If someone asks you to do so, it may be a sign that you're being targeted by criminals.Ĭorey says the NYPD has seen a huge spike this year in reports of Social Security scams where victims have received calls from people claiming that they represent the agency or some kind of law enforcement agency. These websites might be using these offers to steal your payment card numbers or other personal information.Īnd if the gift cards are legitimate, they may have been bought with stolen credit card numbers, or they're being used to launder money generated by other kinds of crimes.Ĭonsumers should never try to use gift cards to pay off alleged debts. If bought with cash, the cards are untraceable and, unlike the cryptocurrencies that criminals also like to use, they can be bought practically anywhere.Įspecially during the holiday season, little-known websites will advertise gift cards for popular retailers at steep discounts. Gift cards have long been the currency of choice for all kinds of cybercriminals, Henderson says.
In many cases, the codes are just four digits, making them easy for hackers to crack. In other cases, criminals will leave the PIN covering intact and instead use online bots or other kinds of computer software to guess the PIN code. That can make it tough to tell that the cards have been tampered with. The bad guys then replace the code coverings with stickers that can easily be bought online. Henderson notes that criminals also copy down gift card numbers, then scratch off the coverings above their PIN, giving them access to card balances once they're activated later on. “Somebody could gift one of these and not even find out until a month later,” Corey says. In the case of the recently discovered scam gift cards, they were brought to the attention of the police by the retailer who found them. The money would then go to the criminal’s card instead of the consumer’s.Ĭrimes like this are tough to track because most victims don’t file reports, says Deputy Inspector Jessica Corey, commanding officer of the NYPD’s Crime Prevention Division. Someone had taken a bar code from a purchased gift card, made a bunch of official-looking stickers with the bar code, then placed them on cards that hadn't been sold yet.Īn unsuspecting consumer could then buy one of the doctored gift cards and load it with money. The NYPD warning was accompanied by a photo posted to Facebook showing a doctored gift card that had turned up at a New York City store.
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