As the holidays quickly approach, we’re in peak gift-card-buying season—which means scammers are still in their peak season to trick us into buying gift cards, which the people on our list Actually won’t be able to use it. we have done before Covers how scammers pretend to be from the IRS or others authority figures with gift cards to pay for things you, But time only makes scammers more sophisticated and creative, so here There Are New Gift-Card Scams To see.
how to detect tampering a in gift card shop
unpurchasedift cards have been tampered with for years, but it is usually Find the Old Trick Where Scammers Take Gift Cards pin info, and then put it back on the shelves where it waits o for a victim to buy it and put moneyn it. they do that from time to time number o callingn to see if on the back of the card there is an equilibrium, and then water withdrawal As soon as there is But now, there are scammers their printing My barcodes and putting them on top of real people, heyWhen the card is activated and the victim’s money is loaded Next, the money goes to an existing card owned by the scammer, and finally you give a A gift card worth absolutely zero dollars.
to avoid giving it sad gift, Check the gift card for signs of tampering before loading itn it. barcode number one o must matchn on the back of the packaging. peel off the barcode to see if it comes off, and cCompare it to others on the shelves to see if anything looks off.
If you receive a tampered gift card, turn it over to the customer service department so that someone else doesn’t buy it by mistake, if you invest moneyFor one, contact the card company and let them know. If you paid with a credit card, you can also tell your bank and possibly get a refund.
Know about this scam on Apple gift cards
Recently a viral Tiktok video created buzz Woman buying $100 Apple gift card target, She was scammed when she bought one and couldn’t use the card when she got home and realized the last few numbers of the code were white-and-she could not get refund because Target has a strict return policy on gift cards.
The lesson here is that you should verify any store-bought gift cards because they are easily rigged. If you want to buy a gift card for a specific store, you might be better off doing it online or directly from the store (if they are archived behind a glass barrier or counter), Gift cards that are left out in the open for customers to handle are not secure.
Beware of “free” gift cards in exchange for information
Have you got one of these? They “Win a Free $100 Amazon Gift Card!” Message yet? These types of scams try to lure you in with a tempting offer that isn’t quite there. Real. They usually ask you for your personal information so that they can send you gift cards as part of the application. they can ask for a Social Security Numberbank information, or to download a file to “transfer” you gift card.
This is particularly troubling because There Are Free Gift Cards That Are Actually Legitimate, But There are ways to weed out the fake from the real. Check the URLs, phone numbers and email addresses they provided and cross-reference them with real companies, If they don’t match, you can be fairly certain it’s a scam. Another way is to contact the company they are trying to impersonate and ask if they are really offering this kind of gift-card program.
or just remember: If it’s too good to be true, it probably is scam.