I am surprised this scam hasn’t surfaced sooner or in more ways. As reported for the Detroit area, scammers/sellers list discounted gift cards on Craiglist. The sellers even encourage buyers to check out the gift cards online at the retailers website and freely give them the gift card numbers. Once the purchase is completed, the […]
Archive for the ‘Scams’ Category
You wouldn’t put cash in the mail, would you? In some respects, putting cash in a letter can actually be safer than putting a fully activated gift card in the mail; as long as the envelope is thick enough to prevent the contents inside from showing through under a bright light. Gift cards on the […]
We haven’t followed the mobile gift card space much, other than to say that having a gift card on your mobile phone makes it much more likely that you will have it when you need it. But it looks like the technology hasn’t quite been perfected yet and offerings by some popular retailers, Target and […]
A UCLA student managed to pilfer over $16,000 off of other peoples Visa gift cards over the course of a couple of weeks. It isn’t yet clear how the student got hold of the gift card numbers. We have yet to see open-loop gift cards that are not packaged well enough so that their sensitive […]
The Consumerist reports that some sites have popped up claiming to allow gift card holders to check their gift card balance. But what they are really doing is stealing the numbers so they can clone the cards and drain them. Only go to the website printed on your gift card to check the balance.
Security problems with store gift cards are widely reported and have been around for at least five years. As a recent report from StoreFrontBackTalk shows, many store gift cards, including ones from Target and Starbucks, are still allow for the simplest and most insecure of security holes. This security problem involves someone getting enough information […]
Here is yet another story about a Postal employee arrested for stealing gift cards from the mail. We’ve previously reported tips on how to increase the likelihood that your gift card will not be pilfered from the mail, but the question becomes, what if your gift card never makes it to its destination. The best […]
A bit of a black eye for Amex and Travelocity on this one. A class action lawsuit accuses them of colluding to charge more for trips when American Express gift cards are used to pay for them than they would otherwise. Named plaintiff Morris Wilner said he received a $200 American Express prepaid gift car […]
Apparently spammers have set their sites on stealing iTunes gift cards via a phishing scam whereby emails claiming to offer a way to check the balance of iTunes gift cards direct people to a site that looks like an official Apple site, but instead steal the iTunes gift card info so that it can be […]
Not like we didn’t see more of this coming given the huge state budget deficits that exist for most states right now. While so far the legislation is only a proposal, it is one of the more ominous such unclaimed property policies we have seen. Under the proposed legislation, gift cards would be considered dormant […]
The latest Postal Service employee charged with stealing gift cards from the mail is believed to have stolen as many as 1,200 gift cards. The best tip we can give you is DON’T SHIP GIFT CARDS THROUGH THE MAIL! But if you do have to, don’t make them look like greeting cards with a gift […]
Since the Facebook free gift card scams broke out a couple of weeks ago, I’ve seen these same type of offers on other sites. A good rule of thumb is that no-one is giving anything away for free. That’s not how companies make money. But if your reading this blog, you probably are smart enough […]
The numbers are in and wow, a lot of people fell for the free gift card scams on Facebook. Two separate Ikea scams netted about 110,000 people. In order to sign up to supposedly get free gift cards, people had to give all their personal information (including dates of birth) and sign up for two […]
Here is a TV news story about the gift card scam where someone scans the card before activation and then when it is activated they clone it and spend it. This story doesn’t really tell us anything new, but when you hear it from TV, it makes it sound like the scam is happening all the […]
Facebook ads and games are becoming legendary for their scammyness, and it should come as no surprise to anyone that ads for free gift cards on Facebook, such as for a $500 Olive Garden gift card or a $500 Whole Foods gift card where you have to enter your mobile phone number are completely bogus and will only […]
It was bound to happen; someone finally figured out how to scam open-loop (Visa type) gift cards at the checkout counter. With closed loop card, the identifying numbers or bar are visible and can easily be read by theives. Once you activate the card that has been previously scanned by theives, they can tell through online […]
Looks like at least one UPS employee has gotten into the habit of stealing gift cards from packages shipped through his UPS store. UPS is still likely a much safer bet than the Postal Service for shipping gift cards. The same rules still apply, don’t make it look like a gift card when you ship it.
There is a type of scam involving gift cards that people should be aware of. Apparently someone is sending out spam text messages claiming that the recipient has won a Wal-Mart gift card. When the recipient calls the number in the text message, they are told that they need to pay for shipping and are asked […]
Trouble with your gift card at Best Buy? Be careful not to get arrested like one customer did. Seems the Best Buy staff was having trouble with her AMEX gift card and made the unfortunate assumption that she was trying to pass of a tampered with gift card. She wasn’t, the Best Buy staff were just […]
This story reminds us that it isn’t a good idea to purchase gift cards that are not packaged with the numbers clearly inaccessible where anyone can access them.
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