Itunes Gift Card Code Not Valid

[Ezilda Newnam]

Ijust bought a $50 Apple gift card from Target, I unsealed it, scan the code using my camera, and it says it's already been redeemed. How is that possible?? Support tell me 'your code has no value, it was already redeemed by another account and we cannot tell you by whom". Unbelievable!! It feels like a total scam! And apparently there's nothing to do! Really unbelievable that a company like Apple uses/don't do anything against scam like this...

I ran into the same issue where I have purchased three $50 from Walmart Market that were redeemed. and unusable. I called Apple Support and the best advice they had was if the cards were purchased with a Debit/Credit card then reach out to the card merchant and report fraud and stolen card value and hopefully they'll refund the cost back to the card. I asked if they could tell me the date it was used, what software was purchased, iOS App, subscription charged against it or to which Apple iTunes email/acct it was applied to and she told me they had NO WAY OF SEEING WHAT the cards were used for which I find extremely odd since these would have a high likelihood of being added to someone's iTunes Acct in which requires a login and then the card info added to the iTunes acct to be charged against. We know there are instances that this information could be provided & the amt could be charged back against that thief's iTunes acct or debited from the card connected to their Apple ID etc and covered in the terms and conditions a disclaimer ref stolen APPLE Gift Cards applied to their accounts, especially when the rightful owner can provide the card, the card envelope, the sales receipt, verify the card used to purchase belongs to the person making the claim etc. There are many ways the purchaser who had no control over the theft but seeing the big picture, why should APPLE care, they're getting their money regardless so no loss to them, just tell the consumer to go buy another one and good luck next time. It's a poor and greedy business practice. Home Depot requires the purchaser to scan their DL or ID card and add their mobile number at the time of issue which automatically registers it to that person and upon redeeming the card you must provide the same information to prevent this kind of fraud and theft. The technology has been developed & implemented for at least 2 years now & the POS software is available and ready to be used by much smaller companies outside of the tech industry. If APPLE was on the losing end then they'd have implemented a cure for the disease long ago but Gift Card Fraud only hurts their consumers and increases their profits with additional sales with us buying more cards when needed. APPLE, you need to do better than this.

That's not entirely accurate KiltedTim. Yes the cashier has to activate it, if not activated properly, the gift card won't function as intended. However, that isnt was this discussion is about; people didn't buy gift cards only to get them home and discover they were never activated; they got them home and discovered the balances were stolen and registered to a different account, all while being properly sealed, with a trail to prove it; why would another user go to the trouble to put a used gift card back on the shelf and who would buy a man opened iTunes gift card. Your whole argument is kinda invalid. Scammers are getting more clever. In some cases, these scammers steal unactivated gift cards, copy the code that is exposed on the back without opening the gift card , put it back on the shelf and then once it's activated they are notified (how? I don't know, I'm a productive member of society and don't partake in such activities) at which point they are able to take the balance.

Should the retailer refund the stolen funds? In my opinion, yes. They sold the product. If I bought a defective electronic or a boxed furniture piece from target, they would refund my money. Ultimately, they are selling a product they can't guarantee and then won't stand behind. Apple gives you the illusion their gift cards are safe by being packaged when if fact they're not. If consumers are having a problem with a product, in this case Apple gift cards, then a retailer shouldn't offer them for sale, keep them locked up available by request only, or guarantee their effectiveness.

I'm a little late to the party here, but Target won't do anything. I'm going through this right now. Essentially, they are saying it shows it was successfully activated when I purchased it, so the fact that it was already redeemed when I tried to redeem it is irrelevant since it was successfully purchased. Makes no sense. Consequently Target, and most retailers, are selling gift cards but can't guarantee them in any way; Target told me to call my police department or the FTC. Apple support pretty much said sorry, we can't help you either. At the end of the day, there's no one who is liable for gift cards and it's becoming a gamble when you buy them.

I too purchsed a SEALED $50 Apple gift card at Target for my daughter's birthday. When she went to redeem it the following day, it showed this card had already been redeemed. Went to the Target store where I purchased the Gift card. They told me this has been happening since the holidays and they referred me to corporate where I spoke to a "Gift Card Specialist" who said they could do nothing since the card was successfully activated. Yet no mention from the "specialist" as to this being a problem. I told the "specialist" if this is an obvious problem, then you should stop selling Apple Gift Cards. They referred me to Apple. Apple was able to track the scammers account that redeemed the gift card and said they could do nothing since I did not purchased the card directly from them. The scammers account would be flagged. Thanks, but that doesn't help me! Apple said I should contact Target, who sold me the Gift Card. Essentially got no where!!!! I wasted two hours of my time.

I just bought a gift card for $25 and I scan it and it says already been use or redeem and my balance is still the same and five dollars and something what do I do when this happens I refreshed my screen or account and it still says the same

Nope. When a gift card is sold, any gift card... Apple, Amazon, restaurant, etc., it is activated at checkout by the cashier. If they fail to activate it correctly, it has no value. This is to ensure that someone can't just pocket a gift card at the big display and walk out with thousands of dollars worth of gift cards...

You have to take this up with the store where you purchased it. Someone at the retailer had to activate the card, then use the value and return it to the display where you picked it up, or you had to leave it somewhere where someone could steal the code from it and use it before you attempted to redeem it.

I received an iTunes Gift card by email, but there is no code listed, only a button to redeem. Is there a way I can find out what the giftcard code is so I can pass it on to someone else? Or if I forward the email will they be able to successfully redeem it by pressing the "redeem now" button?

I'm having the same problem. I gifted an itunes card via email. when my son clicks on redeem, it takes him to a window asking him to install Itunes(which is already installed.) really looking for an answer for this.

When you click the "Redeem Now" button, you will be taken to the iTunes Store and asked to sign in. Technically, you are able to sign in with any account at this time, so I do not see an issue with you passing the gift off to someone else. The new recipient will click the "Redeem Now" button, and sign in with their iTunes account.

After several frustrating attempts of going back to the original e-mail and clicking in every area of the message, I follow the directions and downloaded iTunes anyway. After I download and sign-in..........nothing.

I am also having this issue - the "Redeem Now" button just links to an "install itunes" page, but I already have the latest version of itunes installed! I know it's a holiday weekend, but it seems like many people are having this problem!

I had a somewhat related problem. I needed the actual code from an iTunes gift card to open a new apple ID for my dad, because he didn't want to add a credit card. I sent myself a $10 gift card by email, but couldn't find the code to open the new account.

To solve this (and other problems listed above), simply open the email from Apple and right click the "Redeem Now" button. There should be an option to copy the link, which when you paste it into the search bar will look something like this:

The answer is what jrettenmaier and Jakalope Joe said, but in my case the code # doesn't even show up in the browser link -- the apple site insists on forwarding to a generit iTunes URL. And I couldn't right-click on the Redeem Now button in the email message. Because I majored in Computer Science, I knew I could do "Vew Source" in the HTML message and find the link text that begins with " ", and find the text after "code=" as described by those other guys. Wow, Apple, really, you had no idea this was happening to people? How about adding a simple message at the bottom of the email saying, "If the button doesn't work, go to your iTunes application, click "Redeem Now" at the bottom, and past in this code: xxxxxxxxxxx".

After uploading photos of my receipt and outer/inner gift card, a third phone call which included three different departments and or levels in the hierarchy of customer service, they were able to give me a valid redemption code. Problem rectified.

I'm in the middle of the same experience currently. Issue has been escalated up the chain of command and am still awaiting resolution. Seems like this could be a large scale issue with rite aid apple gift cards (purchased mine in Orinda, CA). Also opened another gift card sleeve with manager of Rite Aid to find GCA code mismatch.

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