alt Hacker NewsStill, with Point 1) I wonder what exactly was happening. To think straight away "suspected fraud/criminal activity" for merely entering a voucher code a second time?
As a sane person I would expect a mere popup saying "Voucher code was already redeemed. try another one" Nothing more.
The ONLY other thing I can currently think of why Apple straight away went to "criminal" would be that the brick and mortar store failed to activate the card when they sold it.
You know, someone shoplifts such a card thinking they got it made. Even though you'd think everybody should know that the code you scratch of that card is only active after the clerk at the register did his thing.
If Apple then receives this voucher code that they must have in their databases but it has a big "not activated flag" next to it, THEN I could start to believe why they would lock down the account that tried to redeem, it.
And even then it seems iffy. Because how should I as the consumer know if the clerk did everything right with the activation?
I'm not defending Apple here. But I think the logic is, if you rightfully bought the card then nobody but you should be able to activate it. So the first person activating it is legit, and a second person attempting to activate it is necessarily trying to engage in fraud, having stolen it from a trash can or something.
But this breaks down for the reasons described, that thieves get the code before you do and manage to spend it first once the cashier activates it but before you get home and actually use it.
So maybe that's new and Apple hasn't updated their scam detection logic? It's the only thing I can think of.