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  • Geebo 8:00 am on July 15, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , Scams,   

    Can you get your money back after a gift card scam? 

    Can you get your money back after a gift card scam?

    If you’re one of our regular readers, there’s a good chance that you’re tired of hearing about gift cards. That’s understandable, we talk about them a lot However, there is a very good reason why we talk about them all the time. If there’s a new scam going around or an old one showing a resurgence, there’s a good chance that gift cards are somehow involved.

    If you’re a new reader, the reason that scammers covet gift cards is that they’re an easy way to get virtually untraceable money from their victims. If someone is trying to pressure you into making any kind of payment through gift cards, it’s almost guaranteed to be a scam.

    For example, a couple in Arizona recently paid $13,000 in gift cards to a scammer who claimed to be from Apple and told the couple that their Apple accounts had been compromised. All they needed to do was buy $13,000 in Apple gift cards and give the gift card numbers to the phony Apple representative to get their accounts restored. They were told they would be reimbursed but they never were. The couple called Apple directly who informed them that they had been scammed.

    Unfortunately, it was too late for this couple but there is a way to prevent your money from being taken if you act quick enough. As we noted in a previous post, gift card scammers employ people they call runners. Once the scammers have the gift card numbers the runners go to various outlets to try to get the money off of the gift cards. In theory, there’s a brief window between the time you give the scammers the card numbers and the time the runners cash out the cards.

    If you realize you have just been scammed, you should immediately call the customer service number on the back of the gift cards. Remember, you still have the physical cards and the customer service representative should be able to help freeze those numbers if you get to them in time.

    Just remember that gift cards are the currency of thieves and scammers. No legitimate business or agency will ever ask you to make payment through gift cards.

     

    • roland/ruth smith 11:23 pm on June 4, 2021 Permalink

      I lost a gift card can I get my money from it?

    • Geebo 12:37 pm on June 5, 2021 Permalink

      Unless you have the number from the card, the money is probably lost. However, you may want to check with the vendor who issued the card to make sure.

    • Mark Tyree 5:06 am on February 12, 2022 Permalink

      bought a google gift cardfor $50 dollars and it is frozen how do i get my $50 dollers back

    • Geebo 12:15 pm on February 12, 2022 Permalink

      Unfortunately, we don’t have the answer for every gift card. However, you may want to check this link. https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/11564359?hl=en&visit_id=637802828105977099-2072104115&rd=1

    • Brenda Burke 10:22 am on October 28, 2022 Permalink

      Bought 4 Freeze gift cards and they were havked

    • tim riker 10:24 pm on December 19, 2022 Permalink

      I was scammed through email. The scammer mimicked the president of the company’s email and I didn’t catch the difference on my phone. it worked because he acted like the president who lives out of state and rarely is in town. He asked if I could buy 4, $500 Target gift cards and then asked for pictures of the numbers after I scratched them off. This is also what the president would have done, to make sure I actually bought the cards and they were actually activated. I did that and he emailed again and asked for Am Ex, same amount. Saying he wanted to provide gift cards for Christmas to the staff. Well, the number of gift cards were the same as the number of employees so it all seemed so legit, especially with the boss not coming into town for Christmas. Well, when he asked for pics of the Am Ex cards front I started thinking I better double check and I text the president and guess what it was not him emailing. I, through the grace of God, got all $4000 back. For the Target cards i have no idea how he never used the cards by the time I contacted Target. Thank God.

    • Josephine Maitre 4:04 pm on May 9, 2023 Permalink

      I had a similar case almost like that. I received an email mimicking McAfee. They went to my bank account because it used to be an automatic withdraw. I told them I did not want to renew. They said oops in that case there was a mistake and I said how because I did not renew. They said well, we can fix that. I don’t remember all the details now but they told me to type $50 so they could correct the mistake. After that they told me oops you type $500 and I said know I did not. They said look at your balance.They showed me my balance which was $4,000 more than I had. At that time I convinced myself that I made the mistake and I must return this money.They said you must return the $4,000 by buying Target gifts card at CVS and Walmart gift cards….. and the rest is history. I still have the gift cards numbers but I know I will never recover this money…Is there any chance. I did file a report but…

    • Barbara Logan 9:24 pm on May 20, 2023 Permalink

      I bought three Google Play gift cards for $100 each. They have already been redeemed. How can I get my money back? I have pictures of the cards and the receipts.

    • Geebo 5:56 am on May 21, 2023 Permalink

  • Geebo 8:00 am on July 14, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , Scams   

    Victim held hostage in romance scam 

    Victim held hostage in romance scam

    When we’ve discussed romance scams in the past, we always mention the potential financial and emotional toll it can take on its victims. What we haven’t mentioned is the physical toll when it comes to the safety of romance scam victims.

    If you’re unfamiliar with what a romance scam is, it’s when a scammer poses online as someone their not and luring victims in with the prospect of a romantic relationship. When the scammer has fully fooled their victim into believing they’re in an authentic relationship, the scammer will start asking their victim for money. Previous romance scams have seen victims lose anywhere from thousands of dollars to literally over a million dollars.

    Red flags that could indicate a romance scam is if the person keeps giving excuses as to why they can’t meet you in person. Another red flag can be if the person claims to be working or stationed overseas. Romance scammers often pose as American military members and steal the photos of active military personnel.

    Recently, an American woman who was caught up in a romance scam was rescued from her captors who had allegedly perpetrated a romance scam on her. The woman was lured to Nigeria with the promise of marriage. She actually married the man who was scamming her. After the marriage, the scammer was said to have taken control of all her financial accounts including her retirement account. The victim was held captive by her scammer for 16 months in a hotel room. This type of captivity is not unheard of as authorities rescued a woman from the Philippines who had been held in Nigeria for six months.

    Again, we can’t stress this enough that anybody from any cultural, financial, or educational background can be a victim of a romance scam. We’ve seen people from widows/widowers to corporate CEOs who have been taken in romance scams. Now, with the added danger of being held captive being thrown into the mix, you should be more cautious than ever when it comes to making relationships online.

    If you think you or someone you know may be the victim of a romance scam, the Federal Trade Commission has a great website on how to recognize a romance scam. Don’t let your heart trick you into making dangerous decisions.

     

  • Geebo 8:03 am on July 13, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , Scams   

    Long-distance moving scam 

    Long-distance moving scam

    While not as many people are thinking about moving right now there are still plenty of people looking to plant new roots. Whether it’s a local move or a move across the country, the job may be too much to handle by yourself. In that case, you may be considering hiring a moving company. if so you don’t want to hire just any moving company. There are a plethora of ads on the internet for moving companies but some of them could lead to disaster.

    Just about anyone can post an ad online calling themselves a moving company. That doesn’t necessarily make them one although an unlicensed moving company might be the least of your worries. Some moving companies are just out to hold your possessions for ransom. For example, a man from Cleveland, Ohio was moving to Alabama. He hired a moving company to take his belongings to Alabama but then a number of problems arose.

    After giving the man an estimate, the movers said that the man had more boxes than were estimated and demanded more money. Then after taking the items to be moved, the movers asked for an additional payment as a pickup fee to move the man’s items from their warehouse to his new home. Thousands of dollars and nine months later, the man still doesn’t have his belongings and the alleged moving company is now out of business.

    Just like any other major life decision, you should do a lot of research before picking out a moving company. Check online reviews and ask friends on social media for recommendations. You can also check the mover’s license number with the Department of Transportation to see their complaint history and if they’re not registered with the DOT, that can be a big red flag that the company may not be legitimate.

    If a company gives you an estimate sight unseen they may also be trying to scam you. Always get at least three estimates from three different movers and get them in writing. Never make payment in full upfront and make sure that the movers provide full-value protection insurance. Lastly, if anything feels out of the ordinary with your movers don’t be afraid to go with another company.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on July 10, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , Scams,   

    The Social Security scam that threatens arrest 

    The Social Security scam that threatens arrest

    There have been reports of another scam going around that targets senior citizens and something that many seniors rely heavily upon. Scammers are posing as the FBI and threatening seniors with either discontinuation of their Social Security benefits, arrest, or both. This scam is largely done in order to get frightened seniors to pay to make fictitious criminal charges go away.

    Recently, reports have come from multiple states where scammers will call seniors posing as FBI agents. The scammers are able to make their phone number appear as if the call is coming from the local FBI office. The scammers will then tell their victim that their Social Security number has been linked to a crime. One of the more common claims the scammers will use is that someone rented a car in the victim’s name which was connected with a major crime. Often the scammers will say that drugs were found in the car as well.

    The scammers will then use this ruse to tell their victim that their Social Security number has been suspended and that the victim would need to pay to get it reinstated. This is where the scammers will ask for payment in their favorite form of currency, gift cards. They’ll instruct the victim to buy an astronomical amount of gift cards and then give the scammers the numbers from the back of the cards.

    Now, you may say that you could never fall for a scam like that. However, many scammers have such a fine-tuned operation that they make the scenario seem more than believable. In many cases, it’s not just one person calling pretending to be a federal agent. Often they’ll keep transferring the victim from one person to another who are all claiming to be part of the FBI while they use psychological tactics to scare the victim into making the payment. These payments are often tallied in the thousands of dollars.

    However, there is always a way these scammers tip their hands and that’s asking for the money in gift cards. We can’t stress enough how often gift cards are not only involved in this scam but also in most scams that happen today.

    If anyone is claiming to be from the government, a utility company, a hospital, or anyone else trying to collect a payment and they ask for a payment on gift cards, it’s almost a certainty that they’re a scammer.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on July 8, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , Scams   

    Increase in scams against businesses seen 

    Increase in scams against businesses seen

    We’ve discussed a certain scam that targets businesses only a handful of times in the past. The scam comes in a few different forms but the goal is always the same and that’s to steal money from the company.

    There’s the business email compromise scam where a scammer spoofs their email address to make it look like they’re a high ranking executive at your company. The scammer will contact an employee that has financial responsibilities like payroll or accounts payable through the spoofed email. They’ll then instruct that employee to send money to a new direct deposit bank account or issue payment to a phony vendor who is in league with the scammer.

    One particularly eerie scam was when scammers used deep fake voice technology to impersonate the company’s CEO and ordered a company director to wire $240,000 to a phony vendor.

    Like we said, these stories were edge cases that only happened a handful of times. Also, they happened when most people were still working in offices and not working from home.

    Now, with the current global pandemic, more people than ever are working from home and the scammers know this. Due to the record number of people working at home, the Better Business Bureau says that these business impersonation scams have increased exponentially. Without being able to just walk to your boss’s office it can be difficult to get confirmation from your higher-ups.

    If you get an email from a company executive to wire transfer money, send gift cards, or make a payment right away that’s out of the ordinary, contact that executive by phone to make sure the request is legitimate or not. While some bosses may get gruff over this idea you can always tell them you’re just trying to keep the company secure and save the company money. Also, you may want to address this situation with your bosses if it hasn’t already been addressed and suggest some kind of system to prevent these scams from being successful.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PszKH3fbWzg
     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on July 7, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Scams, ,   

    Unemployment scams show no sign of letting up 

    Unemployment scams show no sign of letting up

    In case you haven’t heard by now, states all over the country are dealing with scammers trying to claim unemployment benefits. We’re not talking about people who falsely try to claim unemployment for themselves. We’re talking about a global scamming operation that is looking to claim unemployment money in your name.

    The scammers are taking stolen identities that were exposed in data breaches and are using them to apply for benefits in those identities’ names. Most state unemployment systems are already under heavy load due to the record amounts of unemployment that is currently happening due to the pandemic. This makes it easier for scammers to force their way into the system to try to steal your benefits.

    It doesn’t matter if you’re unemployed or not. Most reports we’ve been seeing say that the unemployment benefits are being applied in the name of employed people as well as the unemployed. Recently, a teacher from upstate New York got a letter in the mail saying that his unemployment benefits have been approved but he’s not unemployed. His letter from the state also said that the benefits would not be deposited into a bank account but would instead be put on a debit card. In some cases, there have been reports saying scammers, or those working for them, will stalk someone’s mailbox looking to steal the debit card directly from the mailbox. In other cases, scammers have changed the address to where the debit card should be sent. The teacher believes that scammers got his information from when his health insurance company had a data breach a few years ago.

    If you receive one of these letters or you’re contacted by your employer, contact your state’s unemployment office immediately. Usually, they’re under the umbrella of the Depart of Labor in your state. Unfortunately, it may take multiple attempts to get through to your state government. The teacher from New York had to make over 200 phone calls before he got his situation resolved. While it may be frustrating, it’s not something you just want to leave for another day as it could impact not only future benefits but your current tax situation as well.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on July 6, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Scams,   

    BBB: Job seekers at risk now more than ever 

    BBB: Job seekers at risk now more than ever

    The Better Business Bureau recently released the results of a survey that does not bode well for people currently looking for work. According to the BBB, people are now more at risk of falling for various employment scams, especially for those looking to work from home. These scams have various goals. They can be looking just to steal your personal information or getting you to deposit and then spend a fraudulent check.

    The scammers try to appear like a legitimate business as much as possible. They’ll often try to make it look like they’re hiring for a legitimate retailer like Walmart or Amazon. They will also hold online interviews over Zoom or Skype and have official-looking emails.

    People who have fallen for these scams have reported losing on average $1400. One report even indicates that military families and veterans are hit particularly hard by these scams.

    That’s not to say that there aren’t ways to protect yourselves from these scams. If they ask you to deposit a check they sent you for supplies and tell you to purchase the supplies from a specific vendor, that’s more than likely a scam. You should not deposit the check because it’s probably a fake and you could be responsible for that money to your bank.

    Beware of positions like ‘warehouse redistribution coordinator’ or anything similar. These positions could have you sending stolen goods through the mail which could get you in trouble with the law.

    Also, if a job asks you to buy or distribute gift cards, that’s almost guaranteed to be a scam. Due to the virtual anonymity of gift cards, they’ve become the preferred form of money laundering for scammers.

    Even when looking for a job if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.

    While there are legitimate work from home positions available, that sector of the job market is a large target for scammers.

     

  • Geebo 8:04 am on July 3, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , Scams   

    How the gift card scam actually works 

    How the gift card scam actually works

    We often discuss how so many scams often involve gift cards. They’ve become so synonymous with scams that we’ve started referring to gift cards as the currency of scammers. Basically, when someone online or over the phone asks you to make payment in gift cards, it’s almost guaranteed that you’re talking to a scammer. The reason scammers try to get payment in gift cards is that the cards can be almost immediately drained of their value while being virtually untraceable.

    Scammers don’t even need the physical card itself. Instead, scammers will get their victims to provide the code number off of the back of the card. What happens from there to get the value off of the card works almost like a heist movie.

    Recently, a woman was arrested in Central California for allegedly being part of a scam ring that dealt with gift cards. She was referred to as a runner, meaning while she didn’t run the scam but she was a part of it.

    According to reports, she would receive the card numbers from Walmart gift cards. Using the card numbers she would use her phone to create a UPC code. She would then use the UPC code at Walmart to buy gift cards from online retailers like the Apple Store, Google Play, and Steam. She would then take pictures of the numbers of the newly purchased gift cards and send them to other people involved in the scam who then cash in those cards. In this instance alone, the woman was said to be in possession of hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulently obtained gift cards.

    While we may refer to it as the gift card scam for the sake of consumers, it has a more serious name when it comes to the law, money laundering. Scamming operations like this can rake in millions of dollars in a short time frame before disappearing into thin air.

    Again, if you receive a call, text message, or email and someone is pressuring you into making some kind of payment with gift cards, they’re more than likely trying to scam you.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on July 2, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: freedom to breathe card, Global Empowerment Fund, , , , Scams, ,   

    Government impersonation scams 

    Government impersonation scams

    Recently, we’ve heard of three new scams where the scammers are impersonating either the federal or state government. Scammers often imitate various government agencies in order to make their pitch seem more authentic. However, the impersonations are never perfect.

    The Federal Trade Commission is warning citizens about an email phishing scam that is using the agency’s name. The emails claim that you’re eligible to receive funds from the “Global Empowerment Fund” due to the current pandemic. All you need to do to get the money is to provide your bank account information and the money will appear in your account. While the FTC hasn’t said if anyone has fallen for this scam, it’s a safe bet to assume that your bank account will be drained rather than receive extra funds if you were to provide your banking details.

    With the current controversy over whether or not you should wear a mask to stop the spread of coronavirus, scammers are selling cards that claim to make someone exempt from having to wear a mask. The idea is that you present this card to a business that requires the wearing of masks and you’ll be allowed in without a mask. The card claims amnesty under the Americans with Disability Act and has a fake Department of Justice logo. While these cards may appear official they have no legal authority and no business is required to abide by them.

    Lastly, we have a scam on the state government level. In Michigan, residents there are reporting receiving text messages that claim to be from the state. The messages say that they can reunite the recipient with unclaimed property. The messages then provide a link for you to click on. As always, you should never click on links in text messages from someone you don’t know. Now, unclaimed property is something that most states hold on to. However, in most cases, you have to pursue the state to claim any such assets. Usually, you can start the process through a state website. Very rarely will the state contact you and if they do they wouldn’t do it by text message. If you receive a text like this the best thing to do is delete it.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on July 1, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Scams   

    If you've been scammed once you can be scammed again 

    If you've been scammed once you can be scammed again

    If there’s one thing that con artists like most it’s an easy mark. The odds are that if you’ve been scammed once you could be scammed again. Or at least you’ll continue to be targeted by scammers.

    This happened to a woman in Memphis. Last year, she was taken in a grant scam. She received a Facebook message that she thought was from a friend. The message said that her friend received money from a government grant and that she probably qualifies for the grant too.

    The message actually came from a Facebook account that had been compromised by scammers. When the woman went to apply for this phony grant she was told that she would have to pay $1000 to receive the grant money. As you can guess, she never received the grant money and was $1000 poorer.

    She never came forward about losing money because, like many scam victims, she was too embarrassed. However, that initial scam experience was able to help her from being taken a second time. More recently, the woman was approached by someone who claimed to be the Deputy Attorney General of the United States. While the report doesn’t go into greater detail, we can hazard a guess that it was probably another grant scam.

    Some victims may not be so lucky as scammers often trade or sell the information on their victims between each other. Or the scammer will try to fleece the victim again with a different scam if they were successful in the past.

    If you ever become the victim of a scam, you should report it to the police immediately. While the scammer may never be apprehended, it will help warn others from falling for the same scam.

     

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