{"id":291105,"date":"2024-11-06T11:59:38","date_gmt":"2024-11-06T10:59:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/es\/?p=343478"},"modified":"2025-07-01T15:46:44","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T22:46:44","slug":"google-is-off-the-hook-it-is-not-responsible-for-google-play-gift-card-scams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/google-is-off-the-hook-it-is-not-responsible-for-google-play-gift-card-scams\/","title":{"rendered":"Google is off the hook: it is not responsible for Google Play gift card scams"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gift card scams are a very popular tactic worldwide, where <strong>scammers trick people into buying the cards and providing the codes they contain<\/strong> so that criminals can access the money without leaving a trace.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"sc-card-starred-link\">\r\n  <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__body\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__row clearfix\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__col-logo\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-starred-link__img\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2024\/09\/newsletter.png?GoogleAccessId=wp-stateless%40kubertonic.iam.gserviceaccount.com&Expires=1779690349&Signature=PGVrwamBv7PY%2BQb3zaWuPLJVtTSzNPxMvZ7DEdDKNg5DYMqJi8QzlE8ilO7tTqv%2F1JQ6%2Bxp2EGvVD9XSpFu9vHRO2fN6xgrVDWHhsTURlvEUOyOGzCWPEIU55YPcXFg5UNEsFuqMHDzVxBO01opNag0lGn7HVjbMH5wUpJWZ9fcIg6kjPz%2F5IXlODcvEwfWeM285IYE%2FuRz8Rrhh%2Bw40FvWhg6oH4mV%2B6MO1DBven46DUr1ZFDJF985Ws02aQYXdDumsgy6hUqQ34iI0bRhL5DHGQyfwjc3NDTya3ugCBB4bjVdtP3XbQ25ks6liel%2FDcpGYy00z9pABKhwJ7xWTCQ%3D%3D\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\">\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__col-title\">\r\n        <p class=\"sc-card-starred-link__title\">Subscribe to the Softonic newsletter and get the latest in tech, gaming, entertainment and deals right in your inbox.<\/p>\r\n        <a class=\"sc-card-starred-link__button\" href=\"https:\/\/softonic.beehiiv.com\/subscribe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer sponsored\">Subscribe (it's FREE) \u25ba<\/a>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <a class=\"sc-card-starred-link__link\" href=\"https:\/\/softonic.beehiiv.com\/subscribe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer sponsored\"><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Companies like Google<\/strong>, for which Google Play gift cards represent a large part of the business pie, <strong>take a commission on these gift card purchases ranging from 15 to 30% per purchase<\/strong>. And now a federal judge says that Google has no responsibility in the scams with all that it implies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A federal judge dismissed a proposed class action lawsuit accusing Google of illegally profiting from Google Play gift card scams by refusing to refund millions of dollars stolen from victims <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/OGT0W6mRIL\">https:\/\/t.co\/OGT0W6mRIL<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Xn8jrel5gR\">pic.twitter.com\/Xn8jrel5gR<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Reuters Legal (@ReutersLegal) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReutersLegal\/status\/1853827850924884478?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 5, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Story of a scam that led to a federal complaint<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The story begins in April 2021, when Judy May, a resident of Brownsville (Indiana), was the victim of a scammer who pretended to be a relative and told her she could qualify for a federal grant if she purchased Google Play gift cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Judy May was told she had to send codes from the back of gift cards to cover certain costs<\/strong> in advance and receive the grant money on the same day. She says she lost $1,000 due to the scam, money that Google refused to reimburse her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">May filed a class action lawsuit against Google in which <strong>she accused the company of illegally profiting from scams by refusing to refund money to victims<\/strong>. The lawsuit also claimed that Google engaged in a series of unfair practices and should place warnings on its gift cards informing buyers of potential scams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"FTC Warns Of Surge In Gift Card Scams\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/eValLXHFpA8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">District Judge Beth Labson Freeman dismissed the lawsuit this week.<strong> The judge stated that it was the scammers, not Google, who persuaded May to buy the cards<\/strong>, and added that the plaintiff had not demonstrated that Google knew it was receiving stolen funds or that it was the cause of the losses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By the way, <strong>Google receives between 15% and 30% commission for the purchase of gift cards<\/strong>. Despite this, Judge Freeman said that the tech giant was not responsible for keeping the money, as Google&#8217;s conduct was not related to the original fraud.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"sc-card-program\">\r\n  <div class=\"sc-card-program__body\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row clearfix\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-logo\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__img\" alt=\"Google Play\" src=\"https:\/\/images.sftcdn.net\/images\/t_app-icon-s\/p\/d4d86336-96d0-11e6-963b-00163ec9f5fa\/3020431264\/google-play-store-logo\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\">\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-title\">\r\n        <span class=\"sc-card-program__title\">Google Play<\/span>\r\n        <a class=\"sc-card-program__button sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/google-play-store.en.softonic.com\/android\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DOWNLOAD<\/a>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-rating\">\r\n        <svg class=\"rating-score__content\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.1\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 50 50\" enable-background=\"new 0 0 50 50\" xml:space=\"preserve\"><path class=\"rating-score__background rating-score--good\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><path class=\"rating-score__value rating-score__value--0\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-dashoffset=\"0\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><text class=\"rating-score__number\" content=\"\" text-anchor=\"middle\" transform=\"matrix(1 0 0 1 25 31.0837)\" data-auto=\"app-user-score\"><\/text><\/svg>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <span class=\"sc-card-program__description\"><\/span>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__bigpic\" src=\"\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\">\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <a class=\"sc-card-program__link track-link sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/google-play-store.en.softonic.com\/android\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Freeman also said that Google did not engage in unfair practices and agreed with the company&#8217;s opinion that the funds were not considered stolen when May purchased the cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the FTC, <strong>Americans lost $217 million in gift card or reload card scams last year<\/strong>, and that only includes the cases that were reported.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gift card scams are a very popular tactic worldwide, where scammers trick people into buying the cards and providing the codes they contain so that criminals can access the money without leaving a trace. Companies like Google, where their Google Play gift cards represent a large part of the business pie, take a commission for these gift card purchases ranging from 15 to 30% per purchase. And now a federal judge says that Google has no responsibility in the scams with all that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9265,"featured_media":291116,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":2},"categories":[1015],"tags":[5605],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-291105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-ciberseguridad"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291105"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":310925,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291105\/revisions\/310925"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291105"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=291105"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=291105"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=291105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}