Gift Card Scam * NO HOAX *  

Email rumor describes a new scam in which crooks copy down the numbers of gift cards sold on Store Display racks and use them to make purchases online

Fw: Gift Card Alert!!!!!

Well the crooks have found a way to rob you of your gift card balance.

If you buy Gift Cards from a display rack that has various store cards you may become a victim of theft.

Crooks are now jotting down the card numbers in the store and then wait a few days and call to see how much of a balance
THEY have on the card. Once they find the card is "activated", and then they go online and start shopping.

You may want to purchase your card from a customer service person, where they do not have the Gift Cards viewable to the public.

Please share this with all your family and friends...

The Wall Street Journal described the scheme as follows:

In one scam, crooks copy numbers from gift cards hanging on store racks.

After the cards are purchased and activated, buyers use them to shop online by entering the card numbers.

So do the thieves. To figure out which cards have been activated, they phone an 800 number to check on balances for card numbers they've copied.

When they discover activated cards, they use the card numbers to buy merchandise on a store's Web site, explains Dan Doyle, vice president of loss prevention at Beall's Inc., a Southeastern department-store chain.

Given a selection between prepaid gift cards displayed on an open rack versus ones kept behind a customer service counter, clearly the latter is the safer choice

Sources and further reading:

About.com Urban Legends and Folklore
http://urbanlegends.about...

Scam Targets Gift Cards
Medford Mail Tribune, 10 November 2006
Stopping Retail Scammers
WVLT-TV News, 29 October 2006

Shoplifters Taking High-Tech Road
Wall Street Journal, 25 October 2006

Related Resource: retail display