Can You Using Stolen Credit Cards to Buy Gift Cards? Best Ways

While writing this, the inner voice encountered guilt with the topic. We ask readers to understand the point of view of this article first. It is to inform you how fraudsters are using stolen credit cards to buy gift cards. By knowing their actions, you will be able to prevent them. It is like wearing the “shoe of the thief.”

Why Use Stolen Credit Cards to Buy Gift Cards?

At the very first point, you must understand the reason behind the increased use of stolen credit cards to purchase gift cards. We describe the reason below.

Tracing back the payment source of gift cards is very critical.
In most cases, gift cards are not linked with personal information or data.
Gift cards are good in terms of exchanging them for cash.
Fraudsters can purchase very low-value gift cards. It allows you to go unnoticed while a transaction is taking place behind your back.
Gift cards can be sold in black markets.
There are digital gift cards that do not require a physical address to be provided to the company.
Gift cards can be refilled online (if not revocated).

How to Using Stolen Credit Cards to Buy Gift Cards?

This is a professional task, which we describe below.

Hide your Physical Identity

Purchase a low-cost laptop, tablet, or Android device; a used device is preferable. Don’t provide any personal information at the shop. It is better to buy such from the black market.
Don’t use the device on your home network.
Use sunglass and caps.
Take a cab and go to a town where you have never been, and no one can recognize you.

Now here, you have two options.

1. Use the Stolen Card to Buy Gift Cards via a Prepaid Card

Go to any shop that sells prepaid cards.
Purchase a prepaid card with the stolen credit card.
Go to a nearby coffee shop.
Connect the already-purchased device to the shop’s WiFi.
Use a good VPN service and connect it to any destination outside the US.
Create a fake Gmail account.
Go to the gift card seller’s site.
Create an account with the newly created Gmail.
Purchase gift cards with the prepaid card.

2. Use the Stolen Card to Buy Gift Cards Directly

Below are the step-by-step guidelines.

1. Collect the Credit Card Holder’s Details

Use dark methods to collect the cardholder’s account information, like their email ID, password, etc. This is a time-consuming process. In this case, use the below-described method to hide your physical identity. And also, make sure to change your location frequently.

In this case, the possible strategies to use are:

Taking the card owner to a fake site (made by you) and collecting email addresses, etc. Or, find a data breach to get the email address.
You can also purchase the cardholder’s information from the dark web.
Use a password cracker tool like brute-force to get the email’s password.
Use the email address to reset the password (of the card owner’s) on the gift seller site’s account. By having the email password, you can do it easily.

2. Making Purchases of the Gift Cards

Connect the device to the shop’s (as mentioned earlier) Wi-Fi.
Deleting all sorts of cookies from the device.
Use a good VPN service.
Connect to a destination outside the US.
Go to the gift card seller’s site.
Do not head to make a purchase directly. Explore the products, look at the deals, and so on. Act natural.
Proceed to purchase a low-value gift card.
See how this goes. If the cardholder has not set any two-step verification (OTP), your purchase will be successful.
Perform more purchases.
However, if there is an OTP, you have to find a resolution to get that one. It can eventually be done by phone hacking, phone cloning, etc.

Use the Money Apps to Buy Gift Cards Directly

In this case, you are going to use a mobile money app to purchase gift cards using the stolen credit card.

Find a money app seller. In general, you can purchase an account by paying $20–$50. Calculate whether it is worth it or not.
Get the credentials for the mobile money app account.
Check the respective bank’s (the provider of the credit card) details.
Log in to the account with the device (as described earlier).
Link the credit card to the money app.
Transfer the money to the money app.
Go to a gift card seller’s website.
Find some great deals.
Add items to the cart.
Pay for the purchase using the funds in the mobile money app.

How to Protect Yourself from This?

Now, you know how thieves can use your credit card to purchase gift cards. It is time to take precautions. The following is a list of necessary approaches you should implement.

As you see, the email address is a crucial matter here. We suggest you have several email addresses and do not use the same email address for the bank and accounts on gift card sites.
Always enable the two-step verification process.
Avoid visiting sites that are warned about by Google.
Try to increase your knowledge regarding phishing emails. We suggest not clicking any link on an email that you cannot trust. Even if the email says it is from your bank or of other importance. Always cross-check forms’ and sites’ authenticity before inserting personal and card information.
Do not connect your device to any public network.
Use reputed anti-spam, anti-theft, etc. solutions.

Final Words

We expect, now you know how digital thieves are using stolen credit cards to buy gift cards. We suggest you use some analytical thinking after reading this article to find out the best protective measures against this kind of fraudulent activity.

However, keeping the credit card in a safe place is crucial, and you can also use the digital version of the credit card to minimize the risks. If you cannot memorize the PIN or password of your credit card, try to form an easy-to-remember strategy.

It will allow you to not store your card or account password in the system.