JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As many people grab those last-minute gift cards, the FBI is warning that gift card scams are rising at an alarming rate.
Scammers are using a “gift card draining” trick to steal money before people can even use it.
“Gift card draining is when a scammer thief basically steals the access codes off of a gift card and replaces over the existing access code with a taped printout. And then when that code is scanned, it goes to his account instead of the person who bought it,” Better Business Bureau of Northeast Florida President Tom Stephens said.
This is becoming a go-to scam for thieves.
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The maker of Vanilla gift cards was sued this week for making it easier for scammers to tamper with what should be secure numbers and bar codes.
Gift card scam reports rose by 50% this year compared to 2022, with consumers reporting more than 46,000 cases of gift card or reload card fraud, according to the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau.
The losses totaled more than $210 million.
“Gift card scams would include not only gift card draining, but also using gift cards to pay scammers for things like the IRS scam, Social Security scam, fake job scam, etc. So those scams all increased this year. So, since gift cards are the primary method of payment that they’re using now, as opposed to wire transfer, money Graham’s or Western Union, they don’t use those anymore. They use gift cards,” Stephens said.
To make sure you’re buying a gift card that hasn’t been tampered with:
- Run your finger over the back of a gift card before purchasing it.
- Avoid buying gift cards with damaged packaging: Scammers may have tampered with the barcodes or already used the cards and PIN numbers.
- Register your gift card if possible: This can help if you need to report a stolen balance later
“Examine the gift card carefully. Make sure it hasn’t been tampered with,” Stephens said. “If it looks like it’s been tampered, you should go to the manager’s place and say, look, this card doesn’t look right,” Stephens said.
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Stephens also said once a gift card has been tampered with and money gets loaded, there’s nothing people can do to get it back.
You can protect yourself by buying gift cards from behind the counter, if possible, or you can always gift cash.
If you find out your gift card has been tampered with, contact the place you bought the card first. Then, can call the gift card company to request a refund and report fraud to the FTC.