Police Warn of Ingenious Gift Card Scam: CHECK YOUR CARDS BEFORE LEAVING THE STORE

Police are warning about an inventive gift card scam that is circulating this Christmas season.

Shoppers in California recently lost hundreds of dollars due to fraud.

They purchased gift cards without incident, but when they arrived home, they discovered the cards had been tampered with. “When a person purchases a card, the barcode is visible on the outside of the package.

This is what is scanned at the cashier,” said Sgt. Barry Duggan of the Pinole Police Department in a social media video intended to alert shoppers.

The component of the gift card that is scanned to load money on it differs from the part that is used to spend the money. So the scammers figured out they could chop off the section needed to spend the money while leaving the rest on the shelf. So a customer purchases the gift card, loads money onto it, and returns home unknowingly.

However, when they open the gift card or give it to someone else, they learn it is useless, and the money they spend on it is essentially in the hands of a scammer they have never met.

“Someone was removing all of these cards from the store without paying for them or loading them up, and then taking them home. And what they do is heat these envelopes so they can carefully open them, extract the card, and cut the top off,” Duggan explained.

To avoid being a victim of this crime, the Pinole Police Department recommends that all shoppers remove their gift card envelopes at checkout to ensure they have not been cut or otherwise tampered with.

“Go ahead and open the card. Make sure the barcode is present. Make sure it is not cut off. “Make sure it hasn’t been tampered with,” said Natasha Valdepena, a Pinole Police Department spokeswoman.

“Because if you see that if you see that before you leave the store, you already know — even if it was a mistake, even if it was unintentional — you’re going to know that this card is probably not going to be used. “The money will not be on it.”