A few years ago, Frequent Miler wrote about the 5X Everywhere that was possible thanks to the Chase Ink cards (and their 5X point earnings at office stores) and the Vanilla Reload cards at office stores. I was actually out of the country at the time and missed out on all that 5X fun but there were still great other prepaid/reloadable deals to come as well.
Credit Card Fraud -> Prepaid Card Problems
Fast forward to now and you have situations where stores require you to use cash or debit to buy certain prepaid cards or such purchases are flagged, or there is a maximum amount you can buy. Plus, you have situations where ID is required (and sometimes not recognized) to buy certain amounts as well. We hear it over and over that it is because of credit card fraud that such measures have been taken.
And then we hear the stories every so often that seem to bear that out – some people steal credit cards, use credit cards to buy prepaid cards, and then cash out the prepaid cards. Here is yet one more story about such crime and just goes to highlight the people that make it that those of us who collect miles and points can’t have “nice” things – like easily accessible, high load prepaid cards.
This man ran an airline jobs’ scam and used the job interview paperwork he received to set up financial accounts that he would later use to buy – wait for it – prepaid debit cards. Thank you, Mr. Anthony. Things like this are why cashiers may find it suspicious when we try to buy such cards in volume as well. People read these stories and all of a sudden, everyone that does something similar (as far as purchases) are probably doing it as part of some nefarious scheme.
Read the story here for all the details
