My then "new" $30.00 Vanilla Visa Debit card was used once at Renderosity on October 24th 2016 and was cleaned out on December 27th 2016.

There was a problem with the transaction on October 24th - The debit gift card wasn't accepted initially but a "hold" was put on the value by either Rendo or Rendo's processing agent (actually multiple holds - all I got was the error on a known good card, so I retyped the information assuming I had made a data entry error on check-out, a typical occurrence; there was no feedback). The 'holds' on the debit card made it useless to me trying to buy some items during a sale. On October the 28th 2016 a staff member helped me reverse one of the holds (I didn't know there was more than one at the time), but the sale(s) of interest to me were over.

I put the card away in a drawer in my desk.

I checked the card around Thanksgiving and the 'holds' had finally been released and the debit gift card was showing its full value of $30.00. I checked the card yesterday January 9th 2017 looking to make a purchase at Rendo and the balance showed only $.01.

Someone tried to make a $30.00 purchase at a fitness website three times in December on the 20th through the 23rd but apparently failed. At 11:27PM on the 27th of DECEMBER 2016 they attempted a purchase of $29.99 at a different site and apparently succeeded. The card is now emptied of all but one cent of value.

I debated writing this but decided that the lag of two months between the card's one use by me and it's illegal theft of value by a hacker just before the New Year might be significant to someone who thinks they might be safe from holiday hacking.

Folks, check your statements and be vigilant. I'm not pointing the figure at rendo - for all I know the gift card was hacked at its source company - but I believe the opportunities for people to get the information on it were very limited.