purchase while i was at the store.Had to follow up for 20 days with Gyftr and they finally revalidated it as if doing it as a favour.The 5X points weren't worth the trouble.
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When you say revalidated, did they provide new vouchers ? Also what was the process like for these 20 days
 
I also checked my GyFTR vouchers that I bought using HDFC cards previously for Flipkart and Amazon. All are showing as utilized . However I didn't use 2-3 vouchers and kept it for later use. Also in the amazon and flipkart history there is no such redemption for these gift cards.

This is a serious scam. I think all these gift portals are part of it.
 
TechnoFino said:
Purchasing Amazon gift vouchers through accelerated reward portals and using them for utility bills or insurance payments is a common practice among new-generation credit card users in India. But what if I told you that your purchased Amazon gift voucher could be used by someone else before you even add or use it?

Yes, this is possible, and it has recently happened to several people. Two individuals, Nipun and Ronak, shared their experiences with me. They purchased Amazon gift vouchers from the InterMiles portal, only to find some of their vouchers were already used. They’re not alone—after sharing their stories on social media, around 20 more people reported facing the same issue.

To give you a better understanding, here’s Nipun’s story with dates and proofs:

Nipun's Case​

  • December 11, 2024: Nipun purchased seven Amazon gift vouchers worth ₹5,000 each from the InterMiles portal. He immediately added three of them to his Amazon account and kept the remaining four for future use.

    View attachment 79698
  • December 16, 2024: When he tried adding the remaining vouchers to his Amazon account, he received an error: "This voucher has already been used."
  • Nipun immediately contacted InterMiles for resolution, but they seemed clueless. He then reached out to Amazon for help.

    View attachment 79704
  • Amazon requested the "Gift Voucher ID" to track the issue, without which they couldn’t assist further.
  • When Nipun went back to InterMiles for the voucher ID, they first sent incorrect information. After following up multiple times, it took 15 days to get the correct voucher ID.

    View attachment 79699
  • After tracking, Nipun discovered that the voucher had been used on December 15, 2024, and the entire ₹5,000 had been spent.

    View attachment 79700
  • When Amazon was asked to disclose the identity of the person who used the voucher, they declined but confirmed the name didn’t match any of Nipun’s family or friends.
  • He has also filed a complaint with cyber crime department
    View attachment 79706

A Widespread Problem​

This isn’t an isolated incident. Similar issues have been reported with Flipkart vouchers purchased through the HDFC SmartBuy portal (powered by Gyftr). Victims, including Nipun, have lost substantial amounts—Nipun alone lost ₹20,000 in Amazon vouchers. Some users have reported losses exceeding ₹1 lakh due to this issue.

None of the involved companies—InterMiles, Amazon, or Qwikcilver (the issuer of Amazon vouchers under Pine Labs Private Limited)—are taking responsibility or conducting internal investigations.

A Strange Pattern​

A peculiar detail shared by victims is that most purchased their vouchers during the last week of November or the first week of December 2024, and the vouchers were used around December 15, 2024. This pattern suggests a potential security breach, but the exact cause remains unclear.

What Should You Do?​

If you’ve purchased any vouchers during November or December 2024, take the following steps:

Preventive Measures​

  1. Add the vouchers to your account immediately or check their balance online using the issuer’s balance-checking facility.
  2. Avoid storing vouchers for future use unless absolutely necessary.

If You Face Issues​

  1. Contact the issuer immediately to report the issue.
  2. File a complaint with the Cybercrime Department to initiate an investigation.
  3. File a chargeback with your credit card issuer, providing all necessary proof of the fraudulent activity.
  4. Join groups of other victims to discuss and plan further action. Collective efforts may push companies to take the issue seriously.

Final Thoughts​

This issue has affected many users, causing them to lose their hard-earned money. Companies like InterMiles, Amazon, and Qwikcilver must step forward, conduct internal investigations, and ensure such problems don’t recur. Protecting customers should be their top priority.

Stay cautious and spread the word—your vigilance can help others avoid similar losses.

Update (6th January, 2025):
People are replying on Twitter and in WhatsApp groups, stating that this issue is occurring across multiple platforms.

  • One person reported purchasing an Amazon gift voucher from the OneCard app, only to find that the voucher had already been used.
View attachment 79729
  • Another individual posted in a WhatsApp group that they redeemed reward points for Shoppers Stop vouchers via the ICICI Bank credit card portal. However, some of these vouchers were already used, and ICICI Bank has yet to resolve the issue.
View attachment 79730
  • A third person shared that they purchased a Flipkart voucher from the HDFC SmartBuy portal, discovered it was already used, but SmartBuy has acknowledged the issue and promised a resolution soon.
View attachment 79731

A common factor in all these cases is that the vouchers were issued by Qwikcilver.
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I had already raised this in this forum

sankar7000

Thread 'CAUTION: Load your Amazon Pay vouchers immediately to your amazon account'

I wanted to share with everyone an incident that happened with me.
I purchased amazon pay vouchers using HDFC SMARTBUY gift card portal on July 28th. There were a total of 5 1000 rupees vouchers. I forgot about it.
I tried to load them on August 10th, 4 of them worked. 1 did not work saying it has been used elsewhere. Then it was a shock when I reached out to GYFTR and they told me that it was redeemed on 5th August and asked me to talk to Amazon to get the account on which it was redeemed. Amazon as usual did not tell me the account as they dont have the information. It could be some...
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Wrong. Please see my post earlier in September

sankar7000

Thread 'CAUTION: Load your Amazon Pay vouchers immediately to your amazon account'

I wanted to share with everyone an incident that happened with me.
I purchased amazon pay vouchers using HDFC SMARTBUY gift card portal on July 28th. There were a total of 5 1000 rupees vouchers. I forgot about it.
I tried to load them on August 10th, 4 of them worked. 1 did not work saying it has been used elsewhere. Then it was a shock when I reached out to GYFTR and they told me that it was redeemed on 5th August and asked me to talk to Amazon to get the account on which it was redeemed. Amazon as usual did not tell me the account as they dont have the information. It could be some...
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  • Hehe

hemank said:
I believe this is with Intermiles only, I had purchased Amazon vouchers from Gyftr at the same time and they did work fine. So looks like only Intermiles vouchers have been compromised.
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Wondering if this happened because amazon doesn't ask for the pin for it's giftcards (apay and shopping ones) it's like you just copy a random code and it works whereas everywhere else I enter that random code + pin..
I've always wondered if it's secure without pin
 
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runinc said:
2 Vouchers were purchsed on 15th Nov.
4 were purchased on 3rd December.
3 were purchased on 9th December.

Tried to add them on 21st December and found out that all were used.
Raised complaint with intermiles, it took them 10+ days to give me the GC ID (Incorrect GC ID shared by them) , so that I could check when it was used.
Later I found a link "https://amazonbalance.qwikcilver.com/en-gb/ewpc" which gives GC ID using GC Code and then tracked all these vouchers on "https://amazonbal.qwikcilver.com/Welcome.aspx?orgname=QwikCilver-Amazon" and saw that all the voucher were redeemed on 15th December.

I haven't raised complaint with amazon yet.
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Looks like a hack/leak at Gyftr or QwikSilver's end. Almost every case has the same redemption date around 15th Dec.
 
If you do multiple wrong hits captacha comes up. So should be secure against random attacks
navam said:
Wondering if this happened because amazon doesn't ask for the pin for it's giftcards (apay and shopping ones) it's like you just copy a random code and it works whereas everywhere else I enter that random code + pin..
I've always wondered if it's secure without pin
Click to expand...
 
I too purchased total 40K Amazon GV on 11 and 12th December. When trying to add these GV on 16th encountered the error: "This voucher has already been used."
Filed the cyber crime case as per instructions from InterMiles . Still InterMiles is not admitting their fault in all this.
 
cesc007 said:
When you say revalidated, did they provide new vouchers ? Also what was the process like for these 20 days
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No,the vouchers were reusable again.The process was....me calling them up / chatting with the AI bot and they registering a complaint and giving 48 Hr to resolve the issue,doing nothing for next 96 Hrs..Same thing got repeated for like 15 days till i started getting super frustrated and raising my voice.Finally after 20 days,they reissued the vouchers.
 
Lobogris said:
Why? What’s the benefit of not adding them immediately?
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Risk of amazon blocking the account and money locked.... Happens very rarely with amazon but for fk it is a real concern... Have heard cases like this in amazon too but they typically unblock account for 2 3 days and allow you to spend the amount in 2-3 days.. After that they block again.. But not guaranteed and requires lots of escalation
 
Few years back I had problem with QwikCilver Woohoo Acct when the GVs stored in Woohoo A/c was used by someone. That time they did not have two factor (TFA). Also had similar issue with Amazon A/c itself, before TFA. Thankfully both cases, I got full refund. After that I make it a point to purchase GV with odd value as far as possible, at odd hours and immediately load to them to respective acct.
Seems Intermiles have now removed Amazon GV totally.
 
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