Gift Card Scams

There are many different scams that result in purchasing gift cards to resolve some sort of made up issue.  In each case, there is a level of fear, uncertainty and doubt that causes the recipient to overlook common tells and believe the scam may be real.  Stepping back and logically looking at the presented message is key.  Sometimes that is easier said than done, especially when faced with a potential crisis situation.  It is however, plain and simple fraud.

These scams can be delivered through almost any method - email, text message, social media message or good old fashioned phone call.  The scammer will send out a large number of these messages, hoping for a few good responses.  This is also known as a "spray and pray" method.  It is very rare for these scams to occur face to face or through the US mail, but they could.  The targeted demographics seems to be the elderly and those less likely to verify the information.

There are many different variations on gift card scams.  Some of the most common have been:

• An unnamed family member, usually a grandson or granddaughter, is in jail or stranded out of the country
• An unnamed family member has been in an accident and needs money for a tow or the other party's medical expenses
• The FBI or a state or local law enforcement agency has outstanding warrants for an unnamed family member
• A state or local law enforcement agency has outstanding traffic/parking tickets
• A local sheriff has warrants for you or a family member for missing jury duty
• The IRS is tracking down past due taxes
• A utility company is tracking down past due bills
• A bank or credit card company is tracking down past due payments
• Your boss is tied up in meetings all day and needs help purchasing gift cards for a company event or to give to clients

Some red flags to look for to identify these types of scams:

• An immediate response is needed.  There is no time to think about the legitimacy of the request.
• There is a noticeable lack of specific information.  Use of relationship, like "grandson", rather than a name.  Account numbers, license numbers, addresses, dates, times, etc. are missing.
• The issue can be easily resolved by providing the numbers from the back of one or more gift cards.
• Questions are answered with other questions.  An example of this on a phone call might be:
• caller: This is your grandson
• recipient: Which one?
• caller: Don't you recognize my voice?
• More distant relatives are contacting you rather than their immediate family.  For instance, contacting grandparents or aunt/uncle rather than parents.
• The originating email address or phone number is different than what is expected of the source.  Email addresses and phone numbers can be spoofed, or faked, but this is only typically done when the scammer specifically targets the recipient.
• The request or situation just doesn't make sense.  Something seems out of the ordinary.

While the scammer probably doesn't have many details about whom they contact, they hope whatever message they send finds somebody with a personal situation that causes them to believe the message.  To build on this, they hope to social engineer more information from the recipient to make their scam even more believable.

It is easy to verify the information through a known, reliable source.  Find contact information for the company, agency or organization online or from a recent statement.  Contact relatives directly.  Never use contact information provided by the scammer.

The bottom line is this - no legitimate company, agency or organization will offer to resolve an outstanding issue through gift cards.  Law enforcement will show up in person to resolve warrants.  Gift card scams have become such a pervasive problem that several retail chains have made policy changes about gift card purchases.  They will question customers making large gift card purchases to make sure they are not being scammed.

Resources

• FTC website: https://consumer.ftc.gov/gift-card-scams