Gift Card Scams Popular With Seniors

katlupe said:
My thought was that nobody would fall for these gift card scams. Recently though, I have a friend who's husband did and they are hurting bad. So please beware! Do not ever pay for anything with gift cards. They are not money nor are they refundable.

Gift Card Scams Consumer Advice
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I've never heard of money being asked for from Gift cards.. so obviously it's just another scam from rotten thieves again..

I never buy Gift cards.. I feel they force someone to buy in a certain store, and I wouldn't do that to anyone.. I;d rather just give them the money
 
hollydolly said:
I've never heard of money being asked for from Gift cards.. so obviously it's just another scam from rotten thieves again..

I never buy Gift cards.. I feel they force someone to buy in a certain store, and I wouldn't do that to anyone.. I;d rather just give them the money
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These scammers will come across your computer screen and tell the person they have to pay a large amount of money or they will not fix and release their computer. In my friend's case it was a couple thousand. Then they tell them to put the money on gift cards and give them the number of the card and the pin number. Once they give the pin number the money is lost for good. There are many versions of this scam, but this is the one I am familiar with because of my friend. Some of them say they are from Social Security or IRS and threaten them with losing their checks or paying big fines.
 

katlupe said:
These scammers will come across your computer screen and tell the person they have to pay a large amount of money or they will not fix and release their computer. In my friend's case it was a couple thousand. Then they tell them to put the money on gift cards and give them the number of the card and the pin number. Once they give the pin number the money is lost for good. There are many versions of this scam, but this is the one I am familiar with because of my friend. Some of them say they are from Social Security or IRS and threaten them with losing their checks or paying big fines.
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As i've said before elsewhere .. the rise in Internet scammers is because it's easy and rarely are they caught... very often they're in acompletely different country too... so this will just get worse and more sophisticated unless something is done which can prevent this happening.. or that Fraud departments start throwing money at it, to get these people brought to justice.. ..
 
hollydolly said:
As i've said before elsewhere .. the rise in Internet scammers is because it's easy and rarely are they caught... very often they're in acompletely different country too... so this will just get worse and more sophisticated unless something is done which can prevent this happening.. or that Fraud departments start throwing money at it, to get these people brought to justice.. ..
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It would seem like they would change the gift cards so they cannot be used for this. I can't believe people fall for this. My son's computer had one of these things attach to his screen once. We were at my house at the time and my husband is very computer savvy. He fixed it instantly. They say to fill out a police report but what I have found is that our local police don't know what to do with internet crimes. I know more than they do.
 
I don't like gift cards. It's just an extra hassle that you don't need. I can spend cash in any store. I don't have to remember to use the $8.54 always left on the card, or worry about it expiring or scams.
 
I've said this a number of times and even started a thread about it quite a while back:

If you watch YouTube, a channel called Jim Browning teaches people how scams work and how to avoid being scammed.

And lately, "Jim" has actually managed to get a few major scam-call centers busted and shut down, which is a huge accomplishment because most scam-call centers give their local police significant monthly payments.
 
katlupe said:
It would seem like they would change the gift cards so they cannot be used for this. I can't believe people fall for this. My son's computer had one of these things attach to his screen once. We were at my house at the time and my husband is very computer savvy. He fixed it instantly. They say to fill out a police report but what I have found is that our local police don't know what to do with internet crimes. I know more than they do.
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The most popular gift card companies are now willing and able to stop payment on cards that were bought for a scammer. They have installed software that recognizes the types of accounts that most scammers use to deposit the card amounts. Also, they now take it seriously when people call them and say "I think I was scammed."

True, police don't know what to do about internet crimes. As you know, you're supposed to contact your state bureau of investigation or the FBI cyber unit, and your country's cyber security agency. In the US it's the CISA.
 
I've had hackers take names of contacts on my e-mail list, (old friends)
then write me and say they really need my help financially.
They are really going through a tough time.
"Could I go buy some gift cards and e-mail the number and pin numbers on the cards?
Even a couple hundred dollars would help."
They even tell me which cards to buy.
 
Murrmurr said:
I've said this a number of times and even started a thread about it quite a while back:

If you watch YouTube, a channel called Jim Browning teaches people how scams work and how to avoid being scammed.

And lately, "Jim" has actually managed to get a few major scam-call centers busted and shut down, which is a huge accomplishment because most scam-call centers give their local police significant monthly payments.
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Thank you, I am watching his channel now.
 
There was a scam going around here a couple years ago. The caller would claim to be from the city utility department and demand payment of a Target gift cards or they would turn off the electricity. What thinking person would ever think that a city utility would want to be paid in freaking gift cards?!? And yet, I guess some people believed it. Oy!
 
Some store clerks are now trained to ask a person buying a lot of Gift Cards the reason for the purchase. They can’t stop them from the purchase but they can warn them.

Quite often the purchaser is from another country and are afraid of being in trouble with the Govenment.
 
Another scam. A person actually buys a gift card as a gift.
Specifically, fraudsters may go into stores where gift cards are sold and replace barcodes with another that loads money onto their own cards.
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Feel gift cards to be certain that there isn’t another strip attached.
 

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