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In description I wrote - activated about 2000. The reasons why I use gift cards I also described in the post You may have multiplied account - It doesn't go ag
by alymaly 4y ago
In description I wrote - activated about 2000. The reasons why I use gift cards I also described in the post
You may have multiplied account - It doesn't go against Apple's rules. Because not all applications are available in all regions and if you come to Europe, you will find many local applications especially for transport (parking) and banks.
- pwinnski 4y agoSo you activated several thousand gift cards, and I'm guessing you didn't buy all of them retail at face value, right?
- ceejayoz 4y agoIn the Twitter thread, it's $2k worth of gift cards, not two thousand individual cards.
- alymaly 4y agoYes, $2k. They were $50-100 face value
- ceejayoz 4y agoCan you see why redeeming 20-40 gift cards in quick succession might trigger a fraud flag?
- alymaly 4y agoI didn't activate them all at once. It was over a month ago, and I think I took my time for two days. I activated a couple and then went on to do the work.
- ceejayoz 4y agoYou're still describing "in quick succession".
- pwinnski 4y agoYeah, that fits the profile of a scammer pretty close to 100%. I believe that you are not a scammer, but since Apple doesn't know you bought all of these cards yourself, you exactly fit the profile of someone who scams people and has them send him Apple gift cards over a long period of time, and then he redeems them all at once, thousands worth. Your behavior should have tripped automated systems, and any humans looking at it should have been very suspicious as well. Like I said, I believe you're not a scammer, although Apple's folks have more experience in dealing with scammers than I do, and they clearly think you are. My belief is based mostly on the fact that you say you have receipts. The real shame here is that Apple provides no clear appeals process for you to show your receipts and prove you bought these cards yourself.
- tptacek 4y agoIf they had a super clear appeals process where you provide documentation, it would be gamed pretty much immediately by organized crime syndicates.
- pwinnski 4y agoVery true. I've been trying to be very gracious, but it's actually still not 100% clear that the poster isn't a scammer trying to redeem their ill-gotten gains. I'm not sure how one could prove that, to be honest. The behavior is all plausible, I guess? But sufficiently outside the norm that, well, like I said, I'm trying to be gracious and assume good intentions.
- sycren 4y agoIs this one of those challenges that can be expedited with a good lawyer?
- ceejayoz 4y agoIt’s probably better suited for small claims or arbitration.
- tptacek 4y agoGah! 25 cards! This is like one of those movie scenes where something terrible happens and there's a slow-motion bystander going "n-o-o-o-o-o-o-o". I'm sorry this happened to you, but also this would have been more newsworthy if you somehow hadn't had your account locked.
- alymaly 4y agoI bought them at retail, at a nominal retail price. not all at once of course, I buy them from time to time just in case. this is the case when my laptop broke down and it came.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- LeoPanthera 4y agoI assume you mean ¤2000, and not 2000 cards. I suspect it's the number of cards that makes Apple suspicious, and not the total amount of value. Or at least, it's some combination of the two.
- tptacek 4y agoAnti-fraud controls don't generally follow the published rules; that's almost kind of the point. Fraud signals are patterns of otherwise benign user behavior that in combination sets off an alert. No company publishes all of their fraud patterns, because fraudsters study them looking for loopholes. So Apple's own "rules" don't really have anything to do with the story here; or at least, if they do, that story is shared in common with every major retail business in the world.