How to Protect Yourself From Gift Card Scams in 2024
In today's world of online shopping and swift transactions, gift cards have become a popular way to give and receive presents for special occasions. The increasing trend of sharing gift cards has also attracted scammers who are just keeping an eye out to smoothly take advantage of people. The appeal of a quick and simple gift has led to a tricky gift card scam that puts people at risk of losing money. Scammers with their deceptive tricks create an emotional connection with the users to steal their money.
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is warning the general public about a clever gift card scam that trapped even its people. This scam involves a phishing email that looks genuine and creates an emotional connection with the user targeting their family and friends.
The email sender or the scammer pretends to be a family member or a close one sending the email in a pretty casual and friendly tone. Most of the emails start with a greeting like, “Hi, How are you? Are you busy? and then it creates a curiosity ending in an emergency with the message 'I need a quick favor”, and it even concludes with a “Sent from my iPhone” tag to make it look more real. And just in case, the person falls into the emotional drama and asks 'What happened'? the scammer explains the whole story of how he/she is getting a gift card for a cousin's birthday but is not able to pay due to server or bank issues. Once the scammer senses that you are convinced, they ask you to buy a gift card from any nearby store and promise to pay it back. Once you purchase the gift card and send the back photo or the PIN, they gain access, withdraw the cash, and disappear.
The BBB alerts online users and asks them to be extra cautious while purchasing a gift card as it might be a scam. Furthermore, to recover money in this scam is almost impossible as the users themselves have purchased the gift card and have to take responsibility for their transactions. The only thing users can do is take extra precautions and safety measures when they are transacting through online payments and ensure that the receiver is legit and not a scammer.
Follow These Rules to Avoid Falling In Gift Card Scam
1. Don't blindly trust calls, messages, or emails.
2. If the scammer pretends to be your friend, call that friend personally and ask if he needs such a thing.
3. Even if you get into buying gift cards, purchase them from the official website as it becomes difficult for scammers to access.
4. Don't buy gift cards that have easy to peel scanner or PIN.
5. In case you get scammed, immediately report your case to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
6. Contact the gift card company in case of scams.
7. Try to retrieve your money that has been lost to scammers.
8. If you receive a gift card, change the PIN as soon as you get home near your device.
9. Always install good anti-virus software and strong passwords on your device to avoid being a victim of cybercrimes.