NEW YORK, June 23 (Reuters) - Visa defeated a

proposed class action lawsuit on Monday by consumers who accused

the world's largest card payments network of failing to warn

that its prepaid "Vanilla" gift cards were susceptible to being

drained by thieves.

U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods in Manhattan said it was

unreasonable for consumers to consider gift cards impervious to

scams, or that Visa's logo amounted to a promise that no scams

would occur and the company would help victims.

Woods also rejected a claim that Visa provided inadequate

warnings on the cards' packaging about possible tampering,

citing news coverage of "card draining" and comments in online

forums about Visa Vanilla scams.

"No reasonable consumer would expect the allegedly

'widespread' practice of third-party scams affecting prepaid

cards to somehow not affect one of the industry's major

suppliers," the judge wrote.

The lead plaintiff, Ira Schuman, of Scarsdale, New York,

sued Visa and two Vanilla card issuers in January 2024, after

learning that eight $500 cards he bought as holiday gifts for

employees in 2022 and 2023 had been emptied.

He said non-reloadable Vanilla cards sold at CVS,

Target ( TGT ), Walgreens and other retailers came in

thin cardboard sleeves that thieves could open and reseal,

without being detected, after recording account information.

Lawyers for Schuman did not immediately respond to requests

for comment. Visa, based in San Francisco, and its lawyers did

not immediately respond to similar requests.

The lawsuit sought damages for purchasers of Visa-branded

Vanilla cards in New York for alleged violations of the state's

consumer protection laws.

The case is Schuman v Visa USA Inc et al, U.S. District

Court, Southern District of New York, No. 24-00666.