US judge dismisses lawsuit against Google over gift card scams – report

A San Jose, California-based federal judge dismissed a proposed class action lawsuit alleging that Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) Google illegally profited from Google Play gift card scam by not refunding millions of dollars stolen from victims, Reuters reported.

U.S. District Judge Beth Freeman noted that plaintiff Judy May lost money because scammers induced her to buy gift cards, and failed to demonstrate that Google caused her losses or knew it was getting the stolen funds, the report added.

In addition, the judge said that Google was not liable for keeping 15% to 30% commissions on purchases which scammers made with the gift cards, as Google’s conduct was unrelated to the original fraud, according to the report.

May said she lost $1,000 in April 2021 when a scammer who posed as a relative directed her to contact an alleged government agent, who told her she was eligible for federal grant money if she purchased Google Play gift cards.

May, who is based in Brownsville, Indiana, added that she gave the codes on the back to cover the supposed upfront costs. However, the scammers used the codes to make purchases. The plaintiff noted that she would not have purchased the cards if Google had cautioned on the packaging about scams, and that anyone asking payment with the cards was a scammer, the report noted.

Judge said that May can try to refile her lawsuit, but dismissed a claim asking for triple damages for good.

In 2023, people in the U.S. lost $217M in gift card or reload card scams, as per the Federal Trade Commission, the report noted.

The actual number could be bigger as the data covers only reported cases. Citing FTC data from 2021, May noted that Google Play cards form about 20% of gift card fraud