Gift Card Warning

[Drew27k9]

Well the crooks have found a way to rob you of your gift card
balance.

If you buy Gift Cards from a display rack that has various store cards you may become a victim of theft.

Crooks are now jotting down the card numbers in the store and then wait a few days and call to see how much of a balance THEY have on the card.

Once they find the card is "activated", they go online and start shopping.

You may want to purchase your card from a customer service person, where
they do not have the Gift Cards viewable to the public.

Please share this with all your family and friends...

[Rad Diver]

That is a really easy and good scam......why didn't I think of it first. :D

[jmac_52]

Thanks for the tip, Drew. I usually end up picking up one or two gift cards every year, until now.

:cool:

[Robb]

Hmm... that is pretty clever, simplistic, but clever. I'll have to keep that in mind next time I decide to pick one up for someone.

[NFAMike]

Great post.

The only gift cards that you should purchase are the one's that have a Visa, or MasterCard logo on them. Only then will you be protected from mail order/telephone order (MOTO), or internet fraud.
These can only be purchased from a legitimate financial institution.

Now this is what I do not understand. I assume that these fraudulent transactions are taking place without the card being present.
Most retailers that carry these generic gift cards can only run them if they are present at the point of sale. The customer would then have to enter a PIN # or some sort of security number when activating it.

Anymore details on this story?

[Welpe]

Per snopes this is true, however they have a pretty detailed explanation as to how this is done. NFA you are correct, the PIN plays a role in this so be sure to check and see that the pin has not been revealed on the back of the card when you purchase it.

http://www.snopes.com/fraud/sales/giftcard.asp