You or someone you know may have received a gift card and now you or that other person wants to buy something with it. All desired items are in the shopping cart and then you submit your gift card code only to realize it’s empty. You’re frustrated as you have already planned how to spend it and now you have to either pay for the goods out of pocket or forget about it. The latter is never easy.
This, my friend, is how a gift card scam looks like. And yes, it’s horrible.
Gift card scams 101
A gift card scam happens when someone illegitimately uses someone else’s gift card. This, as you can imagine, results in a victim losing all the money on the card.
Malicious individuals perform gift card frauds in various ways, often relying on sophisticated techniques to trick their targets. Their end goal is to obtain the number on the card so they can use it for their own purchases.
5 common gift card scams
Here are the most common gift card scams you should know, so you don’t fall a victim:
1. Gift card stealing bots
These days, savvy gift card scammers use bots such as GiftGhostBot to speed up and automate the process of obtaining other people’s gift card numbers. These bots crawl retailers’ gift card systems and look for activated gift cards. Once they find something, the gift card numbers are automatically retrieved and then used for a purchase. Or they are sold on the dark web.
2. Impostors
It has also been caught that some scammers masquerade themselves as representatives of governmental or tax agencies, such as the IRS. Then, they convince the victim that they failed to pay certain taxes and now they have to show up in court and pay a fine. Of course, one of the options to pay is with a gift card. Once the victim reveals the number of his/her gift card, they drain it as soon as possible and disappear.
3. Stolen numbers
This is a rather straightforward method that involves a scammer simply writing down the card number in the shop selling it. Then, when someone buys and tops up the card – the scammer uses it. Scammers are getting good at sealing gift cards without making them look suspicious and so the buyer doesn’t realize on time that the number of that gift card has been stolen.
4. Fake websites
Gift cards are activated on merchant websites but sometimes it is hard to distinguish between the legit website and the one made by a savvy scammer. Cause that’s what they’ve been doing – creating fake websites where users enter their gift card numbers to make purchases. The fake website can simply return a generic message like “try again later,” and in the meantime – the hacker can spend all the money from the gift card.
5. Fake prizes
In a similar situation, we’ve seen websites offering prizes that are unlocked with gift cards. However, as soon as the victim inputs the gift card number, they can pretty much throw away that card; as it will be depleted in a matter of minutes. Therefore, it is important to input your gift card number only on official websites – so you should look at the domain of the site you’re visiting to know that it is indeed the official website of the store that issued the gift card.
How can you protect yourself from gift card scams?
Your best tool to stay protected against gift card scams is your brain. Do NOT easily share that number on just about any website or send it via email (or some messenger app). A few other things you should know:
- No institution or company asks anyone to pay for something with a gift card. This request is an instant red flag so you should terminate the communication ASAP.
- Double-check the website before entering your gift card number. Look at the domain of the website as you should only input your gift card number on official websites.
- Try to use up your gift cards as soon as possible to avoid becoming a victim of gift card snatching bots.
- Again, do NOT share your gift card number with anyone via email or an instant messaging app.
Finally, if you do become a victim of a fraud, immediately contact the original card issuer or even the cyber police. See if they can help you resolve the case and get you your money back.