Woman Loses $24,000 in Gift Card Scam — Don’t Fall for This Costly Con

The most wonderful time of the year is right around the corner, which means it’s time to start thinking about the special, thoughtful gifts you’ll be giving your loved ones this holiday season… Or you could just give them gift cards. Gift cards have long been a convenient (albeit impersonal) gift option, saving procrastinators and slightly annoying their recipients. Lately, though, gift cards have gained a new reputation as a handy tool for scammers.

Here’s a rundown of gift card scams and how con artists use them to grift large sums of money from unsuspecting victims.

How Do Gift Card Scams Work?

The most common gift card scams all start the same way: the scammer contacts you online or over the phone, pretending to be someone they’re not. They’ll use all kinds of phishing techniques to earn your trust, pretending to be your close relatives, relevant authority figures or even a coworker. In other cases, they’ll simply admit they’re scamming you to scare you into action.

That is what happened to Jan Hoops, a woman from Vista, California, who recently lost upwards of $24,000 to a gift card scam.

“[The scammer] explained that they had hacked into my banking account and my CD account, and they had stolen the money,” Hoops told her local CBS station.

Ultimately, the scammer aims to manipulate you into withdrawing large sums of money from your personal bank accounts. “I withdrew money from three different Mission Federal (Credit Unions), and then after that, he had me immediately go to a Lowes and buy gift cards to the tune of $1,000 on each gift card,” said Hoops.

Once the money is on the gift cards, the scammer instructs you to read the card numbers so they can use them—often while promising a reimbursement that will never come. Bank employees tried to help Hoops as she withdrew those large sums of money, but the scammer had already told her not to trust them and stayed on the phone with her as she made the withdrawals.

“I want people to realize that this is what’s happening. It’s out there, and it’s real. And I never thought I was gullible, never,” said Hoops.

How To Avoid Gift Card Scams

Scammers are targeting gift cards because they’re harder to trace and don’t come with the same protections as a credit card you have through a bank account. Here are a few ways you can avoid gift card scams this holiday season:

• Hang up the phone if someone calls you and tells you your bank account information.
• If you think someone has made an attempt to scam you, contact your bank and inform them of the situation.
• Only buy gift cards from reputable businesses.

If you believe you’ve already been scammed, contact your bank’s fraud department, the FTC and local authorities and the retailer from which you purchased the gift cards.

Source

CBS8: “Vista woman loses $24,000 in Lowes gift card scam” (2024)