Wicked Holiday Guide

Pebbles’ Blog

Tips To Avoid Gift Card Scams This Holiday Season

Gift cards have become extremely popular over the years. They're convenient, they always fit, and you never have to worry about returns. Everyone loves and appreciates receiving gift cards. And for the buyer, it's also a quick and easy last minute gift when you have no time during the busy holiday season. You can use them for restauants, coffee, clothes, books, and more. But that's not to say that there aren't issues with gift cards. As they rise in popularity, there comes the issue of scams. Gift Card Holiday Scams As more and more people buy and use gift cards for the holidays, the rise in scams is also becoming a problem. Just recently in Braintree, two women were arrested for being involved in a scamming ring. They were found with over 4,600 gift cards. They would steal the cards, record the card info, repackage them, and return them to the shelves. Then, once purchased, loaded and activated, they would be able to take the card info and spend the money on it before the recipient did. And this is just one of the many types of gift card scams out there. There are imposters demanding gift cards over the phone, charities & fundraiser scams using gift cards, and even scammers on dating sites and apps asking for gift cards. So what can you do? Avoiding Gift Card Scams Be careful when purchasing gift cards in stores. Make sure that make sure no seals have been tampered with and it doesn’t look like it’s been bent or manipulated. To avoid charity gift card scams, be sure to only donate to legitimate charities, and never pay with gift cards. You can check out the legitimacy of charities by going to CharityNavigator.or, Wise Giving Alliance, or CharityWatch.org. As far as dating scams, according to the FBI, Americans lost over $735 million dollars because of romance scams in 2022. To avoid becoming a statistic, never send money to someone you haven't met in person. Also, know the warning signs of an online scammers. This includes people who use stolen photos, quickly confess their love, and you've never even spoken to them on the phone, You can find a more in-depth list of scams and how to avoid them HERE. Gift cards do make great gifts, but just be sure to be careful and do what you can to avoid falling victim to gift card holiday scams.