Police are warning consumers about a gift card scam that is rendering purchases at Target and other retailers worthless.
The scam involves stealing gift card information and reselling them.
Scammers are also impersonating friends or loved ones to trick victims into thinking they need money urgently. (Trending: Judge Announces Historic Ruling In Jeffrey Epstein Case)
“I was really shocked by it,” said Suzanne Gdovic, a victim of the scam.
Gdovic, a Colorado resident, said she loaded a Target gift card with $200 for a friend whose daughter was having a baby, not knowing the card was already scammed.
“I gave it to her,” said Gdovic about a $200 gift that she purchased for her friend.
“She went to Target to try to use it, and she was at the cash register checking out, and she was told there was a zero balance on the card and was also told that the gift card was assigned to another person’s account,” she continued.
Adding, “There was no money there for her to use for all of the things that she was buying for the new baby.”
“My particular gift card, the back of it was exposed, so it was very easy for them to access the information off the back of the card,” explained Gdovic.
“There was a silver lining on there. That protective security code had been scratched off, numbers were taken when they took that gift card out of the store. Then they expertly [put] back on that silver lining,” she said.
“I picked it up. They had all the information. I loaded it, and when they have an elaborate scheme [they use] the computer with the coding to figure out when you put the money on the card, and then they stole that money off the card way before she went into the store to use it.”
Barry Duggan, a patrol sergeant from the Pinole Police Department in California, cautioned, “Somebody was taking [gift] cards from the store without paying for them and without loading them up… And what they do is they heat up these envelopes to where they can open them as carefully as they can, remove the card and actually cut the top of the card off.”
Duggan described a simple strategy that required re-gluing an envelope and “Just like that, you have a brand new gift card that you think that you’re getting for your person for Christmas.”
“When you do make that phone call… you need to be able to send them all of this information and be persistent and don’t take no for an answer,” advised Gdovic.
“Also, you can dispute the charge on your credit card, and they’re very helpful because they consider this fraud and theft, and they will dispute that charge until you’re able to resolve it,” she continued.
“But Target, I stuck to it, and I was able to get that gift card replaced by Target gift card services,” she said.
Victims are advised to photocopy their gift cards and keep all receipts, and to dispute the charge on their credit card if they fall victim to this scam.
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