The Better Business Bureau of Wisconsin wants to help people avoid scams before the holidays.
Jim Temmer with the bureau specifically talks about gift card scams.
He says there are many ways scammers will ask people to put money on gift cards for them to spend it.
Temmer says when buying a gift card, make sure to check to make sure it hasn’t been tampered with.
If it looks like the numbers on the back of the card have been exposed, don’t buy it.
“Even if they get the number in front, what they’ll do is they’ll wait and take the number down, and then they’ll wait until the card is activated by someone else who bought it,” he explained. “Then they keep entering the numbers over and over, and when the gift card has been activated, they’ll take the money out of it.”
One of the most common scams is someone who calls you claiming to be from your bank and that your social security number has been compromised and you need to transfer money from your bank account to a new account with a new social security number through gift cards.
“Gift cards are great for scammers,” he describes. “Because you read them the number or you text it to them anywhere in the world, and within minutes, they turn it around and buy other gift cards or buy something else with it, and it’s literally untraceable, so your money is gone.”
He recommends spending any gift card you get right away in case it’s been compromised without being known or if the business goes bankrupt, the gift card becomes worthless.
More information can be found online at bbb.org.
