There are many gift card scams happening every day because they’re easy to buy and share, hard to trace, and nearly impossible to refund once their balance has been spent. The most important thing to remember is that you should never pay a legitimate company with gift cards. Whether it’s your utility company, tech support, the IRS, an online store, or any other business with which you work, it should accept typical forms of payment, such as a check, credit card, or debit card.
Scammers may direct you to which store to buy the gift cards, tell you which gift cards to purchase, describe how to send a photo of the card to them, or ask you to give the gift card number and PIN. The scammer may also tell you to go to multiple stores so the cashiers don’t get suspicious.
Common gift card scams include:
- Government Trouble. Scammers claimed to be from the IRS (Internal Revenue Service), the Social Security Administration, FTC (Federal Trade Commission), or other government agencies and claim that you owe taxes, fees, or a fine. You should never need to make immediate payments to any government agency, and they never demand payment by gift card.
- Tech Support. Scammers pretending to be from Geek Squad, Microsoft, Apple, or other tech companies contact you to let you know there’s something wrong with your device. In addition to a gift card to cover the fee, the scammer may also remote access to get it fixed. With remote access, they also gather more information, such as logins, passwords, and financial information from your device to complete more scams.
- Bank Fraud Department. Scammers pretend to be from your bank’s fraud They claim that your account has been compromised, and the only way to protect your funds is to transfer your balance to gift cards and then they will help you move it to a “secure” account.
- Family Scammers pretend to be a family member who needs help due to an emergency or a person of authority, such as a police officer, lawyer, and/or doctor who is trying to help your family member. The money is needed right away, which is why you need to buy gift cards and send them photos of the cards.
- Prize Winners. Scammer will tell you that you’ve won a prize but first you must pay a fee or taxes via gift cards in order to receive No honest business or agency will ever make you buy a gift card to pay them for a prize. You should be especially wary if you never even entered the contest.
- Utility. Scammers threaten to cut off your service if you don’t pay immediately.
- Romance. Romance scammers will make up any story to trick you into buying a gift card to send them money. They may want gift cards as gifts, to pay for them to come visit you, or to “help” with a family emergency. The stories can be elaborate, emotional, or even threatening. Never send money or gifts to anyone you haven’t met in person, even if they send you money first.
- Empty Gift Cards. Scammers can copy down gift card numbers from store displays, cover the back with a similar silver sticker, and then steal the card’s funds once it’s activated. You won’t find out about this scam until your gift card payments are declined. Some fraudsters may even place their own barcodes over the back of the gift card, which means any money you put on the card will go straight to the scammer’s card instead.
- Mobile Deposit Scams. Scammers have you deposit a check. You get to keep a certain amount for doing this favor for them, and then you should send them the rest on a gift card. That check is often fake.
Be sure to check out our Blog or our page on Facebook for fraud tips every Friday. We’ll cover different types of fraud as well as red flags to help you identify when it might be a scam.
Remember, if you have questions about a possible fraud situation or just an uneasy feeling about a phone call, text, email, or transaction, feel free to contact the Fraud Department at (605) 934-2500.