Avoid Gift Card Scams This Holiday Season & Beyond

Leila Sharma

As an update to our prior blog posts on gift card scams, please be advised that gift card scams remain prevalent, and scammers are trying to trick you in new ways. We’ve reported on scammers posing as trusted individuals, groups or charitable organizations, seeking your assistance with gift card purchases, and then asking you for the redemption numbers on the card, and stealing the value of the card. The following types of gift card scams, which occur most commonly as calls, text or emails, have also been reported.

  • Messages/calls from the IRS, a utility company, or your mortgage lender, claiming that you owe money and the debt can be settled by sending them an electronic gift card or by purchasing a gift card and sending them the redemption information. Payments will never be sought in the form of gift cards by any of these entities or any other entities. 
  • Gift cards sold at online auction sites which have far less value than advertised or no value at all. For example, someone may be selling a $100 Amazon gift card for $90, and once purchased the purchaser discovers the actual value of the gift card is $5.
  • Scammers can use magstripe readers to read the numbers on the back of gift cards which have not yet been activated. Using the customer service information on the back, they can find out the available balance and steal the value of the card. Avoid purchasing gift cards from a publicly accessible stand.
  • Scammers also have been known to use a bot called GiftGhostBot to search retailer sites for activated gift cards with remaining balances. Scammers will then drain card balances by making purchases themselves or selling the card information on the dark web. 
  •  Messages/calls informing you that you’ve won some type of sweepstakes or lottery. Scammers seek gift card payment as a redemption fee for the (fake) prize.
  • Beware of romance scams, which involve connecting with someone on a dating site and being asked to purchase gift cards as a way to provide assistance with a pressing need of some sort.  

Remember, gift cards are like cash and if someone requests a payment using a gift card, it’s a scam. 

 

Reporting Gift Card Scams

The FTC advises the following: 

  • Keep the gift card receipt or a record of your gift card number.
  • Report thefts or scams to the FTC, https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/.
  • Report theft immediately to the merchant who issued the gift card.
  • You can also report a theft to your state attorney general and local law enforcement.

Resources: