Full Notification

According to a study conducted by the Better Business Bureau, payment by gift card is a common thread among many scams reported today, including government impersonators, business email compromise frauds, tech support frauds, romance scams, fake check scams, prize/sweepstakes scams, and online sales of nonexistent vehicles.

In one common gift card scam, cybercriminals place a call or send a text message to the victim, claim to be a government agency or authority figure (such as the IRS, Social Security, the FBI or a state or federal health department) and tell them that they owe money and must pay immediately with gift cards to avoid further penalties or even jail time.

Utility company scams are similar. In this one, a criminal poses as an electricity, gas or water company, contacts the victim by phone or email, and informs them that they have overdue bills that need to be paid with a gift card. If the victim doesn’t pay right away, the scammer threatens to cut off their service, Velasquez says.

Another form of the scam may also involve a caller claiming to be from a known business, such as a cable TV and internet provider, claiming that you can save money by pre-paying your bill for the next few years at an enormous discount by purchasing gift cards and providing the caller with the card number and pin number.

The truth is that in all of these cases, the victim is out some sum of money, oftentimes substantial, and tracking the scammer to recover funds is difficult or impossible.

South Brunswick Police Department would like to remind our residents of these types of scams, and give some “red flags” to watch for to avoid being targeted.
 
Gift card scam red flags:

• Urgency from someone asking you to buy a gift card is a telltale sign of a scam
• If someone tells you to buy a gift card from a specific store
• Deals that are too good to be true, especially if asked to pay via gift card
• Anyone claiming that you owe money and asking to paid via a gift card – this includes callers claiming to be from the IRS or any other government organization. No legitimate government agency, financial institution, or company will ask you to pay them with gift cards
• Statements that buying gift cards is a safe way to make a payment. Providing the numbers for a gift card is like sending cash, and the money is rarely recoverable