Gift Card Scam Explained and Tips to Avoid It

in Gift Card 101



Gift cards are not exempted from numerous scams. Given that this is a billion-dollar industry, scammers take chances to steal and utilize the gift card values. Such fraud and scam incidents usually rise during the holiday season when many people consider giving gift card as gift alternatives. Some gift card scams that were recorded are Marshalls gift card scams, Gary Paul Wilson gift card scam, TJX gift card scam and even Walmart gift card email scams.  Some are even associated with free gift card promos.

Here are some types of gift card scams. Though this is not complete (nobody has an actual record of all the scams), the list will help you identify such scam so you can perform necessary actions.

  • Fake and counterfeit gift cards are being sold on auction websites such as e-bay.
  • Gift cards sold on some auction websites have values overvalued, meaning that the amount shown does not match the actual outstanding balance in the gift card.
  • Gift cards are bought using stolen credit cards, and then sold at affordable prices.
  • Websites claims that you can check gift card balance on their site, but would require you to provide the gift card number and other identification. These information are actually stolen and used by the scammers to shop online at the expense of your gift card.
  • Technical expert scammer copies gift card information from the gift card magnetic strips, or just copy the information from gift cards from store racks. The scammer then checks if the gift card is actually purchased by calling the hotline number to check the gift card balance. Some systems don’t require a password, so scammers easily get on with it. In some instances, scammers are also able ot steal the gift card PIN.
  • Gift card scammers engage in gift card swap, but actually exchanges fraudulent gift cards.
  • Thieves replace gift cards with fake or useless ones.

9 Tips to Protect Yourself from Gift Card Scam

  1. Buy gift cards from authentic and secure websites. Make sure that the URL and title of the website actually matches the company that issues the gift card you want to purchase. As much as possible, buy directly from the store issuing the gift card and not from other sites no matter how tempting the discounts are.
  2. Purchase gift cards from counter or store’s gift card section, not from publicly displayed racks.
  3. Purchase gift cards that require PIN. This is an extra security feature. In addition, you should protect the PIN at all times.
  4. Consider not buying gift card from auction sites.
  5. Always do thorough examination on the plastic gift card. You need to check for any tampering or damages.
  6. After purchase, you can request the cashier to check the balance by conducting an initial scanning. This will assure you that the gift card value is still intact.
  7. Make sure you conduct online transaction from correct and secure website. This is helpful for the gift card recipients whenever they redeem their gift cards online.
  8. Do not believe in any emails sent by somebody you don’t know that states or describes gift card promotion that are too good to be true.
  9. Do not give sensitive personal information (social security number, date of birth, etc) when buying gift cards. These are not needed when purchasing gift cards.

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