[widebody911]

My wife bought her mother a Safeway gift card and mailed it to her in San Diego. When the MIL went to use it, the balance was zero. The wife calls Safeway customer service, but to file any sort of complaint, you have to have the card in-hand, so the MIL mails the card back.

Wife gets the card today and checks the balance: yup, it's zero. However, you can query the most recent transactions. The very next day, while the card was in the mail, it got used at a Safeway in South Sac at 4:00-something in the morning for gas and then at the adjoining mini-mart.

I'm trying to figure out how they pulled this off. Was this some cashier sleight-of-hand? Someone getting the number and using it with a different physical card? That's what they did the last time my credit card was compromised - they captured the mag stripe details and dummied up a card. The scam fell apart because the chip wouldn't read, although they let a couple of high-dollar sales go through before slamming the door shut.

So how did they pull this off?