News

Redbox battles kiosk scammers

September 23, 2013

When Redbox began renting video games in 2011, it's unlikely the company was prepared for the onslaught of scam artists bent on duping the kiosks out of a game disc. Now, two years in to the game rental service, Redbox is still struggling to prevent the thefts.

According to an article on chicago.cbslocal.com, scammers are able to trick a Redbox kiosk into thinking that a video game rental has been legitimately returned, when in reality, the game's barcode sticker has been placed back in the case with no game at all. The machine reads the barcode and assumes the transaction is valid — until the next unsuspecting game renter opens the empty case and discovers the ruse.

Redbox declined to say what percentage of customers have been affected by the scam, and Joel Resnik, vice president and general manager of video games at Redbox, wouldn't elaborate on steps the company takes to combat this kind of theft, the article reported.

"If the problem was widespread it wouldn't be a profitable business for us — nothing is full profit — but we are constantly looking at new ways to address these challenges," Resnik said. "We are constantly looking at new ways to address these challenges and make sure people don't make a tremendous impact on our customer's experience. That's what's really important to us — overall experience."

Read more about DVD kiosks.