Walmart Stored Value Cards Compromised

morcheeba writes "It appears that Walmart's pre-paid gift cards have been hacked. Customers are buying cards and finding that criminals have already emptied them of value. It seems someone has access to Walmart's database and/or registration data, and can create clones of recently activated cards. (via engadget)"

A little late?

[darkmeridian]

The date of the article was June 10, 2004. Maybe this was in another time zone or something so it was more recent than I thought?

Cool but....

[dirkdidit]

What kind of geek buys their computer gear at Wal-Mart? I mean come on, even Best Buy would have been a step up. I bet he'd even opt for the Extended Service Plan. Either way, the culprit will be set for life when it comes to toilet paper and snacks.

Re:Owned!

[Hitmen]

You were supposed to add an S at the end, not move the one already in the word.

Re:in case it gets slashdotted

[cammoblammo]

Man, I thought I was doing well without having to RTFA, but you made me read it anyway.

The injustice is that you now get *good* karma!

Re:Gift Vouchers are stupid.

[Anonymous Coward]

b should read

B: Hey happy birthday/christmas/eid here's $50 you can only spend on crack-whores or beer.

It seems.

[ftgow]

The cracker must be low on paper towels and socks.

Re:in case it gets slashdotted

[Tony Hoyle]

law enforcement at the highest levels possible, to rectumfy the problem

Looks like the cuplrit is going to really get it in the ass...

Re:A little late?

[NeuroManson]

That's nothing, I submitted a story back in November, only to find it posted 9 months later, and under a different name altogether.

Re:in case it gets slashdotted

[Cerebris]

From the parent: A corporate spokesman says the company, " is working with law enforcement at the highest levels possible, to RECTUMFY the problem and catch the people responsible." (all caps mine)

I wonder just what rectumfying is. Maybe it's like "radidzomai" in Greek (to be buggered by a raddish), or the Tossed Salad Man. I'll bet rectumfying would deter anyone else from hacking gift cards!

-Colin

Re:Old adage..

[Anonymous Coward]

Nothing is more dangerous than wandering lordless ronin hackers! Some villager merchants probably offered a years supply of ramin noodles to seven of them in return for saving them from the attacking Walmart.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer company

[Anonymous Coward]

I laugh at those bastards, I hope whoever's doing this bleeds them dry.

--
The only thing worse than being held hostage by Muslims is being rescued by Russians.

Re:snort

[Edmund Blackadder]

they probably had their code written by a poor teenage girl in honduras who was getting whipped by a mean guard while she was trying to compile. I can just imagine it:

"more linking errors??? You are going to get it now BITCH!!!!" *whip* *whip*

Re:I think it's an inside job

[s7uar7]

I think we have a suspect. Mr Coward, would you mind stepping this way please.

Re:I think it's an inside job

[Anonymous Coward]

As you can plainly see from the IP records, that was obviously not my post. It was made only minutes from the last Anonymous Coward posting, but was from several states away.

Investigators are looking into the matter.

is anyone else thinking what i'm thinking

[real_smiff]

i think it was the grandparent wot did it!

come on, he knows how to do it, he knows Wal-Mart rather well, he posted anon.. it's got to be him!

call the cops. ha, he shouldn't have posted to /., we're too smart for him.

Why? Why? WHY, I ASK?!

[HarveyBirdman]

If you are going to hack gift cards, why, for the love of baby Jesus, would you target Wal-Mart??? Now hack me up some Best Buy or Good Guys or Circuit City cards, and now we're talking.

Gift Cards are Evil Genious

[SnprBoB86]

The guy who thought up gift cards/certificates was an evil genious. At what point does someone as a business person say "maybe people are willing to exchange their real money for store credit so that they have a non-cash gift to give?" I can't imagin thinking "I want my money to be acceptable at less places for the sake of forcing a friend or family member to buy something they don't want or need".

I'm a fan of capitalism, so I don't want them to ban gift cards, but I really hate them. Damn you, you evil genious!

Re:OT: Walm*rt

[Wansu]

Why do people refer to Walm*rt with a star in the name?

Well, they might be using the star as a sphinctor symbol. Yessir. Heck, we used to put 'em by people's names on memos to denote sphinctorhood.