Redbox Video Game Scammers

Is it easy to steal video games from rental companies? Apparently for Redbox, it looks like it is.

[moosekebabs]

Seems really weird that Redbox find it hard to identify who steals these discs - don't they link credit card information or some other identifying info to a barcode?

[Khimarhi]

I would think it would have to be one of 2 people. The person who reported it or the person who rented the game directly before that. But the thing is you still have to prove which one it was. So that's why people get away with it.

[hougigo]

Once a pattern is established, they can get you from there. I mean, if you're one of two more than twice, it's pretty clear you're either very unlucky or you're the one doing it.

[nveenio]

Yeah, the second time the thief tries this, they are instantly fingering themselves. (teehee)

The catch, though, is that it's very easy to get a $25 Visa Card from Wal-Mart, which can be used in conjunction with a free email address to create a new account with a fake name. So this is definitely something that could be done over and over again with no real penalty, the thief making $50 each time. And that's a shame, because RedBox will wind up taking away the feature just because some freaking a*holes can't get a job.

[Legion21]

Check their game history, the person who never got the game would never get the chance to play it.

[UncleGermrod]

People suck. I would think red box will find away around it. I never really thought to rent games from them but it totally makes sense. I would be pissed if it happened to me

[Lord_Sloth]

There's no way to stop this sort of thing in this day and age. There's too much tech at our disposal and with a little imagination we can workaround anything.

[Sarick]

I'm sure there're ways.

Holograms aren't easy/cheap to reproduce with average printers. With the right security tracking methods it'd be hard to fake an identity.

I'm saying take the purchasers picture or another form of biometric as evidence. Then also put printed holographic content on the disc to ensure product legitimacy. If both measures are taken for both incoming and outgoing products then a better record is kept of the transaction history.

I wouldn't want to rent porno from them but, I don't watch that anyway. So, I assume this would work for most people like me.

[Seraphim]

try buying an xbox only to get home and realize it was a clearly abused and used broken unit you just bought. Then to fight for a week w/ the retailer because they think you are scamming them.

Unfortunately there's a lot of shat bags out there and anything they can think of they'll do. Anything they know they can get away with they'll continue to do. Truly a shame the shat people pull

[Sarick]

@Seraphim with DVDS and GAMES then a digital surface integrity check at exchange would solve that. The problem is hardware kiosk aren't created with every type of criminal abuse in mind. This is why they're so easily exploited.

If done right they won't have to play whack-a-mole with people who exploit these services. It'll just cost more to get but in the end it'll pay for itself.

Hardware is a different story.

[FamilyGuy]

This news story is only giving criminals ideas -_-

[XB1_PS4]

Not gonna lie, the thought popped in my head.

[moosekebabs]

I used to work at a rental place, when it was quiet most of our day was spent trying to think of ways to beat the system - we were never successful unlike these guys.

[pop-voxuli]

@moosekebabs:
Funny how someone disagreed with your comment as if to say either "I was there and that never happened" or "Yes you were successful!!"

[CarlosX360]

Not really. This kind of story, and spreading of these kinds stories causes things to be solved.

[FamilyGuy]

Redbox already knows of the issue and is working on a solution, letting the public know how this scam is being done is just going to add to the number of times it happens.

Making the scam public knowledge helps no one.

[admiralvic]

"Making the scam public knowledge helps no one."

It makes people more aware, which makes sales go down (I would hate to have it happen to me), which puts pressure on RedBox to fix it faster.

[0pie]

i get your point but lets say... Redbox call you and tell you "we are doing an investigation about stolen games"
Im sure you will not say ; "yes its me i stole the game"

The scammer will probably say somthing like "well i didnt had the game either but i didnt call you to tell you that the game was missing" or whatever his defense is.

I guess some scammer can let know redbox that the disc is missing when its not the case so this way they can take the disc while redbox investigate on the latest person who rent the game

In both scenario, i guess its hard to prove who stole the disc and who doesnt.

[moosekebabs]

Proof would be hard. Agreed. I guess the only thing to do would be to flag the user and then if they're always being linked to missing disks then block them from using the service. Then they get another credit card and it goes on in a vicious cycle until all the boxes are empty...

[LackTrue4K]

who ever did this, must of done it more then once....so like you said. "they link credit card info"

agree with Khimarhi, which just needs to happen more then once, to prove who did it...

[CarlosX360]

Yeah, but the stickers are pretty much two dimensional (2D), I think the solution is to replace the stickers with holographic stickers that these scammers can't duplicate from home.

The other problem is that most of the crimes done to Redbox is outdoor locations. Redbox needs to spend a little bit more money to put them inside the store and put them near a camera.

[KONAAs]

all u need is a prepaid credit card and no way they will find you

[jocomat9]

They might only accept ones with names and addresses on them. So i don't think so.

[hiredhelp]

Am i seeing something that people over looked or is this just example.
The farther sais he was getting game for his "9" year old son yet shows pic of saints row.

[Burr_Rabbit]

Haha! The Irony of it all!

[kayoss]

This is why we cant have nice things. Regardless if there's a chance of exploitation people will try to exploit it. This is one of many reasons why game developers and console makers want to put in DRM on video games. Its A whole like these that ruin it for the rest of us.

[pop-voxuli]

There was a dude at my college that would get pre paid credit cards and use them at red box, rent as many as he could and sell em for $10 a pop. dude made a fortune.

[0pie]

from what i heard, its not possible anymore. You have to use a real credit card linked to your name and address.

[pop-voxuli]

Very true, but thats circumvented by registering the card(fake address) Also, I use a prepaid card at rb all the time but its one ive had for years so maybe its "grandfathered" in.

[SilentNegotiator]

It makes me wish I wasn't a law abiding citizen sometimes...

[pop-voxuli]

I honestly dont mind but its funny how someone disagreed with my comment, like they somehow knew the guy and are trying to stick up for his honor!

[yellowgerbil]

lol as time changes, things stay the same.
I can remember back in the PS1 era renting from Hollywood video to find demo discs in the box instead of the real thing.

[Talamak]

Hollywood Video, Blockbuster, Hastings...man those were the days, I remember some friends of mine and I would rent War of the Monsters on PS2 just about every other weekend and have at it...

[jackanderson1985]

shouldn't Redbox staff be checking the quality of the discs returned to them anyways to ensure they're not snapped in half or anything that'll mean it won't work?

[d4sholil1]

This happened to me...TWICE...I really wanted to rent Tomb Raider for PS3 and I opened the case and boom, there it was, not even a clean photocopy, but ripped and the only thing in tact was the barcode portion. Called, Redbox said to place it back in the machine and they would decomission the game so nobody else rents it. I checked after and sure enough it was not available. RedBox gave me 3 free rentals. So the next day I travel a few miles out of the way only to have it happen again, but I got three new codes for three rentals.

[sephiroth420]

yeah, its been done many times with blockbuster oh and love film.

[shaft0140]

Technically, if you hacked your Wii, you could rent a game and burn the game onto an HDD. *cough cough*

[falcon262]

I work for a video game company (I'm sure you can guess it) and this is becoming a consistent problem. People bringing in games for cash or store credit.
We have standard policies in place but without proof we cannot turn someone away until our Loss prevention department gives us the go ahead.
It unfortunately takes quite a lot of trades for the system to trigger expected fraud and this has to be driving Red Box crazy. I can only assume they are making more money off of honest people vs those who are scamming. Or they have a nice insurance policy to take their liability away when they incur lost product.

[HonestDragon]

This has been an issue for Redbox for years. This has also happened to my friend multiple times. Rent a movie? No disc. Rent a video game? A sliver of a bar code is left. Then we are out a couple dollars because some jerk stole it and probably sold it to GameStop or The Exchange.

Also, when those people who steal the discs and sell them to those retailers, the workers can't prove anything even with seeing the seal on the disc. Unfortunate thing is that those discs were blatantly stolen whether it's from the customer selling it at the moment or not. Redbox needs to step up and figure out a solution.

[vikingland1]

Honest people will end up getting screwed on this whole scam. Redbox will raise their prices to recoup their loss.

Honest people always pay for thieves.

[GhostTurtle]

S*** really f***ing pisses me off. I have never in my life used a redbox before, until Diablo 3 came out. Really wanted to check it out before I bought it. Went to maybe 6 Redboxs, every single one of the Diablo 3's had been replaced with CDr's. I called and let them know and to get refunded and the only thing they would offer me was promo codes.

[Burr_Rabbit]

Thats crazy! People will do just about anything these days. The real cruddy part about your situation is that the company didn't do anything about it.

[persona4chie]

i've seen people do this sooooo many times at gamestop ripping off the barcodes and stuff.....for shame gamers for shame

[brianunfried]

Thanks, I'm heading to Redbox!

[RedHawkX]

this is our society now because people keep breeding with degenerates. back in he day woman went for man. nowadays they go for boys and thugs who trying to live the fantasy life of a fictional rapper.

[Funky Town_TX]

What does rap have to do with this? Not all thieves are rappers or "hip hop thugs" Some of the biggest crooks in the world wear suites and have college degrees. I know what you are saying, but there are all kinds of bad people.

[FantasyStar]

Just use RFID tags or Magnetic Ink. Problem Solved.

[Funky Town_TX]

It happened to me. I rented the last of Us from there and I got a photo copy of the game. I could not return it because part of the QR and serial code was damaged when the thief returned the game. I called redbox and the CS guy was cool and returned to game manually via the network. They also hooked me up with a few free rental codes.

[cell989]

crafty bastards