New Gift Card Scams to Be Aware of in East Texas

(Longview, Texas) - The one thing we all can agree on is that thieves are the worst of the worst. They think that stealing our hard earned money, possessions and/or our personal information is perfectly okay. Obviously, it's not.

If you do steal, you rightfully deserve to spend time in jail for it if convicted. The thing about stealing is that are many different, and sneaky, ways to carry out the crime. One scam is called gift card draining. Let's learn how it works and how to avoid becoming a victim.

Gift Card Scam in East Texas

I'm gonna be honest with you, if I'm gifted a gift card, I'm over the moon. I like getting them because I can turn around and get the specific thing that I want. I would say within a couple of weeks of getting one, I've spent it on what I need to get. A gift card will never go to waste with me.

Thieves, however, have found a way to take advantage of the popularity of giving a gift card as a present (Federal Trade Commission). What they'll do is take a stack of the cards from the gift card kiosk, take them somewhere else, open them up, copy down all the important numbers, including the scratch off area, and then replace the scratch off area and reseal the card in the original packaging. The thieves are able to monitor that card until it is purchased and then drain the funds added to the card.

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Protecting Yourself From Gift Card Scams

When you are shopping for a gift card, inspect the packaging for any imperfections in the cardboard around the card. A lot of the time, the thieves will use a heat source to loosen the glue which could cause some ripples in the packaging. Also look for any smudges on the packaging as this could be residue from the resealing process.

Be sure to keep the physical receipt in case there is an issue. Another way to avoid possible card draining is to buy a digital gift card. These can purchased on the retailer's website then sent electronically instead of a physical card.

Federal Trade Commission Warning About Gift Card Scams

The Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, website has a whole page dedicated to gift card scams. There are the tips explained above, other types of gift card scams and lots of other information in regards to how thieves steal using gift cards.

This is not to scare you into never buying gift cards ever again. This is only to educate you into what these thieves are doing and how to protect yourself from losing your hard earned money to these thieves.