With the holiday season quickly approaching, it is a good time to remind citizens of the potential for scams, including scams involving gift cards.
The Federal Trade Commission states, “as soon as someone tells you to pay them with a gift card, that’s a scam. Gift cards are popular with scammers because they’re easy for people to find and buy. They are more like cash, once they have the gift card number and the PIN, they have your money.”
Scammers may tell different stories to get you to pay them with gift cards, including:
– That it is urgent and pressures you into acting quickly so you don’t have time to talk to someone you trust.
– They will tell you which gift card to buy or even send you to a specific store, often Walmart or Walgreens to buy several cards. They also encourage you to buy cards at different locations, so the cashier’s don’t get suspicious.
– The caller asks for the gift card number and the PIN.
Some of the common schemes include, saying they are from the government, tech support, or pretending that a family member is in an emergency to send money right away but to not tell anyone.
What do you do if you already paid a scammer with gift cards? You tell the company that issued the card right away. Keep the card and any receipts you have. You can report the call to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Report even if…
