Money stolen off Starbucks gold card

[kermit116]

Just tried to buy a coffee at Starbucks & discovered that my gold rewards card (that fortunately only had a little more than $10 on it) was "not registered." I checked my iPhone app and it said the card was debited the full amount I had on there over the weekend, and then the card was disconnected from my account. I went to my account info on the app and the name & address had been changed. I got a screen shot of that then changed back to my info & tried to re link the card. No luck. Then I tried to change the password and it said I couldn't because obviously who ever hacked me changed the email address. I tried to call Starbucks and was put on hold forever - had to jump off hold to take another call. I entered my card number when I called Starbucks and it said the card didn't exist. Argh!

I have to call Starbucks back, but now I'm worried in addition to loosing money, I'm also going to loose my rewards status if the hackers somehow deleted my account info. Not the worst thing ever, but annoying.

I checked the credit card I use to reload my card and I don't have any suspicious activity. I saw an article online saying hackers are doing this to launder funds when people gave the auto reload set up on their Starbucks rewards cards, so at least I didn't have that set up or I'd be looking at a much bigger problem.

Has anyone else dealt with this? Will Starbucks give me a new card and take my word for it that I had however many stars towards making gold status next year?

 

[dreamin_disney]

Just tried to buy a coffee at Starbucks & discovered that my gold rewards card (that fortunately only had a little more than $10 on it) was "not registered." I checked my iPhone app and it said the card was debited the full amount I had on there over the weekend, and then the card was disconnected from my account. I went to my account info on the app and the name & address had been changed. I got a screen shot of that then changed back to my info & tried to re link the card. No luck. Then I tried to change the password and it said I couldn't because obviously who ever hacked me changed the email address. I tried to call Starbucks and was put on hold forever - had to jump off hold to take another call. I entered my card number when I called Starbucks and it said the card didn't exist. Argh!

I have to call Starbucks back, but now I'm worried in addition to loosing money, I'm also going to loose my rewards status if the hackers somehow deleted my account info. Not the worst thing ever, but annoying.

I checked the credit card I use to reload my card and I don't have any suspicious activity. I saw an article online saying hackers are doing this to launder funds when people gave the auto reload set up on their Starbucks rewards cards, so at least I didn't have that set up or I'd be looking at a much bigger problem.

Has anyone else dealt with this? Will Starbucks give me a new card and take my word for it that I had however many stars towards making gold status next year?

Bummer! What a big pain!. I was going to add some money on mine but I will wait. I don't have automactic but it has my creditcard. Is there a way to take it off?

 

[descovy]

I read about something similar this weekend. Could this be what actually happened to you???

http://www.geekwire.com/2014/starbucks-cancels-thousands-gold-accounts-birthday-issue/

 

[Jusacuz]

I had my entire Starbucks online account stolen in July. The thieves changed my password and email. When I called Starbucks, they couldn't help me because the email associated with the account wasn't mine. They charged more than $300 to the credit/debit cards I had linked to it. I had to put a stop payment on them at the bank. I also had to call Paypal to revoke the permission to Starbucks. Then I received a statement from a different credit card that I never use, but was also linked to the Starbucks card and it had a $50 charge.

Ended up having a 3 way call with the CC company and Starbucks and interestingly the new Starbucks rep was able to restore my account. Somehow the thieves had attached new (stolen?) credit cards to my account and there were three gift cards on it with about $100 on each one. They had been reloading cards many times per day. I had to call again to have those removed.

I have my account back and my reward status seems the same, but it was a huge pain. I will no longer shop at Starbucks with anything but cash now, if I ever go there again. Most of my money I got back because Paypal refunded it. Starbucks still hasn't refunded the last $50.

Hopefully you're able to get your account reinstated quicker than I did. Good luck.

 

[kermit116]

I had my entire Starbucks online account stolen in July. The thieves changed my password and email. When I called Starbucks, they couldn't help me because the email associated with the account wasn't mine. They charged more than $300 to the credit/debit cards I had linked to it. I had to put a stop payment on them at the bank. I also had to call Paypal to revoke the permission to Starbucks. Then I received a statement from a different credit card that I never use, but was also linked to the Starbucks card and it had a $50 charge. Ended up having a 3 way call with the CC company and Starbucks and interestingly the new Starbucks rep was able to restore my account. Somehow the thieves had attached new (stolen?) credit cards to my account and there were three gift cards on it with about $100 on each one. They had been reloading cards many times per day. I had to call again to have those removed. I have my account back and my reward status seems the same, but it was a huge pain. I will no longer shop at Starbucks with anything but cash now, if I ever go there again. Most of my money I got back because Paypal refunded it. Starbucks still hasn't refunded the last $50. Hopefully you're able to get your account reinstated quicker than I did. Good luck.

What a mess! Will call Starbucks tomorrow - hope I don't have this much trouble!

 

[kermit116]

I read about something similar this weekend. Could this be what actually happened to you??? http://www.geekwire.com/2014/starbucks-cancels-thousands-gold-accounts-birthday-issue/

That might be it, but there's also the debit of the money I had on the account which makes me think it was hackers. We'll see what they say when I call tomorrow.

 

[HockeyMomNH]

I'm really sorry, that sounds horrible.

But... just can't get the thought out of my mind of the over-caffeinated thieves running around.

How on earth are they spending that much at Starbucks?

 

[Jusacuz]

I'm really sorry, that sounds horrible.

But... just can't get the thought out of my mind of the over-caffeinated thieves running around.

How on earth are they spending that much at Starbucks?

I thought of that, too.
They are probably buying gift cards and then selling them online.