Christmas Day you receive a gift card to your favorite store and you can’t WAIT to do your after Christmas shopping to catch all the good sales. You wake up the next morning, grab you gift card, and go to the mall… only to find out during checkout that your card has a balance of $0. You call the person who gave you the card, they confirm they bought the amount, yet the card is still swiping a zero balance. How could that have happened? Three words: gift card scams.
- Request a card that is not out on display. Many companies have their gift cards on the counter for easy purchasing. Thieves use this as an opportunity to grab a card, write down the numbers on the back, and put them write back where they find them. With the numbers in hand, they are able to use them online to purchase merchandise and goods. Purchasing a gift card from a secured location, such as behind the register, will pose less of a problem.
- If mailing out the gift card, write down the numbers on the back for safe keeping. Call the expectant recipient and ask them if they have received the card in the mail (if they have not called you to thank you already). If the card is not there, use the numbers you retrieved from the back of the card to report it stolen.
- Upon receiving the card, call the number on the back to verify the amount expected is correct. If you are even a dollar short, dispute the claim. It may mean that someone is using your card and testing it out to see if there is actually money on the card.
- Store cards are more of a target for scams, but even major credit card gift cards can be targeted. Take a look:
These are just some ways in which people can get scammed via gift card. Check out this site for more information regarding gift card scams. I implore you, guard your gift cards like it is cash. Someone actually took the time to purchase that card for your spending pleasure, so call up the card, verify the amount and hit up those sales! Happy spending!
