Sen. Blumenthal calls for an FTC investigation into 'Vanilla' gift cards 

He says Incomm Financial Services, the makers of the gift cards, are not properly packaging them which leads to an illegal practice known as card draining.

Nicole Alarcon Soares

Dec 11, 2023, 10:34 PM

Updated 307 days ago

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Sen. Richard Blumenthal is calling for a Federal Trade Commission investigation into Vanilla gift cards.
He says Incomm Financial Services, the makers of the gift cards, are not properly packaging them which leads to an illegal practice known as card draining.
He says card draining is done when an individual obtains card information without leaving signs of tampering. Once consumers purchase and activate these gift cards at a retail store, fraudsters then empty the card of all funds.
“These instances of card draining will likely continue unless Incomm enhances the security features of their prepaid gift cards,” Blumenthal said. “As the SFCAO complaint demonstrates, this fraud has impacted Americans across the country, calling for complementary action from the Commission to ensure vigorous enforcement of our consumer protection laws.”