Greg's Corner

Beware when buying gift cards for the holidays

By Greg Collier

Gift cards are one of the most talked about topics on this blog. Typically, it’s because gift cards are the currency of scammers. If someone asks you to pay them in gift cards, you’re likely being scammed. However, there is another problem with gift cards, even if you’re buying them for their intended purpose.

Scammers and other cybercriminals will go into stores and record the information from the back of gift cards. They’ll then wait for someone to put funds on those cards. Once that’s done, the scammers will use the funds on those cards for themselves.

This recently happened to a mother from the San Francisco Bay Area who was trying to buy Apple gift cards for her daughter. She bought a card at a supermarket and put $100 on it. When her daughter went to use the card, the funds were already gone. The mother then went to a pharmacy to get another Apple gift card, and again by the time she gave the card to her daughter it was already empty. She was eventually able to get a legitimate card from an Apple Store.

Gift card scammers will often go into various stores and scratch the security strip from the card. They’ll document the card number before replacing the security strip with a sticker.

There are some ways to protect yourself against this scam. First, you should always make sure the card has not been tampered with by inspecting the back of the card. Take a handful of cards from the rack and make sure they’re similarly marked on the back. Scammers will often place tampered cards up front to get the money quicker. Try purchasing a card from the middle of the pack instead.

When buying gift cards, pay for them with a credit card whenever possible. A credit card will give you better protection against loss than if you had paid for the cards with cash or a debit card.

If you receive a card that’s been emptied, you can try to contact the customer service number that’s on the back of the card. However, they can rarely ever get the money back or offer a refund.