Stay away from Green Dot Visa Gift Cards.

I've been meaning to post this for a while, but pandemic.

A little over 2 months I ago I purchased a "Green Dot" brand Visa gift card to make an anonymous purchase.

No exaggeration, there are zero options for taking to a human being should a problem arise.

It is all revolving recordings.

It isn't anonymous either. To spend the money on the card you have to register it which requires a social security number, a cellphone number, and an address. The registration site has data validation so you can't put garbage values easily in.

If you have cash on the card more than a month they start charging you a fee.

There is no means of cancelling the card.

There is no means of asking for your money back.

I eventually got my cash "back" by using the card to buy an Amazon gift card.

Over the years I’ve thought about using Green Dot numerous times but have always decided not to after reading all the procedures etc on their website. In my case I need a way to save the money or pay for sessions without leaving a paper trail. I don’t think it’s possible.

I was able to buy the card with cash.

If you don't mind a mysterious ATM withdrawal in your bank records then a gift card, NOT from Green Dot might be a possibility.

My intuition would be that other brands might have similar rules. Given that I doubt the recipient would appreciate having to register the card with their SSN and still not be able to get cash directly.

I think my problem is getting cash in the first place without any paper trail evidence like an atm transaction on a bank said statement or bank withdrawal. It’s frustrating because I can
afford to session but can’t access the money to do it. It seemed easier years ago before direct deposit became common place and before everything was online. Plus I will admit I am probably overly paranoid about my wife seeing something and questioning me about it.
I used to see someone regularly who would accommodate me by taking different gift cards
for as much of the session tribute as I wanted to use them for so I could buy the gift cards in vanilla stores.

That is a tough one.

Even if you got paid in cash the bank records would still show a lower deposit.

My experience with Green Dot and shopping around for a PO Box taught me that you can NOT make an anonymous purchase online.

Thank the criminals, I think those things are in place to prevent money laundering.

You can't win, you can't break it even, you can't even quit the game.