Google Gift Card Fraud Case Dismissed
In a significant legal development, a federal judge dismissed a class action lawsuit against Google, which claimed that the tech giant profited from fraudulent Google Play gift cards. The decision was announced on Monday by U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman, who presided over the case in San Jose, California.
The lawsuit was filed by Judy May, a resident of Brownsville, Indiana, who alleged that she fell victim to scammers in April 2021, losing $1,000. May was deceived by someone posing as a government official, who convinced her that she would receive federal grant money if she purchased Google Play gift cards. After May bought the cards and provided the codes to the scammers, they used those codes for shopping.
May argued that she would not have purchased the gift cards if Google had included warnings about such scams on the packaging. She claimed that Google should refund the stolen funds and be held accountable for the commissions earned from the purchases made with the stolen gift card codes.
However, Judge Freeman ruled that May failed to demonstrate that Google was responsible for the financial loss or that the company was aware it was receiving stolen funds. The judge also stated that the 15% to 30% commission Google took from the fraudulent purchases was not related to the initial fraud.
The court ruling also noted that May could reopen her case but permanently denied the request for triple damages. Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL), has yet to respond to requests for comments regarding the ruling.
Gift card fraud is becoming an increasingly growing issue. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Americans lost $217 million to such scams in 2023. However, this figure only represents reported cases, and actual losses are likely much higher. May referenced FTC data from 2021, indicating that approximately 20% of gift card fraud cases involved Google Play cards.
The case known as May v. Google LLC et al. was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California under case number 24-01314.