Zero balance on Apple Gift Card after purchase and attempted redemption

Just an update on my case. Even though I immediately sent the code to my friend while in Apple Store and he assumed the code was good because it was counting, someone had redeemed the code already. Since this never happened before, he didn’t know even though there was counting, code can be invalid. He went to take a nap and later saw zero balance in the account. The word redeemed or invalid never appeared. A nice senior adviser from Apple support explained the money was “consumed”. I never heard of this word but she explained it’s similar to redeemed but that it wasn’t done from Apple account. The info first adviser gave me was incorrect as he said nothing was redeemed because there was no money on the card. Now I have to call my bank. I’m sharing this because we didn’t know there is something called consumed and that counting doesn’t mean there is money. You must wait until you actually see the completion of the transaction. I thought we are smarter from prior hack on 4/30 and from then on, I send code to him in Apple Store immediately. We were blamed that we waited a few hours before redemption in the prior hack but my bank helped me. This time, we redeemed immediately and there wasn’t any message like “redeemed already”.

He said the message was balance 0 and the Apple support told me he checked and there was no money to redeem. I asked him in a very detailed manner as balance can be 0 after someone redeemed it. He said he could see the card never had money and nothing to redeem. My friend didn’t know as the code works and he saw it loading and didn’t check the amount but took a nap. He only found out after he woke up and saw no money loaded in his account. The card is activated because it charged me. I looked at the receipt which is the same as my prior receipts from the store. The worker also checked the documents that I sent including copies of the receipt. He sent me a link for me to check the balance and it said empty. I went to my local pct today and the PO said it sounds like a technical problem Apple has. She too asked about activation and redemption. I told her everything the worker said, as these tech can see everything and he confirmed no redemption since there was no money on the card. I’m asking the community hoping someone heard of this issue.

I appreciate your comments. No one else responded from this so called Apple community. My friend and I are not technical and we were scammed a few times. With Google cards, CVS has the best customer service. They really chase after the scammers. In the past, senior Apple advisor can check the code and transfer the money back to our cards if not used. They could tell me that the moment card was activated, code was redeemed! Now the staff can’t see much and seem like Apple policy helps the scammers and not the victims. Their investigation is so slow to respond that the scammers have plenty of time to use the stolen code. The corporate office is a joke because they don’t protect consumers and what I suggested was the banks should not pay them so maybe they will work with us in catching the scammers. Especially after the recent hack, I send code to my friend immediately after purchase inside Apple Store. This time it didn’t say redeem but counting numbers so my friend thought code was good and he went to rest. We only know invalid and redeem those words.

Yes, I have to make a report with my bank tomorrow. They helped me in the recent hack. I told my friend I’m not getting any more Apple Cards. Thx again for your input!