Hulu Cracks Down on Fake Gift Cards

If you ever searched for Hulu gift cards on Amazon or eBay you likely have seen hundreds of cards listed for a fraction of the face value.

Now it looks like Hulu has had enough of the fake gift cards and is cracking down and blocking sellers from accessing these gift cards.

So how did this work? Hulu sold gift cards on their site that you could digitally give to a friend or family member. Some people figured out they could use stolen credit cards or even scammed prepaid credit cards to buy these gift cards in bulk and resell them. Often you would see a $100 gift card going for as low as $20 on Amazon.

After days, weeks, or months the people who purchased these gift cards found their accounts blocked when Hulu received a complaint about fraudulent charges on the card that was used to buy the gift card.

Here is an example of what these listings looked like:

Now Hulu has made a few moves to block these resellers who took advantage of the system. First, Hulu has stopped selling gift cards online. Now you can only buy Hulu gift cards in stores like Walmart. Second, Hulu has banned prepaid credit cards from their site. (Officially it is because you cannot auto renew with them, but they accepted prepaid credit cards for years before this move.)

Since this change it has become really difficult, if not impossible, to find a Hulu gift card listed for below face value. So if you are used to paying for Hulu at a discounted rate with these cards you may be stuck paying full price when it comes time to renew.

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