SAN ANTONIO — With the holidays right around the corner, gift cards will be flying off the shelves. But buyers beware: One San Antonio man claims he was cheated out of hundreds of dollars.
Ronald Robles says he bought several Visa gift cards from two Target stores, only to find out they all had zero balance.
It happened earlier this month. Robles told KENS 5 he wanted to do something special for his wife’s 60th birthday.
“She’s particular about what she wants,” he said. “So, I decided to get her gift cards so she could buy whatever she wanted. I went and purchased $800 worth of [Visa] gift cards. You can only buy $500 at a time at each store.”
Robles purchased $500 worth of gift cards at the Balcones Heights Crossroads store, and $300 worth of gift cards at the Park North store.
“A week later, she used one to get some gas,” Robles said. “It was declined.”
So, Robles says he went back to one of the stores.
“They knew what was going on,” he said. “[Staff] were taking gift cards off the racks. They were checking them all. On the back – they peeled back the card and there’s gold stripes that go across the signature bar. They looked and said all the cards I bought were fraudulent.”
When Robles asked for a refund, he says a Target manager told him to call Visa.
"I called the number on the back of the card," said Robles. "But the person started asking strange questions. The biggest red flag was when he asked me to send a colored photocopy of my driver's license."
Frustrated, Robles says he contacted his credit card company and asked them to investigate the gift card purchases.
“I don’t know what to say because [Target] tells us even if it’s a scam, that you’re responsible to investigate this,” he said.
The incident was reported to the San Antonio Police Department (SAPD).
On Tuesday, a Target spokesperson said the company was looking into this particular incident, saying they were "aware of the prevalence of gift card scams" and equips a cyber fraud team to "educate our team members about common scams" while encouraging them to "look for guests purchasing high-dollar amounts or large quantities of gift cards."
By the end of the week, Robles told KENS 5 a Target representative had reached out and the company was planning to send him $800 in replacement gift cards. Robles said he was grateful Target made things right, and thanked KENS 5 for contacting the company on his behalf.