Apple ID disabled after seller filed a fraud claim against a code he sold

As I have already opened a ticket that’s being worked on right now, I just wanted to come to the forums for some insight. To begin with, I purchased a code from a seller for iTunes ($50) a month ago, and after completing the transaction since the code was working when I redeemed it, I found out that the balance from the code was removed by apple. Contact apple, and they told me that the funds were removed because the seller had issued a fraud claim against the code (saying it was unauthorized/stolen/yada yada).

Contacted gameflip support, worked it out eventually. Issued a refund for this particular order. Then, around 12 days ago, when I was trying to make a purchase in my game, I found out that my iTunes was disabled permanently. No purchases made between then and the seller’s fraud claim, so I was unaware of it being disabled until I finally tried making a purchase. Contacted apple support for hours, and they gave me their ToS and straight up told me to make a new apple ID as there was no way for them to enable my account. Because of one seller’s claims against my ID, now all the funds in my ID are permanently frozen. Gone, with no way of transferring to a new ID despite my attempts to explain and plead with apple regarding the situation.

What will gameflip do about situations like this? I do expect some sort of refund on my frozen balance. I’ve been a long time gameflip buyer and sadly enough, the frozen balance came from other codes I bought from gameflip. I go on gameflip for my iTunes funds because of the good deals, but these kinds of situations really make me rethink.

renyande, sorry to hear about this

Yesterday I posted basically the same question about Amazon:
https://forum.gameflip.com/t/amazon-gc-discounts-too-good-to-be-true/35602/2

Guess we can add Apple to the list of companies who’d ban you and confiscate your all funds without recourse

As far as I know the only way to get something out of Apple or Amazon in US is to sue them in the small claims court; you might try to send the certified letter to their legal department demanding the refund first. In other countries one should check the local laws.

Now, regarding Gameflip - I believe they should look at fraud beyond issuing the refunds. Gift card fraud is a crime in US, and marketplace should take stronger measures.

The small improvement I can propose is to display seller’s country of residence (they know it), that at least would let buyers to avoid cross-border fraud risk

I also read that same sellers come back here after the ban - how’s that possible if Gameflip verifies government ID? Using another person’s identity?

I strongly suspect that some sellers here are purveyors of stolen goods

I’d think anything beyond than issuing refunds would be difficult for Gameflip to enforce, and it’s much easier to refund the buyer, ban the seller and be done with it.

However, it’s possible for sellers to come back after a permanent ban (I know of one) - borrow’s a friend’s ID, phone number & email address, and good to go.

Funny how you mentioned sellers coming back after a ban, because in my situation, I recently found out that the seller was actually banned in 2019 after doing the exact same thing with the claims to several people. Gameflip has kindly unbanned him and allowed him to continue scamming in the same way. I guess the service fees they get greatly outweigh the people suffering from the scams.

I am waiting a bit more for gameflip to issue my refund, and if they straight up tell me they cannot, then I will be filing chargebacks with my bank, who will sympathize with my situation a bit more.

Yes, it’s hard to Gameflip to fight the fraud, but they’re US-based company and need to act according to law.

Mandatory displaying of seller’s national identity is not hard for them, it’s a small technical step and at least buyers would know if they’re in the same jurisdiction as buyers

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