Posted on 12/17/2023 9:48:45 AM PST by dennisw
Police are warning about an uptick in this scam during the holiday season as last-minute shoppers look for gifts for family and friends.
Fraudsters know that the recipients of gift cards are unlikely to try to spend them until Christmas Day. By that time, the gangs will have spent the money loaded to them, leading to confused recipients getting gift cards with a $0 balance.
But this crime does not only affect shoppers at this time of year.
Suzanne bought the $200 Target gift card - which she did not realize had been tampered with - from her local store back in September.
It was then a couple of weeks later when she received a text from her friend's daughter, who she had gifted it to, saying that it had a $0 balance. A message had also popped up on the cashier's screen saying that the gift card was connected to someone else's account.
Criminals take gift cards from stores, copy numbers and return them to shelves Victims got in touch with DailyMail.com to detail how criminals stole from them
Suzanne Gdovic wanted to send her friend's daughter a gift card that she could spend freely in Target.
It was a gift for a baby shower, and she wanted her friend's daughter to be able to splurge $200 on whatever she needed ahead of the newborn's arrival. Instead, she ended up sending her a card with zero balance.
Suzanne, 64, from Arvada, Colorado, is one of many who have been victims of a 'card draining' scam - which leads to people being given totally worthless gift cards.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Sneaky crooks are temporarily stealing batches of gift cards from stores - sometimes hundreds at a time - so they can make a note of the card number, as well as the PIN or activation code.
At this point the cards are worthless as customers are yet to load any money onto them. But criminals then return them to store shelves - knowing shoppers will eventually load them up with funds up to $500 - and steal the money before the recipient is able to spend it.
Interesting. I thought the packaging on these cards was such that you had to open it to see the number? Obviously, if a card looks open, you should not buy it.
The way around this is to purchase it directly from the company website and email it to the recipient.
You have to scratch off the paint to get the PIN.
The scam I saw was they cut off the part with the PIN and put the card back in the envelope.
My take is that this scam originates in our recent floods of fake n lying arse asylum seekers and other illegal alien crooks.
Placing these stolen gift cards back on store shelves? I would have the wives and women do this part. To attract less attention. Women get a higher presumption of innocence.
“You have to scratch off the paint to get the PIN.”
So carefully scratch off the paint. Copy PIN. Then carefully repaint it.
I’ll bet it’s not too expensive to buy more of those scratch off paint label things. Scratch it off, put a new one on. Sure, the packaging may look tampered with up close, but a lot of people don’t really look at that. Ugh.
Here in Florida, we've been experiencing bands of roaming immigrants on shoplifting sprees. In one case, they were Gypsy's who were known to have hit some stores in Northern Florida and made their way down to Vero Beach where they got busted. They were nasty little know-it-alls until they found out that ICE had been contacted. Their tune sure changed. The sense of entitlement with these people is off the charts.
Kind of an economic disconnect in the title...TARGET has their profit from the sale of the merchandise, but the “money” is now the merchandise , which the thieves have.
Thanks for posting.
Maybe they do the east coast of Florida as Polk ounty on the west side is sheriff Grady county.
I guess they’ll have to start locking them up behind the customer service counter or the cashier line.
The stores are responsible for the security system. The breaches are happening on store property. This should be easy to remedy. At least dispute the charge.
Gift cards were a good gift years ago but I got mine “hacked” and all the money drained in two minutes after using it once. Same thing happened to my nephew.
I doubt it worth buying them anymore unless you use it all at once
The only way to get the numbers is to pull open the cover and then you can see the card has been tampered with. The cashier has to enter the amount and will see that.
I’m not buying this scare story, maybe it’s very old from before they made the cards more secure.
there are sites that sell the silver strip and that makes it easy to complete the thieving.
Walmart has their cards plain, unwrapped individual on racks. Crooks carefully remove the scratch off over the pin number then replace it somehow after noting it. Customer thinks it’s still secret and secure. Walmart charges extra for a little gift card envelope.
You can buy rolls of scratch off labels at Amazon for $5.
Americans have no idea how rough and thieving and "a low trust society" it can be to live in the Turd World. They get here, and they are like kids in a candy store. That does not require you to pay.
The sense of entitlement with these people is off the charts.
I belive it!!!!111!!!1!!
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