Activate my $50 gift card by phone or skype, donate $40, and earn $10 (+ karma!)

[StuckDonator]

Hi folks,

So I bought a $50 Wells Fargo gift card anonymously using bitcoins, and I want to donate to several open source programs and privacy services. I filled the card's registration page with bogus information and thought I should be able to start using it now, but it turned out I must call 1-877-855-8719 from the US to activate it. I tried using a Skype's free account and a couple of other free online services like EvaPhone and CallingAmerica to no avail. I'm almost certain it's my bad internet connection though because I was able to hear the recorded message but it kept saying I entered the incorrect number of digits. The bottom line is that I need help activating it.

The problem with this, of course, is that you don't trust me and maybe I'm planning to use the card to do something illegal after you use your phone or Skype to activate it. So I thought I'd just ask someone here to do both the activation and the donation itself to be sure nothing fishy is going on. For added assurance you'll have a whole week month to do the activation and donation anytime you wish during it.

So the way we'll do this is first see who'd like to make this little favor by replying here over the next couple of days, and then I'll send the card's details to one of them in a PM. He'll obviously need to be a reputable member of the forum because in theory he can just activate the card and take all the money without donating a penny.

After you're done with the donations there will be $5 $10 left in the card and you can do whatever you want with it, or you can just spend it first thing if you're paranoid, it doesn't really matter. You'll be able to check the balance on Wells Fargo's website to make sure the card really has $50.

So here's the list of receivers with direct links to their donation pages. Note that many of them include paypal which directly accepts VISA without requiring a paypal account.

$5 to Tor
$5 to TrueCrypt
$5 to AxCrypt
$5 to Eraser
$5 to Piwik
$5 to the EFF
$5 to 9/11 Truth
$5 to 10 Minute Email (scroll to bottom)
$2.5 to Mailnull
$2.5 to Scroogle

You might wonder why isn't Bitcoin included in the list. From my quick reading I believe Bitcoin is almost perfect from the technical side and hardly needs any more development. But feel free to donate your $5 $10 to Bitcoin though!

I'd finally like to take this opportunity to encourage people here to also donate to some of these awesome programs and services. I sent emails to most of them demanding they accept bitcoins for donations but unfortunately none of them did when I last checked, so it seems we're stuck with usual payment methods for now.

Thanks a million.

[1713999661]

1713999661

[GamingG]

What stops you from using the card immediately after one of us activates it?

[Immanual Go]

I am STUCKDONATOR, the director in charge of auditing and accounting section of international bank of Africa Lome-Togo in west Africa with due respect and regards.  I have decided to contact you on a business transaction that will be very beneficial to both of us at the end of the transaction.

During our investigation and audting in this bank, my department came across a very huge sum of money belonging to a deceased person who died on November 2010 in a plane crash and the fund has been dormant in his account with this bank without any claim of the fund in our custody either from his family or relation before our discovery to this development.

Although personally, I kept this information secret within myself and partner to enable the whole plans and idea be pofitable and successful during the time of execution. The said amount was USD$14m (fourtheen million united states dorllars).  As it may intrest you to know, I got your impressive information through my good friend who works with chamber of commerce on foriegn business relations here in Lome-Togo. It is him who recommended your person to me to be viable and capable to champion a business of such magnitude without any problem. Meanwhile all the whole arrangement to put claim over this fund as the bonafide next of kin to the deceased, get the required approval and transfer this money to a foriegn account has been put in place and directives and needed information will be relayed to you as soon as you indicate your intrest and willingness to assist us and also benefit your self to this great business opportunity.


In fact I could have done this deal alone but because of my position in this country as a civil servant, we are not allowed to operate a foriegn account and would eventually raise an eye brow on my side during the time of transfer because I work in this bank. This is the actual reason why it will require a second party or fellow who will forward claims as the next of kin with affidavit of trust of Oath to the bank and also present a foriegn account where he will need the money to be re-transfered into on his request as it may be after due verification and clarification by designation bank account.

I will not fail to inform you that this transaction is 100% risk free. On smoth conclusion of this transaction, you will be entitiled to 30% of the total sum as gratification, while 10% will be set aside to take care of expenses that may arise during the time of transfer and also telephone bills, while 60% will be for me and my partners. Please,you have been adviced to keep top secret as we are still in service and intend to retire from service after we conclude this deal with you. I will be monitoring the whole situation here in this bank until you confirm the money in your account. And ask us to come down to your country for subsequent sharing of the fund according to percentages previously indicated and further investment, either in your country or any country you advice us to invest in.All other necessary information will be sent to you when I hear from you.I suggest you get back to me as soon as possible stating your wish in this deal.

Yours faithfully,
Dr STUCKDONATOR

[StuckDonator]

What stops you from using the card immediately after one of us activates it?

There's no sign on the card's webpage to show whether it's been activated or not. So for me to do that means I'll have to keep attempting to make that payment 24/7 for the duration of the week because the card will run out of money within minutes of activation. I haven't tried that before obviously but I'm pretty sure it will lock the card or something. I can increase the period if that's the only issue you've got. Would a month be a suitable period for you to take the offer? I've got no problem as none of the donations are really urgent.

brianez21 and Immanual, please show some respect. If you have doubts about the offer for some reason then by all means inquire like GamingG, but what you just said is insulting and uncalled for. I am offering to give someone I don't know my card's number not the other way around. I'm not asking and will not ask for any information or anything in return from him. If you are so smart why don't you try to imagine a way for me to scam the volunteer? It'll surely be a better way of warning people than your rude sarcasm.

[StuckDonator]

Hey, sorry... didn't mean to come off as rude. I just don't understand the purpose of this.

The purpose of donation? People donate to things they'd like to support. Or maybe you're inquiring about the purpose of activation. Please elaborate.

Furthermore, this being your first post on the forum, would make anyone suspicious of what's going on in this topic.

That's understandable but again, I challenge anyone here to think of a way for me to scam the volunteer. There's simply none. In fact, I'm the one in a vulnerable position here.

[StuckDonator]

I'm disappointed for not being able to find a single volunteer for such a simple and kind chore. I've raised the bonus to $10 instead of $5. I removed the EFF because they used to accept bitcoins in donations and then stopped which makes them kinda more guilty than the others who never accepted coins to begin with.

Can somebody please take the task now? If nobody does my money will be wasted and those projects won't be supported.

[prophexy]

I'm disappointed for not being able to find a single volunteer for such a simple and kind chore. I've raised the bonus to $10 instead of $5. I removed the EFF because they used to accept bitcoins in donations and then stopped which makes them kinda more guilty than the others who never accepted coins to begin with.

Can somebody please take the task now? If nobody does my money will be wasted and those projects won't be supported.

I would do it, but I'm not considered a trusted member seeing as I signed up today .. I mean if you'd be willing to trust me, I can do it for you... *shrug*  Up to you though... I wouldn't blame you for trusting a user that JUST signed up, though...but if you feel that you would be willing to trust me, just PM me or reply here

[StuckDonator]

I'm sorry prophexy, but you even signed up after I did which means you could've read my post first and came just for it. I really don't mean to disappoint you but I simply need someone who's been around for a while. Thanks for the offer though!

[prophexy]

I'm sorry prophexy, but you even signed up after I did which means you could've read my post first and came just for it. I really don't mean to disappoint you but I simply need someone who's been around for a while. Thanks for the offer though!

Hey, no problem.  Like I said in my previous post, didn't really expect you to do it.  Just thought I would offer

[Nyaaan]

Go buy a Tracfone or whatever they call those anonymous phones if you live in the US.

[prophexy]

Bleh, apparently I'm the only one that was stupid enough to offer to help... :x lol

[StuckDonator]

Go buy a Tracfone or whatever they call those anonymous phones if you live in the US.

I don't live in the US. I thought that was obvious.

Don't mean to start a war but what's more plausible-- a helpless card holder who needs 'a bit of help' or someone holding a hot card that's actually worth $500 but downplaying it to get a sucker to commit fraud for them?

You won't start a war but you'll show that you haven't given this enough thought. For starters, the card is virtual and it still needs activation, which means it's not stolen. Not to mention that I'm willing to wait for an entire month before the volunteer activates it. Second, the volunteer would be able to check the card's balance on the website BEFORE the activation. If he finds it has $51 or $49 he can just declare the whole thing a fraud and not activate it at all. Heck, he can even publish its serial here for everyone to see that I was lying and that he's got nothing to do with it. Sorry to disappoint but that doesn't look like a stolen card scenario.

Bleh, apparently I'm the only one that was stupid enough to offer to help... :x lol

It's funny but I think if the card was stolen or "hot" or whatever then this thread would provide a very suitable alibi for the volunteer! And to make things more interesting maybe I also signed up as prophexy to "give him" the card and get away with it under the pretense that I've been framed lol

OMG never thought it would be so difficult. This is starting to be depressing...

[ineededausername]

OMG never thought it would be so difficult. This is starting to be depressing...

People here are very cynical for a reason.  Bitcoin has a long history of scams.

[ineededausername]

OMG never thought it would be so difficult. This is starting to be depressing...

People here are very cynical for a reason.  Bitcoin has a long history of scams.

Atlas, you live in the US. Why not help him out?

lol... you confused me with Atlas because of my sig?

[tom64]

Skype works fine through tor, but you need to use a firewall to deny it access to everything except your tor proxy port otherwise it tries to connect directly.
You also need a pretty fast tor circuit, either configure one manually or just keep trying the skype echo test until it works.

[StuckDonator]

People here are very cynical for a reason.  Bitcoin has a long history of scams.

Maybe. But people here definitely suffer a severe lack of imagination when they can't point out to how can they be scammed in my case yet insist for some reason that it's a scam. I mean what if this, gasp, wasn't a scam? I'm pretty sure I spent more time here trying to get this done than any self respecting hacker would've had to spend to earn my measly $50.

Skype works fine through tor, but you need to use a firewall to deny it access to everything except your tor proxy port otherwise it tries to connect directly.
You also need a pretty fast tor circuit, either configure one manually or just keep trying the skype echo test until it works.

I tried using a Skype's free account and a couple of other free online services like EvaPhone and CallingAmerica to no avail. I'm almost certain it's my bad internet connection though because I was able to hear the recorded message but it kept saying I entered the incorrect number of digits.

[odysseus654]

People here are very cynical for a reason.  Bitcoin has a long history of scams.

Maybe. But people here definitely suffer a severe lack of imagination when they can't point out to how can they be scammed in my case yet insist for some reason that it's a scam. I mean what if this, gasp, wasn't a scam? I'm pretty sure I spent more time here trying to get this done than any self respecting hacker would've had to spend to earn my measly $50.

I think you may have gotten people nervous when stating that you were having difficulty getting past an anti-fraud protection system.  Asking a random person to pose as you in unlocking a card using a method that records the phone number the call originated from (in a forum where people have seriously proposed methods previously used by the mafia to launder money) is likely to raise more than a couple eyebrows, even if no one can figure out what is precisely wrong with what you're proposing.

[StuckDonator]

I think you may have gotten people nervous when stating that you were having difficulty getting past an anti-fraud protection system.

I never said that. What are you talking about?

Asking a random person to pose as you in unlocking a card using a method that records the phone number the call originated from..

That's not necessarily true. Somebody just said skype works fine through Tor. There are also websites which call 1800 numbers for free like CallingAmerica and EvaPhone, but as I initially mentioned apparently the internet where I am currently is so slow that WF's computer doesn't hear the dialed tones correctly and always misses a couple. Otherwise if I were a criminal why wouldn't I just use skype or Evaphone through Tor and get done with this myself?

[odysseus654]

I think you may have gotten people nervous when stating that you were having difficulty getting past an anti-fraud protection system.

I never said that. What are you talking about?

As far as I know the only purpose of "activation" is to prevent fraud.  Otherwise the cards would be active as soon as they were swiped through the register.

[StuckDonator]

As far as I know the only purpose of "activation" is to prevent fraud.  Otherwise the cards would be active as soon as they were swiped through the register.

How can it prevent fraud? If the assumption is that nobody can acquire the number other than the owner then it doesn't prevent fraud, while if the assumption is that the number could be copied or stolen from the owner then this could still happen after the owner activates it. I think they enforce activation to track users not to prevent fraud. I also already answered all fraud related questions and demonstrated why this cannot be a fraud case. I'll be happy to answer any specific doubts or scenarios you got.

My problem was with automatic system not "hearing" the virtual dial pad because of my bad connection. As already mentioned, anyone can activate a card anonymously using a free skype account or free websites which call 1800 numbers without charge or even signing up. Tor could be added as an extra layer of anonymity too.