Well this is the first time some one has used my gift cards balances from Walmart I had two cards that were sent to me via email not bought in a store every thing was used up except a nickle. They almost had to gain access thru my computer or smartphone and I am the only one that uses these. What I am wondering if they can access your password and user id thru your computer or smartphone by copying your key strokes as you enter a password? I read some where online some one wrote he had the same problem and he thinks it is an inside job if this were so than there is not much the owner of gift cards could really do. I found this online" Botnet Attack
More sophisticated hackers skip the physical gift cards on racks in stores and go directly to the websites where consumers access their gift card balances. There, the hackers attack using botnets, networks of thousands of hijacked individual personal computers and Internet of Things (IoT) devices, which carry out automated actions.
The botnets test millions of combinations of gift card account numbers (which may follow discoverable sequencing patterns) and stolen PIN passwords to try to log into online gift card accounts that have money loaded onto them. The botnets try to avoid detection by mimicking individual human browsing behavior and blending in with a website’s genuine visitor traffic.
In one such “brute force” attack on a gift card website earlier this year, a botnet dubbed GiftGhostBot logged up to 4 million gift card balance requests per hour by testing a rolling list of potential account numbers and PINs, says Rami Essaid, CEO of Distil Networks, a company which detects and defends businesses against botnets. When the botnet finds a money balance, the hackers can sell the account number on the criminal dark web or use it to purchase goods directly.
“More than 90 percent of the login activity for online accounts set up to manage gift cards is coming from botnet attackers who want to take over accounts,” says Shuman Ghosemajumder, chief technical officer for Shape Security, another firm that defends company web and mobile applications from automated cyberattacks. Not all gift card companies use botnet defense services."
