These latest gift-card scams for the holidays are seeking your money.
As the holidays get near, it is peak gift card buying season; thus, it is also peak season for con artists who attempt to deceive us into purchasing gift cards that the recipients on our list won't be able to use. We've talked about how con artists can pose as representatives of the IRS or other authorities to trick you into using gift cards as payment in the past. Here are some recent gift-card frauds to be on the lookout for because con artists are only getting more and more inventive with time.
How to recognize fake gift cards in stores
Unsold gift cards have been tampered with for years, but the typical scam involves con artists taking a gift card, obtaining the PIN, and then returning it to the store's shelves where it waits for a victim to purchase it and load money onto it. They accomplish this by phoning the number on the back of the card on a regular basis to check for a balance and draining it immediately if there is. However, con artists are now printing their own counterfeit barcodes and sticking them over the real ones; as a result, when a victim loads money onto a card and it is activated, the money actually goes to a card owned by the con artist, and you end up giving a gift card that is worth exactly zero dollars.
Before you put any money on the gift cards, look for any indication of manipulation to prevent sending this depressing present. The packaging's back should match the barcode number on the label. Inspect the barcode by peeling it off and comparing it to the others on the shelves to see if anything seems out of the ordinary.
Give a tampered gift card to customer care to prevent someone else from purchasing it by accident. If you load money onto one, inform the card's issuer in writing. If you used a credit card to make the purchase, you can also inform your bank and perhaps receive a refund.
Be aware of the Apple gift card scam
Recently, a TikTok video went viral showing a woman buying $100 Apple gift cards at Target. When she bought one, she was duped; when she came home, she noticed the last few numbers of the code were whited out, and she was unable to use the card. Target has a stringent return policy for gift cards, so she was unable to get a refund.
The key takeaway from this is that gift cards from shops should always be verified because they can be readily abused. It is preferable to get gift cards online or straight from the retailer if you want to purchase one for a certain store (if they are stored behind a glass barrier or counter).
It is unsafe to leave gift cards out in the open for customers to handle.
Be cautious when receiving "free" gift cards in exchange for information.
Have you yet received one of those notifications saying, "Win a free $100 Amazon gift card!"? These con artists attempt to entice you with an alluring offer that is purely untrue. As part of the application, they typically ask for your personal information so they can give you the gift card. They might require you to download a file in order to "transfer" the gift card to you, provide your social security number, or bank account details.
These are particularly problematic because there are free gift cards available that are valid, but there are techniques to distinguish between the real ones and the false ones. Cross-reference the URLs, phone numbers, and email addresses they supply with the real businesses. You can be quite positive it's a fraud if they don't match. Another option is to get in touch with the business they are attempting to pass off as, and inquire as to whether or not they actually run a gift-card program.
Simply keep in mind the adage, "If it sounds too good to be true, it generally is."
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