Gift Card Hacking

TheSauce writes "MSNBC has this discussion of how easy it is to hack and jack the contents of those lovely Plastic Gift Cards one sees at most Mass Merchants and Consumer Electronics stores. One retailer notes that the odds of this occuring are about at the level of being pickpocketed."

Comments

Re:Theft isn't new.

[Anonymous Coward]

Ya know, I bet the cards are built on Windows technology -- that's why they were so easy to break.

What the hell is wrong with legal tender?

[Robber Baron]

Remember what we did before all these plastic cards and shit came out? That's right...we went to the bank and took out pieces of paper with numbers printed on them and the words: this note is legal tender printed across the bottom...and we got along just fine. Wanna give someone an impersonal gift because you can't think of what to give them or can't be bothered shopping...put a couple of these pieces of paper in an envelope and give it to them! Need to send it through the mail? Write cheque or get a money order! I don't even like using my ATM card for purchases...I prefer withdrawing the cash and paying with that and nothing pisses me off more than having some dingbat in line in fromt of me trying card after card and none of them seem to work (especially the express lane at the grocery store, which is supposed to be cash only!). I especially love it when once in a while I encounter a merchant that's flirting with the idea of no longer accepting cash payments..."Uh, what part of this note is legal tender don't you understand?
No...those pre-loaded "gift cards" are a sucky idea that needs to go away. (I guess they're great if you're the merchant and it's your "policy" not to give out the balance left over on the card in cash...)